Call for Canadian Action: re DMCA
I've never been a good activist, actually I really don't care much about "news" items as many who know me well know, but in this case I must rally the troops and stand tall.
Please read this full text from Cory Doctorow's blog on Boing Boing, and if you need to investigate more follow the links or google the issue. You are on the internet and I am sure you know others who are on, this issue effects us all. This is not about illegal downloading, this is about legal powers going too far where you could be guilty until proven innocent. Please write the Minister (no stamp needed) and tell him that this bill is draconian and will only lead to needless lawsuits lining the pockets of lawyers and not the Artists who they pretend to represent. There are other ways to protect digital property rights but currently the whole 19th century understanding of copyright needs to be redefined in this much different age: "We can have a sane and balanced copyright law, one that protects the Canadian public and Canadian artists." This proposed bill does not accomplish that!
Please, read below and give our country a Christmas present, write this along with your Christmas cards.
If you're a Canadian and you want to talk to Industry Minister Jim Prentice about his proposal for a Canadian DMCA, a copyright law that's even worse than the ten-year-old American legislation that resulted in lawsuits against 20,000+ Americans without stopping infringement or paying artists, now's your chance!
This Saturday, Minister Prentice is hosting an open house in Calgary at his constituency office. This is the best chance we will ever have to make our feelings known about the Canadian DMCA. If you are in or near Calgary, plan on attending this event, along with local activist Kempton Lam (sign up on the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group).
Dress neatly. Be polite. Be firm. Be friendly. Ask the Minister tough questions (the CBC has collected over 250 questions about this, all of which Prentice has refused to answer) in front of his constituents, the people who voted him into office (you don't need to remind him that that the last two MPs who tried to introduce a Canadian DMCA lost their jobs -- he knows!).
Prentice's open house runs from 1PM-3PM tomorrow, Saturday, December 8 at 1318 Centre Street NE, Suite 105, Calgary, AB (details on Prentice's website)
Not in Calgary? NO PROBLEM! Plan on calling the Minister tomorrow or on dropping him an email, expressing your regrets that you can't attend the open house, but letting him know how you feel. Here are the numbers:
Ottawa office - (613) 992-4275
Calgary office - (403) 216-7777
Minister office - (613) 995-9001
His email address is: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca. Once you send an email, print it out and mail it (no stamp needed!) to:
Jim Prentice
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
The word is that the Minister's office is reeling from the overwhelming, national response to this badly written, badly planned bill. Bringing this legislation to Canada is Prentice's "series of tubes" moment, the point at which Canada's Internet Czar shows himself to be largely ignorant of its workings and power.
I believe that we can stop this bill. I will be calling the Minister tomorrow, and sending him a letter. I hope you do so as well. Canadians don't need to follow the US off the copyright cliff. We can have a sane and balanced copyright law, one that protects the Canadian public and Canadian artists.
Tell your friends. Tell your family. If you care about the net, this could be the most important thing you do this year. Take action and save the country.
STILL NOT CONVINCED? Read on this might compel you:
More grim news about Canada's DMCA, the coming copyright law that manages to be even worse than the disastrous, ten-year-old American Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Industry Minister Jim Prentice has announced that the public-interest questions raised by the bill will be hived off into a committee that meets after the law is enacted.
This kind of committee typically takes years to get anything done -- two years to meet, two years to consider recommendations, two years to consult on proposals, two years to introduce legislation. Canada only introduces new copyright law every ten years or so.
This means that Canadians will likely suffer for a decade under Prentice's badly thought-out legislation before anything is done to see to it that the law is balanced to take in the interests of Canada's schools, disabled people, children, archivists, artists, scholars and other users of copyrighted works. Given that Canada's arts community has come out against this kind of legislation, you have to wonder: just who is this for? The US-led multinational labels in the "Canadian" Recording Industry Association? (Remember, in the first ten years of the US DMCA, 20,000 American music fans were sued and not one penny was paid to artists as a result, nor did file sharing decrease).
Prentice has refused to appear on the CBC's Search Engine programme to discuss his bill. He's gone into hiding, spinning out unconvincing little sops like this one to try to save his bacon -- after all, the last two MPs who tried to introduce a Canadian DMCA lost their jobs.
If the introduction of a Canadian DMCA were not bad enough, sources now indicate that Industry Minister Jim Prentice plans to delay addressing the copyright concerns of individual Canadians for years. Rather than including consumer concerns such as flexible fair dealing, time shifting, format shifting, parody, and the future of the private copying levy within the forthcoming bill, Prentice will instead strike a Copyright Review Panel to consider future copyright reforms. Modeled after the Telecom Policy Review Panel, the CRP will presumably take a year or two to consult Canadians on various copyright issues. In all likelihood, the government will then take another year or two to consider the recommendations, another year to propose potential reforms, another year or two to consult on those proposals, and another year or two to finally introduce legislation. Given that Canada has historically only passed major copyright reform once every ten years, Prentice will be in his early 60s and likely collecting his Member of Parliament pension by the time Canadians see copyright reform that addresses fair use.
