Thursday, June 12, 2008

Help Stop (Un)Canadian Copyright Bill

Today the Conservative Government officially introduced what may be their worst bill to date and with this government that is quite a statment.
"The federal government has introduced a controversial bill it says balances the rights of copyright holders and consumers — but it opens millions of Canadians to huge lawsuits, prompting critics to warn it will create a "police state."
This is the same bill the Tories toyed with before being resoundingly slapped down. They have still not consulted the public, nor have they consulted the media organizations and content producers of Canada. Most of whom oppose the bill. So who did they consult? Primarily american and other multinational media companies and the US Government.

Michael Geist does an excellent job of summarizing the major points and the fine print of this particular bill. The primary things it does though is make it more difficult for you to use the media you buy (movies, music, etc) and open up Canadians to the kind of ridiculous, frivolous, counter productive lawsuits that we have seen in the US for over a decade now. This bill and this government must go.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
  • Definitely write your MP, let them know what you think

  • There is a Facebook group here with over 40,000 members and links to local chapters

  • Michael Geist has another 30 suggestions over here.
  • 2 comments:

    Eric Rosenhek said...

    Out of curiosity, could this bill be the catalyst for a non-confidence vote?

    Justin Beach said...

    I'm not sure. It's not a tax bill so it wouldn't automatically be a confidence vote - but with the Conservatives everything is a confidence vote these days, they could very well declare it a confidence matter.