The CBC.ca has a good article on the legal and policy issues associated with copyright and technological protection measures. The anti-circumvention provisions in the forthcoming bill, which could come late next week, will be the source of considerable debate since sources say they will largely mirror those found in Bill C-61 and the U.S. DMCA.
CBC on Copyright and Digital Locks
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“Barry Sookman, an IP lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto, says that when a consumer buys a DVD, they are paying for the right to watch it, not to copy it.”
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/05/20/copyright-legislation-drm-debate.html?ref=rss#socialcomments-submit#ixzz0oZvZkqJS
So will they replace my scratched DVDs’ then? I still have right to watch, but lost ability due to cheap medium they sold it on.
Elected Reps
What I find most disheartening is the fact that both primary political parties seem to find this bill generally acceptable. I read about how Moore and Harper are selling out to corporate American media, but it seems to me that if the Liberals were holding the reigns, they would be pushing a re-worded version through, as well. Admittedly, I get most of my opinion from the anti-copyright crowd, so it feels to me like the vast majority of Canadians are against this notion of market/media control, yet at the same time, it would appear both elected political parties feel obliged to push it through.
Is the Liberal opposition going to defeat this? I doubt it. They know that, if they make it a successful non-confidence issue, then it will be they who are promoting a reworded, but semantically identical, bill a year from now. Better to have the Conservatives table it then try and point a finger later on. Frankly, based on the performance of the Conservatives since taking office, I no longer see the difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives; they may as well be a single party.
This morning, I find myself asking how the Canadian voters have lost meaningful influence over the people we elected. How did the media lobbyists objectify/dehumanize the voter, in our reps’ eyes?
The powerful US Entertainment & Publishing Lobby has successfully BOUGHT this bill with…
… private parties with headlining acts, Juno trips, film festival trips, concert tickets, new first release hardcover books, cds, dvds… and yes, all those fabulous luncheons. During the process we even had a Copyright Policy Branch Director General SLEEPING with the head of the film association … OF COURSE they’re getting what they want. All that quote “public consultation”unquote was a ruse.
Corruption tactics? You Bet’chya!
Accountability Act? There is No such thing.
US politics
In watching a lot of US politics lately I have seen a shift that has taken several years to implement, thoughts and judgements that FDR originally installed are coming back into the lime light. And much like FDR the winds of change are tainted with underlaying steps to drastically remove rights and freedoms from the US people. I believe these rights and freedom reduction are being stronge armed on Canada by using our trade agreements with the US. Many jobs have come to canada as a result of the higher unionized wages in the US for the motion picture industry, Obama is all about respecting the unionized worker and it stands to reason that he would be the advocate for change around the globe to assure that US judgements are carried out.
So you can blame either the Conservatives or the Liberals but if you failed to look at the new administration in the US and how they are doing things then I doubt any political party in canada would be able to stand up agains the US when they are dangling our trading in front of us as a carrot. Actually, I am sure if any of us where in power and the US came to us and said “you pass this bill or we pull millions of jobs ” you would have no choice either.
It is sad that Canada is so imbedded in the US hip pocket that we should be defined as it’s northern states. But until we find someone else to trade with that can consume as many goods as the US, we are saddled with this marriage.