For the last 61 days Dr. Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa has posted 61 problems with Conservative bill C-61 which pretends to be a copyright bill but is ultimately one of the most draconian laws anywhere in the world. It is a law that is almost impossible not to break - for performers as well as consumers.
So it would give the Government, on their own or at the bequest of large media companies, the ability to jail or fine virtually anyone at virtually any time. Have a look at Geist's full list of problems with the bill at http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3385/125/
The Conference Board of Canada released a report today which it called the "most comprehensive look at the arts and cultural industries yet". According to CBC News the report found that
"Arts and culture contributed $46 billion to Canada's economy in 2007, but the overall impact of the sector was a much broader $84.6 billion"
That the above amounts equal " 7.4 per cent of Canada's gross domestic product"
"It attributes 1.1 million jobs to arts and culture or to spinoff industries, such as tourism"
That "culture has less tangible benefits, such as helping people of diverse backgrounds understand each other"
and that
The "creative economy" is a "key driver of economic growth in the future."
Also today Ottawa University Law Professor Dr. Michael Geist, who has spearheaded the campaign against Harper's Bill C-61 (which would criminalize most consumers of art and media), weighed in on the cuts to the arts. Geist pointed out the double standard that appears when comparing the "creative economy" to other sectors:
"Few people argue for a market-only approach for the sale of airplanes, largely because public support is recognized as a necessary pre-condition to global commercial success. The same may be true in the cultural industries. As we move from a world of scarcity (limited bandwidth and access to culture) to one of abundance (near unlimited access to culture), Canadian policies must shift from unworkable regulations that limit access to foreign content toward efforts that back the creation and promotion of Canadian content. In other words, cutting off funding for promotion is not just bad cultural policy. It is bad economic policy."
He also criticized cuts to programs that provide for the digitization of cultural heritage:
"the announced cuts move Canada in the opposite direction. For example, just as the government was cutting $11.7 million to the Canadian Memory Fund (which gives federal agencies money to digitize their collections and post them online), the European Union - which is currently led by the Conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy - was committing nearly $200 million next year alone toward digitization and efforts to provide online access to Europe's cultural heritage. The European Commission has urged its member states to increase their digitization budgets, as Europe works toward the creation of a massive European Digital Library."
An emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was called for this afternoon to discuss Harper's attack on arts, culture and the economy, though I have yet to see any official reports on results from that meeting.
p.s. not sure who to credit with the above photo - if it's yours, let me know.
If you don't read Michael Geist's Blog. Dr. Geist will keep you up to date on the latest in the law as it pertains to technology and copyright.
Today you would have found out a couple of important things. First the Competition Bureau has warned the CRTC against regulating new media. This is a good thing in that the internet doesn't need to be regulated in the same way television and radio are. The internet is a public forum where anyone can participate and should remain so. It is a bad thing in that, at the moment, a handful of companies in Canada monopolize connections to the internet and bandwidth and they are exploiting that monopoly. They are overcharging for internet use, and trying to control what you may or may not do on the internet - they are, in effect, regulating the internet themselves without any input from government.
The second important and interesting thing you would have found out is that those self same companies have formed an alliance to defend their anti-public monopolies.
Michael Geist has another great post today on the Conservative's proposed U.S. sponsored Copyright bill:
"The events of the past six months have demonstrated conclusively that Canadians care about balanced copyright even if the Industry Minister does not. Over the coming months, I firmly believe that we will see the fair copyright movement expand well beyond what has been just built. We will see Canadian musicians, songwriters, artists, and filmmakers speak out against this legislation. We will see companies of all sizes and all sectors speak out against this legislation. We will see the privacy groups, education groups, and consumer rights groups speak out against this legislation. We will see the NDP speak out against this legislation. We will see the Liberals - who are already focusing on the lack of consultation and the prospect of a police state - ultimately identify their Bill C-60 as a better approach and speak out against this legislation. We will see Conservative MPs from coast to coast (including the Conservative candidate from the forthcoming Guelph by-election) wonder why their party has introduced a bill that runs counter to their own policies and (quietly) speak out against this legislation."
Geist also has links to numerous editorials out today against this bill from newspapers across the country as well as the Canadian Library Assocation, Canadian Music Creators Coalition, Documentary Organization of Canada, and many, many others.
