Canadian Copyright Concerns

Last year, the Canadian Copyright Act (Bill C-61) was tabled during a session of Parliament, and eventually shelved along with the government as Parliament was dissolved. In short, the bill would basically have handed every piece of ‘protective’ legislation to the media companies that they’ve ever asked for. The whole document was a wish list of the things the RIAA, MPAA and various software associations have been bitching and whining about needing for years now as they describe Canada as a cesspool of peg legged piratical fiends spreading theft to the world.

Well, the Canadian Government is currently holding consultation settings before setting a new course in terms of Copyright, user rights, DRM, and all that sort of fun shit. The pleasant surprise has been…people actually seem to have taken notice. C-61 sort of woke up a large sector of the population that what a lot of these things can actually mean for the end user, and they don’t seem to have slipped back in to a state of slumber yet. The open sessions that have been held in various cities have reportedly been well attended.

On the other side of things are the same industry groups. Already it’s widely suspected that the US putting Canada on a watch list earlier this year had a lot to do with trying to apply diplomatic pressure to pass regulations US corporations want put through. And industry groups have hardly stopped.

We have Barry Sookman, a lobbyist for the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) and CMPDS (Canadian Motion Picture Distributor’s Association) co-authoring an op-ed article in the notoriously pro-big business National Post, screaming for ‘graduated response’ punishments against those accused of pirating products (note that I said ACCUSED, since as with all these bullshit punishments brought about by massive Mega-Corps, the law courts are typically not involved), ISP liability (which basically serves to allow industry to force anything they deem unallowable to be banned, since otherwise the ISPs themselves can be held financially liable) and a whole shwack of other bullshit that does absolutely nothing for anyone online. Of course, it’s full of ridiculous hyperbole, describing the entire country as a pirate haven with lax laws that have made us a destination of choice for Bit torrent sites to locate. Uhhh…really? Funny how that does not seem to have ever happened anywhere in reality…but then, this bullshit isn’t based in any realm called ‘reality’. Let’s look at a few things that would be rendered illegal.

Ever transfer music from a CD to an iPod? Oh, you dirty fucking thief…can’t do THAT anymore. Ever post a video clip on a blog without the express permission of the rights holder? Now they’ll demand you remove it…if you don’t, your ass is going to court. The worst part is what they call ‘protection of digital locks’. Right now limited testing of DRM systems is permitted by law, and independent security researchers do so to make sure these programs aren’t doing more than they’re supposed to…’protection of digital locks’ would make that illegal. So yes, now we’d all be stuck dealing with these corporate ass hats and the honour system…somewhat of a frightening prospect considering some of the history media companies have of slapping protections on their products without warning.

However, that fluff article was the MILD version of Mr. Sookman. In a second write-up done for the scintillating sounding Law Times, he and Glen Bloom (Stooge in a law firm that often represents media companies) take a much more hard line track. Namely…either Canada steps up and passes everything or the country will melt. Okay, maybe not MELT, but some really really bad shit will happen guys…I mean, we can’t get in to details because we’re making it up as we go, but BAD SHIT. My favourite quote from this hatchet piece heap of shit :

Clement has said the consultations give Canadians “a chance to express their views on how the government should approach the modernization of copyright laws.”
But Glen Bloom, a partner with Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s Ottawa office, says the consultation process is unnecessary.

“The government has had years of input,” he says. “I think it’s a political decision. The bill will be controversial regardless of what’s in it.
“The government has got to come out and state, ‘This is our policy; this is why we’re doing it,’ and proceed. Endless consultation is useless,” he says.

Indeed…how DARE a government represent THE PEOPLE WHO FUCKING ELECTED IT when it might possibly affect big business! Fuck the people, you’ve already had ALL the consultation you need in endless meetings with corporate representatives.

After that, things REALLY get overheated and ridiculous! ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is asking for more stringent controls on things like applying ANOTHER levy to blank media, as well as throwing a tax on MP3 players to cover the ‘costs to the industry’ of music being played on them. Really, that makes absolutely no fucking sense at all, but then what the Hell did you expect from a media conglomerate?! Royalties on everything…regardless of what you use it for! Buying blank DVDs to hold data files? Guess what…you’re still paying a levy as part of the overall charge at the till to cover the costs of you possibly putting a copy of a movie on there! And these guys want a bigger one tossed on.

I’ve left the best for last. Access Copyright (A Canadian Copyright & Legislation company) has put a document up on their web site making their feelings apparent. I LOVE this quote :

Nevertheless, it’s vital that you also get involved to ensure your voice is heard.
This is because an important aspect of these consultations is being expressed online, and that debate is dominated by individuals who do not agree you should get fair compensation for digital and other reproductions of your works.

That’s right…every single one of you reading this thinks that anyone involved in media should get fucked over, simply because you spend time online! Isn’t that AWESOME! Don’t you love basically being called out as a dick by some faceless cunt of a bureaucrat?!

All of this comes just a couple of months after an interesting Harvard study wrapped up. That study concluded that society has benefited, and creativity has typically INCREASED, with LESS copyright. Of course, that would detrimentally affect the bank balances of corporate executives, so you tell me what’s more important.

Incidentally, maybe some of you are wondering about the implications of stricter copyright laws. Oh, that just affects music and shit like that, right? Wrong.

Earlier this year, a new proposal on global medical research was shot down by the US with the help of the EU, Norway and Canada. The proposed plan would have increased medical research spending of wealthy countries, better prioritized research projects and possibly sharing costs of medical trials and drug testing. Nobody had a problem with that. The thing is…it also would have opened up the DATA from research projects for sharing and encouraged reductions in property rights held on medicines and public health matters. This didn’t sit well with the big pharmaceutical companies, so a proposal that would have increased worldwide medical research, ESPECIALLY for third world countries, was punted.

Don’t you feel GOOD about your country?