canada copyright zombies
July 21, 2009 9:44 AM   Subscribe

Canada's Bill C-61 is being zombified as talks begin this week in Vancouver to attempt a dialogue on public opinion. But it's okay, cause they're using twitter this time.

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Fair Copyright for Canada, courtesy of Michael Geist.

Search Engine on TVO (and older podcasts on cbc
posted by tamarack (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
That dude is angry about copyright. Was waiting for him to turn green and smash that table.
posted by chunking express at 10:25 AM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


The question remains as to how much of the bill changes from its last incarnation, which was incredibly bad for fair dealing. There are a lot of disgruntled members of the public out there who don't want to see fair dealing crippled, but there are also a lot of powerful lobbyists pushing their weight around when it comes to this. Those groups want to see the tabled bill written in as draconian a way as possible.
posted by LN at 10:26 AM on July 21, 2009


The Conservatives are clearly being pressured to bring Canadian copyright law in line with the USA, but nobody actually wants copyright reform. The last thing we need is our own DMCA.
posted by mek at 10:50 AM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]


Needs more hockey goons.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:44 AM on July 21, 2009


So if they change the copyright regulations, are they also going to remove the tariffs on blank media (including hard drives) that was meant to reimburse recording artists for their lost revenues?
posted by GhostintheMachine at 12:54 PM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Good question!

I'm just sick of this idiocy. Enough is enough, Conservatives. Give it up already.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:58 PM on July 21, 2009


Judging by the history of copyright reform bills and elections, working on this new bill is the best chance we have for the Government to fall! Keep at it, Conservatives!

but not so much that you actually get the bill through.
posted by Lemurrhea at 1:22 PM on July 21, 2009


You might be right about that. I just got an NDP "survey" in the mail, which is very unusual. In Alberta the NDP mostly ignores us except when there's an election coming and they think they have a chance to carve off a few seats, so maybe this Copyright Bill is a sign that we're going back to the polls soon.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:30 PM on July 21, 2009


Lemurrhea: really? What other governments have been brought down over copyright issues?
posted by converge at 1:48 PM on July 21, 2009


I don't think any government has been brought down over copyright, but everytime copyright reform has come up the current government has been taken to an election. This is what happened in the last election, and I seem to think it happened in the election before that. (It's a coincidence.)
posted by chunking express at 2:00 PM on July 21, 2009


I'm on my MP and the PM about this issue every month or so and whenever it makes the news. It's idiotic that Canada would be making moves to strengthen copyright further. If anything they should be rolling it back. And anti circumventing laws like the DMCA are both foolish and doomed to failure.
posted by Mitheral at 2:25 PM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


I don't think it's a coincidence that the last two copyright bills were superseded by elections. That was a deliberate strategy the Tories used to appeal to their supporters while not actually doing anything to upset the larger public. One of those have your cake and eat it too kind of things.

But past performance doesn't indicate future results, etc, etc... Just because they pulled a fast one twice before doesn't preclude the possibility that they're serious this time.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:39 PM on July 21, 2009


Converge, chunking explaineed what I was getting at. Certainly not causal: copyright bill -> defeat. I'm not convinced of Kevin Street's reversal, but it's not farfetched by any means. Just the beginnings of a random streak.
posted by Lemurrhea at 8:42 PM on July 21, 2009


Ah, gotcha. Well, one can hope.
posted by converge at 8:56 PM on July 21, 2009


That the coincidence continues, I mean.
posted by converge at 8:57 PM on July 21, 2009


And so I have to write my representatives again. But how in the hell do I make it any more clear to them that their approach is all wrong?

I truly believe independent artists can make a damn fine living from the likes of iTunes. I think the culture is largely ready to shift to a "busking cap" approach to payments. I know that I want the artists I like best to continue producing great stuff; I want to throw a dollar or two in their hat. But I'll be damned if I'm going to pay the RIAA Mafia to get money to them.

The government should be facilitating on-line busker businesses, not facilitating a deeper entrenchment of Mafiaosco in our creative businesses.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:58 PM on July 21, 2009


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