Canadian Government Sought U.S. Copyright Blacklisting

[LegionDre]

Well as I Canadian, I will just continue to live as I do in my small town and disregard law as I see fit. Seatbelts are a CHOICE, A choice I say. Good luck fining me for $ 250 000 dollars, who has that much just laying around. I will just live with a friend and work for straight cash and not pay taxes... Do you want that Government! Thou shalt not stopith me from downloading whatever I see fit... (I do pay for my video games and most movies... sometimes)

 

[scotth266]

Snip.

Part of the apathy about the issue is probably due to how nobody was taking copyright reform seriously in the first place.

You see it all the time here in stories about DRM. "Why bother? Pirates gonna pirate, and they'll get away with it too!" is the most-posted comment I see these days in DRM stories. When you know that pirates will pirate, that the state only seems to be playing lip service to intellectual property rights, and that whatever laws they pass that annoy you/attempt to suppress your rights you'll be able to bypass eventually using cracks the pirates made in the first place, why should anybody care?

It's like the world's become a bunch of collective electronic stoners, giggling their butts off every time anti-e-weed legislation is passed. The only time anyone notices something is wrong is when the FBI busts down their door for possession. Then, suddenly, they act like victims of the system.

As to the US government influencing your copyright legislation, Canada probably got something in return for that along the line. I hope it was something good, because legitimate copyright reform might have been a lot better in the long run.

 

[weirdee]

To be clear here, American government still sucks, but Canadian government is colluding to suck with it, so that just means no more backhanded jokes from anybody ever again.

People everywhere are stupid, it's just the ones with power that have more to mess up than those who don't, and that's not an inherent trait of any kind of citizen. Deal with it.

 

[sosolidshoe]

I really thought there'd be more outrage over this.

It's hard to accept "made in Canada" copyright reform when it's so obviously just pandering to pressure from the US. I'm all for copyright reform - it's no secret that I'm not a fan of copyright infringement - but not in any form that strips all power from the hands of consumers and hands it directly to big corporations, which is exactly what all previous Conservative efforts to introduce reform have tried to do. There are plenty of freedoms spelled out in all those bills, all of which were trumped by a provision stating that any bypass of "digital locks" is against the law. In other words, all any content producer has to do is include some form of DRM with its product - doesn't matter what, doesn't matter how effective - and it's automatically illegal for anyone to make copies for backups, for listening in the car, for putting on the PC, or anything else. You hear plenty of talk from plenty of agencies about how consumers are protected by these bills, but none of them want to mention the digital lock provision because it renders all other provisions meaningless. It's a mess.

And then to find out it's all basically kowtowing to US interests? Canadians should be absolutely losing their shit over this. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they're not; I mean, how can something like this compare to Ice-T unboxing Gears 3, am I right?

I'm surprised by your surprise, to be honest; what did you think the result of the constant droning deathnote that you and others who support more draconian copyright laws have been sounding for so long would be? Did you honestly think that, given an opportunity, the vastly self-interested and corrupt media conglomerates would think it over, and decide not to give the consumer the shaft?

The average person in any developed nation is bombarded with doomsday scenarios about the complete collapse of the entertainment industry because of those evil satan-lovin' pirates every time they pop in a DVD, every time they visit a cinema, and when they come online there are plenty of people like yourself willing to reinforce that apocalyptic vision. Well, good job, enough people believe the nonsense now; while just about every young person qualifies as a pirate of some form, enough middle-aged, middle-class people have drunk the kool-aid that the door has been opened for corporate interests to take a big steaming dump on the consumer, and they will say thank you sir may I have another.

 

[Saulkar]

What's that Canada? You do not want to play by Uncle Sam's rules? Bend over, here it comes again!

For Christ's sake Steven "Kiss-ass" Harper! Grow a spine or get out of my country!

 

[Talvrae]

Maxime Bernier really? damn he just droped a bit... i like him seriously

 

[Jumwa]

I was really hoping the NDP's momentum would make Layton our next PM but that's not going to happen now.

Now I just hope that the Conservative government keeps its ambition to be re-elected ahead of its ambition to transform Canada into the US's power plant.

I had pegged the same hopes on Layton. He was simply the only party leader I felt I'd trust as prime minister at all, was terribly sad to see him go. I think the outpouring of grief over his loss was a sign of how much hope he represented.

Also yes, my hope is that they don't destroy our country too much in the next four years, but do enough to remind Canadians that they are not a party that in any way represents the values or desires of its citizens. Harper dislikes Canada (calling us, derogatorily, a European style welfare state) and cow-tows to the US in everything. He seems to go begging to them to boot us around in fact.

