Lobby Groups Launch Full Assault For Canadian DMCA 135
An anonymous reader writes "Bill C-61, the previous attempt at a Canadian DMCA, may have failed, but it is clear that the music, movie, and business software industries are engaged in putting massive pressure on the Canadian government to bring it back. Lobbying records show several meetings each week with Government Ministers for CRIA, CMPDA, and Microsoft over the past month. Meanwhile, the CRIA is preparing a grassroots campaign in support of new copyright laws, even claiming that the current rules are costing jobs to truck drivers delivering CDs and DVDs."
Jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what costs jobs? Technological change -- it's a good thing.
Re:Truck Drivers? (Score:5, Insightful)
In all seriousness, technology marches on. The number of folks earning a living building horse drawn carriages dropped off sharply with the advent of mass-produced automobiles.
Re:If truck drivers are losing their jobs.... (Score:5, Insightful)
yes, perfect system indeed.
Re:I say lets cut off their content... (Score:5, Insightful)
But thanks to copyright extended to more than a life after the artist death, RIAA will enjoy money anyway.
However, I think that the only way to wake up the "common person" to the current abuse of copyright by RIAA is for RIAA to be even more abusive.
History tell us that only after tyrants have done truly outrageus act then the people will stand up, not earlier (unfortunately).
Enjoy your music :-)
Here's an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Stop funding them. More and more artists are starting to see the light - that even if they give away their new albums online, and make their money via live concerts, they will *still* make more than they are through these usurious contracts they have with Big Media, Inc.
If people would just stop buying RIAA-produced crap (and stop stealing it!), the problem would eventually solve itself. It's no secret that they'll need to be dragged kicking and screaming back to this thing we all know as 'reality,' but it's gotta happen sooner or later. Right now we're just prolonging the agony for everyone.
Re:Jobs (Score:3, Insightful)
I've met people from accounting firms who have paperless offices. Computers probably increased employment in accounting because more could be done at reasonable cost.
Great for the Environment (Score:5, Insightful)
Fewer trucks on the road and fewer CDs being smelted cannot possibly be a bad thing in the big picture. Not a big impact but would positive contribution if it was not BS trying to pass a law.
Re:If truck drivers are losing their jobs.... (Score:2, Insightful)
the levy system most certainly doesn't work. you end up paying for something you don't want. I, for example don't ever wish to purchase a top 40 cd. but due to the levy system if i purchased a blank cd in canada my money would be funneled directly to the very people i don't want it to even through i've never downloaded anything that belongs to them.
yes, perfect system indeed.
Conversly, after buying blank CDs I remember to go download big label music.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I say lets cut off their content... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, it's not the media companies.
The problem is that the last two WIPO treaties require DMCA style laws. Pretty much any country that doesn't implement those will end up being passed over in other crap that the international community does. It will hurt trade and cause financial issues.
The American DMCA provisions are more or less taken straight from the requirements of the WIPO Copyright Treaty or WTC [wipo.int] and the WPPT or WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty [wipo.int] with the exception of penalties and a few extremes. Canada signed onto both of the treaties on 12/22/1997. Focusing on the media companies will only result in disappointed losses in the fight. You need to get the government (your local government as well as other country's governments) to change the treaties and international obligations to them to reflect the will of your people.
You or I or anyone can complain about Disney or Warner bros or whatever. They are as powerful as they are in this fight because they are attempting to get the governments of countries to make good on treaties that almost all countries in the world have signed an obligation to. It's the reason that the pirate bay just got into trouble, it's the reason why their laws are being changed and why charges were being brought against a group of people on the behalf of people and corporations that most likely don't even have offices in the country.
Sure, keep believing media corps are evil. I'm not asking you or anyone else to embrace them. I'm asking people to actually pay attention to where this crap is coming from so that we don't dick around with seemingly related issues that end up being a dead end. The treaties need to be adjusted-changes-destroyed-whatever before this threat goes away. When I can say Canada or any other country has to pass a law because a treaty they signed obligated them to, no matter how much it looks like I am the bad guy, I'm more or less only reminding those countries of their obligations.
While it would be fun, that's all it would be "for fun". Or at least until the right crap was changed out. Even if "big media" had no clients, they could/would still push for the treaties to be implemented.
Re:If truck drivers are losing their jobs.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Signing the treaty doesn't create the obligation, it's ratifying it that does. Canada signed those treaties, but hasn't ratified them. It's like the US position regarding the Kyoto Protocol, or the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: signed, but not ratified, so not bound by the terms of the treaty.
Re:Truck Drivers? (Score:3, Insightful)
Especially the bulky boxes and advertising that go with those disks. And especially when the first few patches are actually _larger_ than the original disks.
I would love to see all game and software distribution restricted to standard CD case size, just for enironmental reasons. I can see having a recyclable plastic case to protect it, but who needs those artifically long DVD boxes?
Re:Truck Drivers? (Score:4, Insightful)
If these people are having THAT many meetings with government officials, they aren't talking about whether or not it will happen, but HOW it will happen.
It must be stopped. A TV campaign must be put on the air stating what happened in the U.S. and how it was passed and that the same law had failed in Canada but they haven't given up. People need to know what demon they are attempting to give birth to and how it harms the people.
What can *I* do? (Score:2, Insightful)
I live in Ottawa and want to do something more than write a letter that I know will be ignored to a local MP who I know is not in line with my position anyway. While I'm interested in law & policy as it applies to this domain, it's definitely not in my sphere of knowledge.
Do /.ers have any suggestions about what I can do to fight this, or good ways to raise awareness?
Re:Truck Drivers? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Truck Drivers? (Score:4, Insightful)
There are far fewer CDs being solde these days,
therefore less truck drivers are needed to ship them.
Blame Brittany Spears, Blame ITunes.
What an inane argument by a clueless government.
Shipping data digitally is so much more cost effective, cheaper, lowers gas consumption (which both lowers emissions, and the pressure on the price of gas).
If the government actually wants to help the citizens who (barely) voted them in, they should ban the physical shipment of anything that could otherwise be sent digitally.
But no, they are clearly in the sway of the media megacorps (none of which are Canadian) for some unknown reason (kickbacks) that they plan to set Canada back years to protect an obsolete business model.
Re:Truck Drivers? (Score:3, Insightful)
You inadvertently bring up another good point, too.
If internet piracy means less trucks on the road, does that make internet piracy environmentally friendly? Would encouraging piracy help Canada fulfil its G20 green commitments?