Canadian DMCA Won't Include Consumer Rights

An anonymous reader writes "As protests mount over the Canadian DMCA, law professor Michael Geist is now reporting that the government plans to delay addressing fair use and consumer copyright concerns such as the blank media tax for years. While the U.S. copyright lobby gets their DMCA, consumers will get a panel to eventually consider possible changes to the law. Many Canadians are responding today with a mass phone-in to Industry Minister Jim Prentice to protest the policy plans."

Re:Hrm

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't vote for the Conservatives. They still won in my riding anyway

That's funny. The majority of people in my riding didn't vote for the Conservatives either, but we got one [flickr.com] anyway.

Re:Vote with your wallet.

[MicktheMech]

It's supposed to work that way, but it doesn't. If we want to reverse the course on something as far along as this is we need to

1. Engage the media - get this to be a big topic in editorials, etc... get it in front of the general public's eyes
2. Get access to the analysts that are proposing this type of policy in the first place. This is hard and requires people with access to the bureaucracy. People like the ones that the **AA have bought.

I know that the EFF has some kind of presence up here, but we really need a Canadian group that can do the leg work in Ottawa. (As great as the EFF is, anything American based will be ignored.)

Re:Sent to my MP, and the two ministers

[Mr. Flibble]

I hope you don't mind if I use the above as a template and send a similar message to my MP's as well.

Snail mail of course.

And all Canucks out there, if you mail a letter to an MP - it does not require postage. Just drop it in the mail, and it gets delivered.

Where possible, choose snail mail over email, snail mail gets more attention.

Mass Phone in! That was me,

[king-manic]

I made a call to Mr. Prentice's Ottawa office this morning. I got a reply instantly and left a polite note stating my extreme dissatisfaction with the direction in which they were going and noting I would drop my Conservative membership if this bill is even read. I've also been mobilizing my friends and my office (one of the ladies is the wife of a senator) to kibosh this bill if it's not kosher.

Re:Those pesky rights of citizens

[ToriaUru]

those pesky rights of citizens are what got the bloody government elected in the first place. So they damn well better listen to us. Get this: The Minister, Jim Prentice refuses to answer over 250 questions posed by Canadians. How's that for pissing off your people? Not a good way to treat your future voters methinks. Esp. if you're a minority government. Hell, no I don't want some stupid American-style DMCA law in my country of Canada. We are the true north, strong and free, and we are going to get a FAIR copyright law. By hook or by crook.

Re:Vote with your wallet.

[kwandar]

I told Minister Prentice that as a former Progressive Conservative party worker, and business executive,I for one would vote with my wallet by donating to other political parties who better represent my views on this issue ... and I WILL!!

Lets see how badly they want to lose the next election.

Re:Two words: minority government...

[telso]

You think this bill won't pass, but aha, you missed a short line from the Speech from the Throne [sft-ddt.gc.ca]:

Our Government will improve the protection of cultural and intellectual property rights in Canada, including copyright reform.

See, now that Harper put it in the throne speech, he can do whatever he wants, and if the Liberals (and the other parties) oppose it, bang, election time, and the Liberals probably don't want to go to an election over copyright reform. See, the trick about Harper's throne speech gimmick is he can name every policy area in existence, then introduce whatever laws he wants, and say "Ah ah ah, it's in the throne speech; if you agreed with that, you agree with this." No matter that the quote says nothing about what he'd do, or taking consumer rights away, or anything like that. Immediate poison pill.

However, I do agree that there's no need to panic yet. Stephane Dion is allegedly supposed to grow a pair over the long Christmas break, and says he wants a pre-budget election (i.e. ~February). Considering Harper is unlikely to ram this through committee, or Parliament for that matter (as there are bills much more important to him--namely, ones that will embarrass the Liberals), this bill is likely going to die on the order paper. So I agree with your final opinion, just for different reasons.

Re:Those pesky rights of citizens

[Kandenshi]

On the upside, we don't have a single alternative to the Conservative government. A couple other parties can and do get significant numbers of seats. Imagine if Liberterians down there got around 25-35% of the seats in Congress every election, and had a higher proportion of the popular vote. Makes switching from republicrats to them seem more reasonable doesn't it?

Oh, I'm sorry, here's the non-offensive version:

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

If you truly want the mental disability to stop... ... don't infringe on copyrights. Don't do it. Tell anyone and everyone not to do it. While we, as a society, keep infringing on the (MAFIAA|**AA)'s copyrights (whichever is less offensive to you), we will forever be repaying our debt to them we have accumulated as a society. Simply boycotting will just make the situation worse... etc.

See, dear mod, now you can mod me something other than flamebait, because I've removed all but all offensive material from my post. Or perhaps you find the idea that someone of at least moderate intelligence disagrees with you. In which case...

I like watching TV and can't wait for the next series of American Idol. I am part of an experiment of 1,000,000 dumbasses at 1,000,000 computers trying to create a work of genius. Unfortunately, this was all I could come up with.

Re:Low/High ranking means nothing in Harper theocr

[canuck57]

When some MP from maritime wanted a better deal for his area than was being offered (and the provincial gov't there wanted it as well), Harper threw him out of the party. Then under pressure, did the exact deal that MP wanted. When asked if the MP that was thrown out would be allowed to rejoin the party, Harper essentially said that he will *never* be part of his party ever again.

You could put any prime ministers name in above and it would still be materially correct. While Canada has a senate, it populated by inactive patronage geriatrics appointed by (and buy) the Prime Minister thus is just a high priced rubber stamp.

That is, in Canada we elect term dictators. No recall either. So MPs have to vote the party line dictated by the PM or they are so screwed. Senate reform has been talked about for years, but no one in Ottawa wants this democracy in Canada, they enjoy the plutocratic nature of our government body.