U.S. Copyright Report More Rhetoric Than Reality 123
CanuckGamer writes "Michael Geist has up a great article debunking the U.S. 'Special 301' report that is set to be released this week. The annual copyright report criticizes dozens of countries on their copyright practices, yet Geist notes that the policies are subject to growing criticism within the U.S. and that few countries are actually listening since most ignore the recommendations. 'While the report will generate media headlines and cries for immediate action from Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda, the reality is that Canada's record on intellectual property protection meets international standards. Moreover, differences between the U.S. and Canadian economies - the U.S. is a major exporter of cultural products and has therefore unsurprisingly made stronger copyright protection a core element of its trade strategy while Canada is a net importer of cultural products with a billion dollar annual culture deficit - means that U.S.-backed reforms may do more harm than good.'"
Ummm.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ummm.... (Score:4, Insightful)
We should dump the laws entirely. If that means trade drops such that we keep our billion dollars worth of stuff for ourselves and don't receive a billion dollars worth of empty "permission to copy" notes, we are much better off.
The fact that it isn't happenening speaks to the motives of our elected officials.
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Why would you care about something that has been shown to be false, though?
Re:A billion-dollar cultural deficit? (Score:5, Insightful)
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From an economics perspective, we do...
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Re:A billion-dollar cultural deficit? (Score:5, Funny)
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What's funny is that Canada actually buys this so called cultural surplus!
The Shat you say? (Score:5, Funny)
Is that with or without William Shatner?
Re:The Shat you say? (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:The Shat you say? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The Shat you say? (Score:4, Insightful)
Really tho, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda should take a good hard look at how multiple hundreds of millions of dollars transferred out of the Canadian economy, and consequently the loss of a fair number of jobs, would serve Canadian industry or Canadian cultural workers.
Once you export something ... (Score:2)
I'm guessing that Canada hopes so.
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Someone had said 'he's from Canada, isn't he?'
So using your logic, Colonel Sanders lived out his retirement in Canada, does that mean Kentucky Fried Chicken should be renamed to Canadian Fried Chicken because he 'exported'?
Just food for thought.
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indeed (Score:2)
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of TJ Hooker to this issue. Close analysis will reveal that most of American cultural export is the functional equivalent of pornography: intended neither to advance an idea nor stimulate an affect, but to satisfy an appetite.
Sane valuation would reveal that after Gordon Lightfoot, Canada banked a net surplus with America which would stand it in good stead for years to come.
What Canada should say to the US (Score:4, Insightful)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_ publications/company_level_imports/current/import. html [doe.gov]
Now go piss off.
Re:What Canada should say to the US (Score:4, Funny)
I guess we should hide because that's what we do best. So, uh... let's see. Roughly 10 million square kilometers and about 30 million people. I don't want to see anyone else within 300 square meters of me!
Re:What Canada should say to the US (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872964.html [infoplease.com]
Canada has the world's second largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia. Why are they importing instead of exporting right now? Because oil is currently dirt cheap, compared to what it will be in 20 years. Canada is just sitting back, watching the world tear itself apart over oil, all the while not sharing what they have.
Watch it, Canada will be the new superpower in a couple decades. That, or we'll just invade them.
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Interesting scenario - I think we'll do just that - I doubt they'll even put up a defense.
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Maybe we can work a deal where we'll throw out Texas and Florida, then make Canada and Quebec our 49th and 50th states.
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The reason Canada would not want to be take over, amoung all other things, is that, going by present numbers, that oil would have to support 330 million people instead of just 30 million.... but with that idea about Quebec, it even wants to seperate from Canada itself from
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It's not a question of courage, it would just be a futile fight IMO.
I don't think it would ever happen, and if it did America would find that its allies from the gulf wars were all of the sudden on the other side. I really don't think Great Britain would be to pleased, Blair or not. Russia has also shown that they have no problem providing weapons and intelligence to the USA's enemies, so I think they would help us out. Anyways, the point is that the combined might of the above would be a threat to the US and would have to be considered.
There's also the fact that mo
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For which side? Take a look at current state of the art assymetric warfare and then imagine sharing a border the length of Canadas with 3 million insurgents. Not to mention the number of disenfranchised Americans that would probably want to play their own game in the chaos.
Large parts of both countries would be reduced to 2 hours electricity per day, bottled water from the red cross and foodpacks before such a conflict was over. Not to me
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With that in mind, I propose we build the Great Wall of Canada, to keep all the refugees out.
The best way would probably be to suggest the idea to the Americans now while they're paranoid, then they can build it for us. Once they get it finished, we just nail all the doors shut from the northern side.
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I'm just wondering about the implications of such a scenario. Would they fight back? It's not a question of courage, it would just be a futile fight IMO.