This newest scandal--if you can call it that, CBC doesn't even seem to have a news piece up about it--makes me long for the days of minority government when parliament was held at least somewhat accountable for these sorts of things.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I'm surprised by your surprise, to be honest; what did you think the result of the constant droning deathnote that you and others who support more draconian copyright laws have been sounding for so long would be? Did you honestly think that, given an opportunity, the vastly self-interested and corrupt media conglomerates would think it over, and decide not to give the consumer the shaft?

Oh, please. There's a big difference between stating that copyright infringement hurts content creators and calling for "more draconian" copyright laws.

 

[meglathon]

The conservative government has in the most part been US lovers, so this doesn't surprise me one bit. With that said now there is a very likely chance that this will get very bad and ugly, with the death of Jack Layton(R.I.P you smiling Fighter of the people) there really is nothing that will stop this short of a more pressing matter that will put focus of the government on something else.

 

[Johnson McGee]

Also yes, my hope is that they don't destroy our country too much in the next four years, but do enough to remind Canadians that they are not a party that in any way represents the values or desires of its citizens. Harper dislikes Canada (calling us, derogatorily, a European style welfare state) and cow-tows to the US in everything. He seems to go begging to them to boot us around in fact.

This newest scandal--if you can call it that, CBC doesn't even seem to have a news piece up about it--makes me long for the days of minority government when parliament was held at least somewhat accountable for these sorts of things.

I agree with you completely. The Conservative Party isn't bad but Harper is a hardcore Reform partier. Ever since the two parties amalgamated it seems that the hardline people in the party have been polarizing or replacing the previously moderates.

 

[Jumwa]

I agree with you completely. The Conservative Party isn't bad but Harper is a hardcore Reform partier. Ever since the two parties amalgamated it seems that the hardline people in the party have been polarizing or replacing the previously moderates.

I definitely miss the days of the Progressive Conservative Party in this country, for sure. Fiscal Conservatism I don't have a problem with, and I voted Progressive Conservative in our last Provincial election. But neo-Conservativism is something else altogether, and Harper's is a rather repugnant brand imported straight from the US.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

Ha!

Take that America haters!

Wait... what? This doesn't prove anything about America, it just shows the faults of the Canadian government.

 

[McShizzle]

I really thought there'd be more outrage over this.

It's hard to accept "made in Canada" copyright reform when it's so obviously just pandering to pressure from the US. I'm all for copyright reform - it's no secret that I'm not a fan of copyright infringement - but not in any form that strips all power from the hands of consumers and hands it directly to big corporations, which is exactly what all previous Conservative efforts to introduce reform have tried to do. There are plenty of freedoms spelled out in all those bills, all of which were trumped by a provision stating that any bypass of "digital locks" is against the law. In other words, all any content producer has to do is include some form of DRM with its product - doesn't matter what, doesn't matter how effective - and it's automatically illegal for anyone to make copies for backups, for listening in the car, for putting on the PC, or anything else. You hear plenty of talk from plenty of agencies about how consumers are protected by these bills, but none of them want to mention the digital lock provision because it renders all other provisions meaningless. It's a mess.

And then to find out it's all basically kowtowing to US interests? Canadians should be absolutely losing their shit over this. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they're not; I mean, how can something like this compare to Ice-T unboxing Gears 3, am I right?

I am outraged, but I don't know what to do. I cast my vote at the elections, but these Western Conservative A-holes still got in. This is apparently what Canadians wanted. I've lost faith in my fellow citizens (especially Ontarians), now I guess I'll just ride the storm, as the fabric of what I believed Canada was is worn away, and hope for something better in the next election.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I am outraged, but I don't know what to do. I cast my vote at the elections, but these Western Conservative A-holes still got in. This is apparently what Canadians wanted. I've lost faith in my fellow citizens (especially Ontarians), now I guess I'll just ride the storm, as the fabric of what I believed Canada was is worn away, and hope for something better in the next election.

You have to try to see these things long-term. The Conservative government sure isn't one I would've elected either but they're not going to set us on the path to fascism; they're taking the country a little more to the right, putting Western conservative values a little more front-and-center, but in ten years or 20 years we'll be back to a Liberal government, or some form of center-left Liberalesque government, and the people in Alberta will be losing their shit over how Canada isn't the great country it once was.

As for what you can do, it depends on how much you want do to. At a bare minimum, vote; if you want to make your voice heard a little further, get a lawn sign. You can volunteer for your local candidate of choice, or if straight-up politics aren't your bag, get behind some sort of advocacy group. Check out Michael Geist's blog for ideas about how you can get involved, and then get involved. Sad truth? It probably won't matter anyway. But it'll help get the word out a bit more, it might get people thinking and when enough people finally start thinking that the Conservatives' copyright updates are bullshit, it might make it a little easier to make rational, balanced changes next time around.