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The Behind-the-Scenes Campaign To Bring SOPA To Canada
An anonymous reader writes "SOPA may be dead (for now) in the U.S., but lobby groups are likely to intensify their efforts to export SOPA-like rules to other countries. With the Canadian DMCA back on the legislative agenda at the end of the month, Canada will be a prime target for SOPA style rules. In fact, Michael Geist reports that the recording industry wants language to similar to that found in SOPA on blocking access to websites, new termination policies for subscribers, and an expanded SOPA-style liability for sites that could include YouTube and cloud-based services."
Another reader points out that similar mischief is afoot in Ireland: "The Irish government's new 'statutory instrument' threatens to do some of the same things as SOPA, mainly introducing the power to force ISPs to block websites suspected of having copyrighted material on them."
Donations and campaign finance rules do nothing to prevent MPs from using their time creating laws (or just general behind the scenes work) benefiting an industry/company/etc., then receiving compensation after leaving Parliament. I think this is an exceptionally malignant form of corruption that currently exists in Canadian politics.
Perhaps I'm just not thinking of it the right way, but I can't picture our government supporting such ideas as SOPA as being anything other than from some form of corruption. Perhaps I'm giving our MPs too much credit in their ability to sit back and think of the consequences and, well, just the philosophical basis of the laws.