If the US shows that it is willing to invade a friendly country, I suggest that the EU and Russia help Canada, since otherwise we (the EU) could be next. I wonder how the US would react to such a development. Also note that everyone that sees the US as a threat might also help out, such as China, and possibly even arab states providing support in the form of suicide bombers. :)
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Re:What Canada should say to the US (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What Canada should say to the US (Score:4, Interesting)
Estimates of Iraq's oil reserves have recently been doubled.
The US already invaded them, so I think Canada is safe for a while yet.
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Believing that there will always be more oil somewhere, and as technology advances, there will always be more is like believing that there is pirate treasure in your front yard, and someday someone will invent a metal detector advanced enough for you to discover it.
Peak oil is a reality, the best we can do is continue to push it off while oil gets more and more expensive. You can bet that if oil had remained mere dollars a barrel, we'd be done by now. When oil gets to b
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You also imply that all of the oil in Canada is in the tar sands... That is completely untrue.
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Yeah, so once the world is "tearing itself apart" over the lack of oil, what do you think the price per barrel will be at that point?
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There are a few major reasons that first-world democracies don't invade each other and one of them is free trade. It would be senseless for America to invade Canada in order to acquire Canada's oil reserves, because Canadians are willing extract this oil from the ground and ship to the Americans' doorsteps for about the same price as it would take for Americans to do it themselves.
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Canada also has more standing timber than the US. Canada also has more available fresh water than the US. All we seem to have in the US is a military, but guess what's going to happen when we get thirsty.
It should go without saying, but to those who are offended---it's a joke.
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Cultural? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the word you are looking for is "entertainment". Unless you forgot the quotes.
kultur (Score:3, Interesting)
If one regards the word in its general sense, without connotative value, cultural is just what is required here. In particular, US cultural production is rarely entertaining, but the Knight Rider is a *cultural* product. If it were identified as such more often, the market for it might shrink a bit. Certainly, fewer people would be inclined to allow their professional association with it. As it is, the work is written off as product analogous to the way current political discourse is written off as spin
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I agree (Score:2)
Boo! (Score:5, Insightful)
Neither (Score:3, Insightful)
The headline is a statement of fact. Unless one regards rhetoric as inherently perjorative ( a pernicious contemporary usage, mind) to say that the USTR report on IP is language intended to pursuade is hardly slant or editorializing. The Bush political appointee is merely doing his job.
Extending copyright is important (Score:5, Informative)
Copyright isn't enough to satisfy their greed (Score:3, Interesting)
Glyn Moody from Linux Journal: [linuxjournal.com]
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There once was a man who went to a computer trade show. Each day as he entered, the man told the guard at the door:
``I am a great thief, renowned for my feats of shoplifting. Be forewarned, for this trade show shall not escape unplundered.''
This speech disturbed the guard greatly, because there were millions of dollars of computer equipment inside, so he watched the man carefully. But the man merely wandered from booth to booth, humming quietl
and they say capitalism is not theft (Score:3)
Capitalism posits one form of value: perceived value.
Marxism posits two forms of value: exchange value and use value.
The human organism exists in a matrix of overlapping values that, by the tacit statement of their poets, cannot be reduced to a unary or binary formalism.
but we won't (Score:3, Interesting)
I think we must work hard to roll back this term "IP". .
But we won't. We each want a chance to cash in before the tragedy. Particularly if it is down to geeks to intervene in the use of these terms, we will resist. Every programmer has a *big idea* and the desire to capitalize is not regarded as crass or dishonest, but a civic duty. If ideas aren't property, how can knowledge be valuable?
Seductive, easy and wrong answers to that question abound.
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In order for something to be property, the owner must be able to use and enjoy it, let others use or not use it as he sees fit, and dispose of it as he sees fit. Knowledge is non-rivalrous, however. You can let others use knowledge you have gained, but you cannot get it back from them, nor can you really get rid of it yourself. Further, knowledge is often more valuable the more it is shared, due to network effects. Consider knowledge related to hygiene
quite (Score:2)
. . . knowledge is often more valuable the more it is shared . .
If it's not monetized, its not value; not in the liberal capitalist democracies. They'll be crying all the way to the bank.
Values (as opposed to value) are the prerogative of those who can afford to exercise them.
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I'd like to know what you think a seductive, easy and wrong answer to your question is, and what the difficult right answer is. Only because by asking it you imply that you know the answers. Why not tell the rest of us?
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Wealth in a society as a whole is the lack of scarcity. 'IP' is monpoly rights; the artificial restriction of duplication, which creates artificial scarcity; ie, the fundamental essense of IP is diametrically opposite to the idea of economic growth.
