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Canadians Battling Proposed Canadian DMCA
Posted by
kdawson
on Sun Aug 17, 2008 07:24 PM
from the leave-us-a-commons-eh dept.
from the leave-us-a-commons-eh dept.
An anonymous reader writes "CTV reports on how Canadians are fighting back against the Canadian DMCA. Led by Michael Geist, the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group is nearing 90,000 members. There are local chapters, a YouTube contest, wikis, and people writing letters and organizing rallies against the copyright bill. Geist said, 'When you get tens of thousands of Canadians speaking out like this, there's big political risk for any political party who chooses to ignore it.'"
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Your Rights Online: Canadian DMCA Proposal About To Die 186 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Like the previous Bill C-60 before it, the proposed Bill C-61 that would bring DMCA-like laws to Canada is poised to die on the order table, never to receive a vote, as the current minority government falls. An election call is expected in days. Everybody expects that some form of these laws will be back yet again (third time's a charm?). There are too many interests pushing for change to let it go. But here's a chance for Canadians to influence politicians about it in an election campaign, and hopefully strike a better balance. And for those of you in the rest of the world who are laboring under a DMCA-like copyright law, let's hear your stories about why such laws are a good or bad idea, and if bad, how you would amend the law to make it tolerable. With the polls probably on Oct. 14th, Canadians will be looking for a few good ideas."
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No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
Prentice and the Tories don't need to worry about voters. I'm sure they've been paid handsomely by American media giants for their co-operation.
Re:No Worries (Score:5, Informative)
1. William Davis, Tory premier of Ontario, who after giving full funding to Catholic schools, was tossed out of office after 40 years of consecutive Conservative rule.
2. Brian Mulroney, Ronny Reagans buddy, after introducing the Gouge and Screw Tax, had his MAJORITY government reduced to 2 seats in the next election.
These tories have been warned, enact this legislation and they will be destroyed politically. Harper won't be able to run for village mayor after we're through with him.
Parent
Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
These tories have been warned, enact this legislation and they will be destroyed politically. Harper won't be able to run for village mayor after we're through with him.
But it does show in majority governments in Canada, they are term dictators. The senate is nothing more than old patronage buddies collecting big bucks to rubber stamp things. But fortunately we are in a minority government situation which makes the dictatorship more tenuous.
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually in Canada politicians are not allowed to take donations from corporations and individuals are limited to small donations.
The problem here is not money it's the previous government signing a treaty that makes something like the DMCA a requirement and the US ambassador lobbying on behalf of the RIAA/MPAA threatening to damage Canada's economy with a trade war.
The other real problem is that Prentice doesn't have enough of a backbone.
Parent
Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, they say you can't buy votes but that's not really true and you know it. Who cares if 2000 knowledgable voters get pissed at you if 5000 clueless voters vote for you instead with your new campaigning budget? It doesn't really matter where and why the vote comes from, a vote is as good as any other. People don't want to hear the truth, they want to hear how you'll make their lives so much better so it's tough to call someone on talking bullshit - even when they're not pimping some lobbyist agenda they are telling you sweet, sweet lies.
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
That may be true in the US, but in Canada the general public seems to put a little more effort into elections than just voting for the person who has the most signs on front lawns.
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Informative)
Really? We didn't even break through 70% of eligible voters showing up in the last election. In some parts of the country it was a lot less. Maybe Canadians are slightly less apathetic than their US counterparts, but only slightly.
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Interesting)
We would like for everyone to inform themselves and make an educated decision about the candidates,
I like to think that I'm a reasonably well-informed and educated person. I take an interest (greater or lesser in a great many things, including politics and the world around us.
I have, in several elections, gone to the polling station, taken my ballot to the little booth and after unfolding it, I re-fold it and return it to the clerk for her to put into the ballot box. I vote, but I make no mark on the ballot at all if, in my opinion, no candidate is worthy of receiving my vote.
And I am Canadian.
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Educated and Informed -- about issues. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
A fact that I am infinitely grateful for. Electing judges and district attorneys, for example, is pure madness.
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Re:No Worries (Score:5, Insightful)
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Political Repurcussions (Score:5, Interesting)
Does anyone know who in the US elected government caused the US DMCA to happen?
So, if even slashdot users can't remember who caused the original DMCA to happen, what hope is there that any Canadian politicians would be worried?
