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Why Canada Does Not Belong On the US Piracy Watchlist
An anonymous reader writes "Each year, the U.S. government places Canada on its piracy watch list,
claiming that it is a pirate country similar to China or Russia. This
year, Professor Michael Geist and Public Knowledge teamed up to respond to
myths about Canadian copyright law with a submission
to the USTR focusing on how Canadian law provides adequate and
effective protection, how
enforcement is stronger than often claimed, why Canada is not a piracy
haven, and why Bill C-11 does not harm the interests of rights holders
(critics of Bill C-11 digital lock rules will likely think this is
self-evident)."
If I send a legit copy of something I have the copyright on to a friend, using the internet, and the ISP records a copy of my traffic at the government's behest, aren't they engaging in piracy?
(Posting AC because I'm at work)
The reason Canada is on the piracy watch list is simple - Canadian politicians want us to be there so they can have a reason to craft draconian laws that appease big media's wishes. Really, it's that simple - it's political manoeuvring in an effort to get the public to support legislation that is "clearly needed" because, you know, we're on the US's piracy watch list so things must be bad in Canada! We need to fix it. Now just accept these laws that allow warrantless searches and other things that are obscene so I can get my phat payoff cash from Big Media Corp.
Really, it's that simple. And pathetic.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=5144516&file=4
it was Bill C-61 first, then it died and was replaced by Bill C-32 which also died. Now its called Bill C-11. Have fun reading this.
Theres also a website which gives lots of information on that bill : http://www.digital-copyright.ca/billc11/
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1048993--leaks-show-u-s-swayed-canada-on-copyright-bill?bn=1
A U.S. Embassy cable written in April 2009 describes a meeting between
Zoe Addington, director of policy for then industry minister Clement, and U.S. officials.
In contrast to the messages from other Canadian officials, she said that
if Canada is elevated to the Special 301 Priority Watch List (PWL), it would not hamper
and might even help the (government of Canada's) ability to enact copyright legislation,
the cable says.
Days later, Canada was elevated on the piracy watch list.
NOTE: entire post shamelessly stolen from guidryp
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Pfffbbt! Canada! Of course you don't put imaginary lands on watch lists. Canada is an old fairy tell parents tell when they don't want their children to become improv comics or hockey fans.
Someone forgetting that it was the liberals who brought us up to bring the law into line in the first place? Besides, I'd have thought that you'd have figured something out. That even with enough outcry the government still listens to the people up here. Otherwise C30 wouldn't be open for discussion being modified, we wouldn't have scrapped the long gun registry. And we sure wouldn't be looking at scrapping S.13 from the HRC(the one that prohibits free speech).
Om, nomnomnom...
" Canada, as a raw material and energy exporter, needs to allow its currency to be set by the market..."
What the hell are you talking about?!? Canada's currency is a freely floating one and has been for a few decades. It's one of the few countries on the planet that has a completely floating exchange rate. As for natural resources we have a time honored tradition of selling it abroad. The oil sands in Alberta being the latest.
Piracy here is definitely a problem as I have many friends constantly encouraging me to get my media it the down and dirty way. I have stubbornly been trying to do it the legit way for a long time now. The latest is in trying to get Dexter season 4 and up. Season 1 to 3 is on Netflix Canada but I will be damned if I can rent seasons 4 and up any where. I solved this by using a VPN proxy to the U.S. and some gift card trickery on Amazon to watch it online. I lied to pay for it instead of pirating it.
There is a crap load of content we can never get because some rights holder here in Canada won't allow it to be shown at all here. That's why we can't get Pandora or Spotify. I've seen Canadian indy musicians have their stuff available on iTunes U.S. long before it's available in the Canadian store.
How long do I put up with this before I become a total pirate? Right now I pay a proxy service to pretend like I am American so I can buy the content. I want to pay and be legit but at some point it's just easier to pirate the stuff.
No. Canada has some explicit "fair use" exceptions in our copyright legislation. It's still illegal to distribute widely.
You can't just give away copies of digital things willy nilly, but you can make a rip of a CD your friend loans you. Though, if the current government have their way, breaking any form of 'digital lock' would become a criminal offense, even if it's to exercise your existing rights.
And, since the media companies insisted on it, we pay a levy on blank recordable media. So, to many of us, they've already secured payment from us. So I don't particularly care if I rip a CD -- though, I generally prefer to buy them so I have a physical copy that I rip. They've got their piracy slush fund, so fuck 'em.
He points out that "illegal camcording had largely disappeared from the Canadian market", so I'm not sure why you're claiming it's widespread. He's also talking about how Canada has a thriving digital music market place, which means people are buying music here. Hell, I've bought several hundred CDs over the last bunch of years ... but, I know I'm likely the exception.
And, I wouldn't be so quick to accuse Geist of confusing correlation and causation ... he's a law professor who studies this kind of stuff in depth. He's not some n00b who makes a habit of bad logic.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That even with enough outcry the government still listens to the people up here. Otherwise C30 wouldn't be open for discussion being modified, we wouldn't have scrapped the long gun registry. And we sure wouldn't be looking at scrapping S.13 from the HRC(the one that prohibits free speech).
I believe you mean 'selectively listens to the people up here'. The LGR is a good example - I was vehemently opposed to that massive money pit but polls put support for it at 2/3rds and greater. Scrapping the S.13 was a private members bill put forth by a Liberal. And let's let the dust settle on C30 before declaring victory - the Cons aren't at all the libertarian leaning party many make them out to be.
It's on America's tortured brow, That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
It's fine to blame the Liberals (or the most-recent government of a different party) for laws they passed and screwed up and the current government has to fix, but stop blaming the Liberals for legislation that never passed. If the Conservatives thought it was a bad bill, they wouldn't have resurrected it.
And FYI, many Liberal supporters fought against those bills when the Liberals introduced them. Why can't Conservative supporters stop blindly supporting bills and laws just because they're backed by Conservatives? Are they that blind that they MUST unwaveringly follow their leader in all things?
C-30 was backpedaled on not because of massive public outcry, because the Harper Conservatives are used to ignoring that. What they AREN'T used to is a significant number of their base vocally and publicly turning on them. Even Sun News, the far-right news outlet that almost always supports the Conservative agenda, called Toews "an idiot" and said the bill was indefensible ("in its current form").