Please read this full text from Cory Doctorow's blog on Boing Boing, and if you need to investigate more follow the links or google the issue. You are on the internet and I am sure you know others who are on, this issue effects us all. This is not about illegal downloading, this is about legal powers going too far where you could be guilty until proven innocent. Please write the Minister (no stamp needed) and tell him that this bill is draconian and will only lead to needless lawsuits lining the pockets of lawyers and not the Artists who they pretend to represent. There are other ways to protect digital property rights but currently the whole 19th century understanding of copyright needs to be redefined in this much different age: "We can have a sane and balanced copyright law, one that protects the Canadian public and Canadian artists." This proposed bill does not accomplish that!
Please, read below and give our country a Christmas present, write this along with your Christmas cards.
If you're a Canadian and you want to talk to Industry Minister Jim Prentice about his proposal for a Canadian DMCA, a copyright law that's even worse than the ten-year-old American legislation that resulted in lawsuits against 20,000+ Americans without stopping infringement or paying artists, now's your chance!
This Saturday, Minister Prentice is hosting an open house in Calgary at his constituency office. This is the best chance we will ever have to make our feelings known about the Canadian DMCA. If you are in or near Calgary, plan on attending this event, along with local activist Kempton Lam (sign up on the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group).
Dress neatly. Be polite. Be firm. Be friendly. Ask the Minister tough questions (the CBC has collected over 250 questions about this, all of which Prentice has refused to answer) in front of his constituents, the people who voted him into office (you don't need to remind him that that the last two MPs who tried to introduce a Canadian DMCA lost their jobs -- he knows!).
Prentice's open house runs from 1PM-3PM tomorrow, Saturday, December 8 at 1318 Centre Street NE, Suite 105, Calgary, AB (details on Prentice's website)
Not in Calgary? NO PROBLEM! Plan on calling the Minister tomorrow or on dropping him an email, expressing your regrets that you can't attend the open house, but letting him know how you feel. Here are the numbers:
Ottawa office - (613) 992-4275
Calgary office - (403) 216-7777
Minister office - (613) 995-9001
His email address is: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca. Once you send an email, print it out and mail it (no stamp needed!) to:
Jim Prentice
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
The word is that the Minister's office is reeling from the overwhelming, national response to this badly written, badly planned bill. Bringing this legislation to Canada is Prentice's "series of tubes" moment, the point at which Canada's Internet Czar shows himself to be largely ignorant of its workings and power.
I believe that we can stop this bill. I will be calling the Minister tomorrow, and sending him a letter. I hope you do so as well. Canadians don't need to follow the US off the copyright cliff. We can have a sane and balanced copyright law, one that protects the Canadian public and Canadian artists.
Tell your friends. Tell your family. If you care about the net, this could be the most important thing you do this year. Take action and save the country.
STILL NOT CONVINCED? Read on this might compel you:
More grim news about Canada's DMCA, the coming copyright law that manages to be even worse than the disastrous, ten-year-old American Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Industry Minister Jim Prentice has announced that the public-interest questions raised by the bill will be hived off into a committee that meets after the law is enacted.
This kind of committee typically takes years to get anything done -- two years to meet, two years to consider recommendations, two years to consult on proposals, two years to introduce legislation. Canada only introduces new copyright law every ten years or so.
This means that Canadians will likely suffer for a decade under Prentice's badly thought-out legislation before anything is done to see to it that the law is balanced to take in the interests of Canada's schools, disabled people, children, archivists, artists, scholars and other users of copyrighted works. Given that Canada's arts community has come out against this kind of legislation, you have to wonder: just who is this for? The US-led multinational labels in the "Canadian" Recording Industry Association? (Remember, in the first ten years of the US DMCA, 20,000 American music fans were sued and not one penny was paid to artists as a result, nor did file sharing decrease).
Prentice has refused to appear on the CBC's Search Engine programme to discuss his bill. He's gone into hiding, spinning out unconvincing little sops like this one to try to save his bacon -- after all, the last two MPs who tried to introduce a Canadian DMCA lost their jobs.
If the introduction of a Canadian DMCA were not bad enough, sources now indicate that Industry Minister Jim Prentice plans to delay addressing the copyright concerns of individual Canadians for years. Rather than including consumer concerns such as flexible fair dealing, time shifting, format shifting, parody, and the future of the private copying levy within the forthcoming bill, Prentice will instead strike a Copyright Review Panel to consider future copyright reforms. Modeled after the Telecom Policy Review Panel, the CRP will presumably take a year or two to consult Canadians on various copyright issues. In all likelihood, the government will then take another year or two to consider the recommendations, another year to propose potential reforms, another year or two to consult on those proposals, and another year or two to finally introduce legislation. Given that Canada has historically only passed major copyright reform once every ten years, Prentice will be in his early 60s and likely collecting his Member of Parliament pension by the time Canadians see copyright reform that addresses fair use.
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