While sifting through a cardboard box of books last week in the basement of my parent’s house, I came across Glenn Reynolds’ 2006 book An Army of Davids: How markets and technology empower ordinary people to beat Big Media, Big Government and other Goliaths. Apparently it had gone unnoticed and was mistakenly placed in a neglected stack of books (along with my copy of William Gibson’s Spook Country!). Continue reading
They changed their minds again, so no Canadian DMCA. At least not until the House is back in session at the end of January. But like I said in response to Matt’s post on the previous delay: we cannot back down now.
As Michael Geist wrote today:
“[...] this is Prentice’s moment. He has an opportunity to brush aside the momentary embarrassment of the delays and instead work toward a genuine copyright balance by reaching out to all Canadians. As astonishing number of people have voiced their concern over the past two weeks and the government seems to have listened. Now it must act by openly consulting and engaging with a country that genuinely cares about copyright.”
Personally, I don’t know how willing Mr. Prentice will be to do this… at least not without our encouragement. So keep sending letters! Keep emailing emails! Get everyone you know to join the facebook group!! (its the only reason I’ve used my account in a long time) 20, 647 people is 0.06% of Canada’s entire population, but we need *more*. We need to maintain the pressure through the holiday season, and especially in January, and until we are witness to Canada getting copyright legislature that makes us *proud* to be Canadians!
To Minister Jim Prentice, Industry Canada,
You should be ashamed of yourself. The delay in rolling out the new Canadian copyright bill earlier this week gave many Canadians hope that you would revise the bill in order to protect consumer and artist interests. Instead what we see is the Canadian government, once again, bowing down before the interests of (predominantly American) industry lobby groups and accepting their demands. This is appalling, and Canadians are outraged. Continue reading
It appears as though I can still rip my CDs and DVDs for use on my iPod, thanks to public outcry from across the interwebs, as the proposed new Copyright Law for Canada has been delayed. Everyone who contacted Industry Minister Jim Prentice or their member or parliament in regards to this matter should give themselves a pat on the back. Continue reading
I am writing to express my discontent that the Canadian Government, a government which I believed to be progressive in its views on advances in culture and technology, would table a new copyright bill that is overly restrictive on the way Canadians can legally use their digital property. Furthermore, that the Government would do this without public consultation is even worse.
Copyright was invented to protect creators, but that is not what is being accomplished here.
“Industry lobby groups such as the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) can no more legitimately claim to politically represent the interests of creators than the owners of the major banks can claim to politically represent the interests of people who have bank accounts.” – digital-copyright.ca
These intermediaries (which are neither creators nor consumers) are afraid that they are no longer needed. And it is true, in their current form they are not. For example: Radiohead released their latest album directly to consumers which was a huge success, and sites like amiestreet.com exist to allow independent musicians to be widely distributed and profitable. But rather than accepting change and encouraging innovation into new business models, these corporate intermediaries are stifling the industry in an attempt to secure their place at it’s centre.
What benefits could this bill possibly bring to either the consumers or the artists, the two groups that most need lawful protection?
The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) had similar intentions and had horrible results. Thousands of consumers have been sued over copyright infringement by these groups in the name of “protecting the artists”, but not a singly dollar gained from these lawsuits have been given to the works in question’s creators.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a horrible idea that has punished innocent consumers by denying their right to free access to content they legally purchased. Laws preventing individuals from reverse engineering such mechanisms (research falls under Fair Dealing), or discussing and distributing similar research and tools derived thereof (freedom of speech), are in violation of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Culture and technology are developing at an ever accelerating rate. In a world that is advancing as rapidly as it is, the last thing that Canadians need is poorly thought out legislature that is slowing us down. A Canadian version of the DMCA will leave us 10 years behind.
Sincerely,
Patrick McKenna