"If ideas aren't property, how can knowledge be valuable?"
If air isnt property, how can air be valuable?
Non-scarce items have no (as in approaching zero) cost, but they can still be valuable. The problem w
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If I give you the cookbook used by the most famous cook in the world, does that make you as 'valuable' an asset to a restaurant as that cook would be?
The answer to that question is most likely a resounding 'no'. You lack something the cook has, namely skill and experience.
Like fire, it takes three components to pull off a successful project: an idea, knowledge and skill. Take one away and the chance of success diminishes greatly.
Your ideas, once ex
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Knowledge and Time are both one-way propositions, and just as you cannot go back in time the way you can return to a point in space, you cannot take back a datum from someone's head as you could take back an object.
So although information and time are both valuable, they are fundamentally unlike other valuable things that can be correctly understood as property (objects and space).
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What happens when technology improves to the point where authors do not die? I know this is far thinking, but there will come a day in the next few centuries where people live for thousands of years.
Do you account for people who own copyrights that will never become public domain because of life extension? I would just say 100 years tops for any authored copyrights and the same for corporate.
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Re:Extending copyright is important (Score:4, Informative)
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It appears that you forgot the <sarcasm> tag.
Certainly, money is the motivation. Corporations are seeking to extend the current value of IP that is nearing its expiration date. I don't think George Lucas really cares very much about this, since he will be long dead before his works go into the public domain.
It all comes down to the present value [wikipedia.org] of the expected income flow over time. For Lucas, the present value of that income
the U.S. is a major exporter of cultural products (Score:1, Insightful)
the U.S. is a major exporter of cultural crap.
There, fixed it for you!
Re:the U.S. is a major exporter of cultural produc (Score:5, Funny)
the U.S. is a major exporter of crap.
there, i fixed it for you :-)
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Actually one of the top TV shows for me is ReGenesis [wikipedia.org]. It gets silly with the fake science almost every time, but it is not as silly as XFiles with fake science (oh, no, Scully put science on a religious pedestal yet one more time with her "You don't question the science, goddammit!")
But really, the best shows that I know are ReGenesis, Dexter, Futurama, Fraser, Family Guy, Married with Children, XFiles, Seinfeld, Simpsons, Home Improvement and The Outer Limits not necessarily in
Information Feudalism (Score:2, Informative)
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Damn Canadians (Score:5, Funny)
it's quite shocking... (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, never mind. We don't even listen to our own scientists who repeatedly tell us about global warming.
That's true for most countries (Score:2)
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Canada is a net exporter. In fact, if it wasn't for music exports, Canada would have to rely on it's primary cash crop (which is green and leafy).
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Actually, though, I believe the US produces almost as much, but we're slackers here in America.
The USA... of course. (Score:4, Insightful)
Or, more specifically: why don't the PEOPLE see anything wrong with it when the administration(s) (both past and present) think they have the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries?
the reasons why (Score:2)
[W]hy don't the PEOPLE see anything wrong with it when the administration(s) (both past and present) think they have the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries?
Um. The very idea of *other countries* finds itself through the work of socio-political discourse. If there were not other countries, our actions would not be meddling but interaction. The power grants your borders in order to arrogate the right to broach them.
But the question is moot. Lenin's anticipated withering of the state
There are no conspiracies (Score:2)
. . . but conspiracies of interest.
And it's *possessive*.
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Why would the people get angry that their government is so powerful, it's able to meddle in the affairs of other countries? It's only the people being meddled with that get angry, and the most they manage to do is swap their own politicans for someone else and tell them to grow a backbone, something they'll fail to do
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what business do the USA ... the USA... Why do the USA ...
In your repetitious use of "the USA," it sounds like you are suggesting that all American individuals follow such behaviors. I believe this particular attack would be better directed at multinational media corporations. If I may make an assumption, I'm sure they don't care about the country of origin for a particular law, as long it is the law that benefits them most; I believe it just so happens that the USA currently has such laws.
Perhaps someone could prove me wrong? What are the Japanese IP / co
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You have a point, but I think the "repetitious use of 'the USA'" is a result of politicians and their representatives from "the USA" repeatedly and vocally criticizing Canadian law. From the article [michaelgeist.ca] we're discussing:
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There I fixed that for you. I could go into depth about the stupidity, arrogance, and laziness of my fellow countrymen, however I don't think
be honest (Score:2)
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the past reports (Score:1)
The 2007 report is not out yet.
HTTP Status 301 - http://copyright.ca (Score:2, Funny)
Copyright is imoral (Score:2)
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A group of people != nobody, TPB != the onlty source one should use for your clame.
Has the term, gross generalization missed yur brain?
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