Canada is a democracy (Score:5, Informative)
If Canadian politicians don't respond to the wishes of their constituents, they have the option of replacing them. The current ruling party, for example, is only about 20 years old.
It's not comparable to the US system where Democrats have a monopoly on the left and Republicans on the right.
Parent
Re:Canada is a democracy (Score:5, Informative)
The Reform Party was founded in 1987. Sure, they change their name every 5 years or so, but still.
Parent
Re:Political Repurcussions (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because there really is only one side in US politics, the one with the money.
As long as TV advertising is the way to get voters this will not change.
Parent
Facebook group counts ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Have we really entered an age where the number of people who join facebook groups are used as some kind of measure?
Half the people I know on facebook join whatever the hell their friends join, or click anything they can to get the alerts to go away.
Seriously - really?
its for their own good (Score:4, Informative)
The government will just ignore them and do what they want, as the people are too stupid to know what is right.
( yes thats sarcasm, but its also what the 'man' will do if given a chance )
No conspiracy theory here (Score:5, Insightful)
Despite the conspiracy theories you're likely to hear about this, the reason why the DMCA sailed through Congress is the same reason it'll sail through Canada's legislative process... media companies are responsible for a nice chunk of GNP (and whatever they call it in Canada), and neither side, liberal or conservative, is willing give up that wealth. And both sides believe that things like high technology for consumers and piracy is a danger to their broadcasters and publishers.
The reason opponents are going to lose on this is that all major parties will be on board with the copyright holders. And average voters don't give a rat's ass about copyright reform crusades.
Re:No conspiracy theory here (Score:5, Interesting)
Despite the conspiracy theories you're likely to hear about this, the reason why the DMCA sailed through Congress is the same reason it'll sail through Canada's legislative process... media companies are responsible for a nice chunk of GNP (and whatever they call it in Canada)
That's not really true.
The value of RIAA members' shipments (not sales) in 2007 [76.74.24.142] was $10.37 billion.
The value of MPAA members' U.S. domestic box office and home video sales in 2007 [mpaa.org] was $37.44 billion ($40.92 per person box office + $118.39 per person home video times 235 million adults).
U.S. GDP in 2007 was $13.6 trillion, so together the RIAA and MPAA comprise 0.35% of the U.S. economy. For comparison, the MP3 player market in the U.S. for 2007 [metrics2.com] was an estimated $5.4 billion. That's just MP3 players, never mind accessories, home audio systems, headphones, car stereos, etc.
If they were a Fortune 500 companies [cnn.com], the MPAA's movie-related sales would come in at #62, and the RIAA's members would come in at #256. They wield so much power because they make a disproportionately high amount of campaign donations [opensecrets.org].
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Re:No conspiracy theory here (Score:5, Informative)
Actually in Canada the official opposition (Liberals) and our left-wing party (NDP) have come out in opposition to this bill.
That doesn't mean that the Liberals will vote against it. They may sit on their hands or run away as they have for past votes. Perhaps a historian of Canadian politics could say whether there was ever a wimpier opposition. I doubt it.
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Re:No conspiracy theory here (Score:5, Insightful)
What's the point in bringing down the government if the end result is to end up where you started?
Well, some would say principles but we all know there's no room for that in politics.
Parent
It needs to be said... (Score:5, Insightful)
Michael Geist is a shining example of why academics are critically important in society - and why governments detest them. His running analysis of bill C-61 has been eloquent, straightforward and polite. He has earned a loyal following be clearly explaining what the flaws of the legislation are and how they will impact Canadians in everyday use (for example, how the Government is touting the clauses that grant timeshifting and device shifting rights while glossing over the fact that other parts of the legislation effectively neuter consumer rights where DRM is involved).
Dr. Geist's blog posts and editorials in several major Canadian newspapers encouraged me to write to several members of parliament after a lifetime of political apathy. More importantly, I've done my best to explain the legislation's flaws to others, too, in the hope that they will take action. Several have, also for the first time.
It's funny what you get used to. (Score:5, Insightful)
We have a bill, moving forward, over which the citizenry seems to be divided between those opposed and those apathetic. And, nevertheless, the bill has a credible shot at passing, and this is treated as a fairly unremarkable occurrence. The fact that legislation can happen, in absence of popular support, unless some(large) quantity of displeasure materializes, is a seriously broken imitation of representative government.
It shouldn't take mass protest to kill legislation that has near zero popular support, it should simply die as a matter of course. How did we come to accept a situation where that isn't the case?