"Now that you're filled up with talk of the best music in Canada, it's time to remind you that the future of the music business is 15 pop band ... and none of them made the Polaris long list."..."This last point is just to prove that good music will eventually prevail, no matter what the strange people running large companies think. But then they march to the beat of dollar signs, and that really doesn't move me at all."
"Like many of these discussions, it quickly devolved into a bitch-fest of "when I was young" pontificating, most bemoaning being held hostage by music fans taking it for free, and wondering how on earth they'll earn their next paycheque. At one point, a very angry panelist (who is a Toronto punk promoter) grabbed the mic and screamed at the rest of the panel "you people make me wanna puke!" then ranted for five minutes about exactly what everyone else was bitching about."
Imagine if you will a football game, with seconds to go your team is down by 5 points. Your quarterback's pass is intercepted but the guy on the other team who intercepted it starts running the wrong way. With his own baffled teammates looking on and unable to catch him, he is nearing your end zone, about to give your team a free touchdown and the win. Then one of your wide receivers comes out of nowhere and tackles him at the one yard line just as the clock hits 00:00.
That wide receiver is symbolic of the way that large media has handled the internet. They took what should have been the best, easiest business model in the history of business and turned it into one of the great shipwrecks in business history.
The approach being proposed by the Conservatives in Canada is almost identical to the approach taken in the U.S. (no surprise there, it was the US that told the Conservatives to do it.) But the approach in the US has failed. In the States, while pursuing policies that have turned their customers and fans into enemies and resulted in countless lawsuits that the US industry has ultimately lost money on - illegal downloads in the US haven't changed. If anything it's more prevalent than it was when these laws were first enacted. This is no doubt one of the consequences of establishing an adversarial relationship with your customers.
While I urge everyone to keep speaking up, and yelling and screaming and shouting about this - given the almost universal nationwide opposition I am confident that this bill can be defeated. However, if it were to pass Canadian media would almost certainly be in worse shape for it - not only for the reasons listed above but because there would be no more reason to have levies on media (CDs, DVDs etc., etc.,) - they were put in place originally to compensate content creators for piracy. If these new copyright laws (complete with their large fines) were to pass those levies would certainly have to be done away with.
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.
Over the weekend, the Canwest papers covered the year-end Canadian digital music sales, noting that the growth is faster in Canada than in the United States. Today, Canwest is back with an article that appears across the country on how a Canadian DMCA could make "everyday habits" illegal.
Dr. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, has been leading a valiant effort against the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) bill that the Conservatives and Industry Minister Jim Prentice have promised to introduce.
As far as anyone can tell, the bill which will drastically alter Canadian copyright law was written after consultation with only one person - US Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins. Canadian industry, universities, students, educators, artists, content creators and consumers were not addressed, no public consultations were held, and Mr. Prentice has refused to do any interviews or answer any questions about the bill until it is introduced in Parliament.
Geist's campaign against the bill continues to gain momentum. Many Canadians are taking the time to write to and/or call their MPs to voice their opposition. The campaign has received media attention on Computerworld, City News, and Rabble. Search Engine CBC has also been following the issue closely. Console Source has created a resources page for those who wish to express their opposition to the bill and a Facebook Group dedicated to opposing the bill has been gathering about 1,000 members a day. There is also a handy YouTube video on the topic which I've included at the bottom of this post.
I certainly oppose the DMCA bill and I have no doubt that my Member of Parliament Peggy Nash will oppose it. But, I will go further than just opposing this bill. It is long past time for this government to fall.
The 'Conservative' party was supposedly formed from a union of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Parties. But it was really more of a take over of the Progressive Conservative Party. Other than his pet PC Peter McKay, anyone even slighty 'progressive' is not welcome in the party regardless of how their riding association feels. is not the party of John A. McDonald or even the party of Joe Clark. This is the party of George Bush and Dick Cheney.
There are direct ties between the Conservative Party of Canada and US Conservative Groups. That is, no doubt, why the Conservative Party of Canada (Hereafter referred to as the Republican Party of Canada) have towed the American line on virtually every single issue (even where those policies have demonstrably failed), right up to the current DMCA bill.
In other words (with the possible exception of the Native Land Claims issue) the Canadian Republican Party, other than being slavishly pro-American and pro-Bush has done nothing but fail Canada on any issue Canadians care about. It is past time this government came down, and the opposition parties should not allow one more single piece of legislation on any issue to go through.
If Mr. Dion does not feel comfortable, given the Harper Governments track record, in having an election then he is truly not Prime Ministerial material and needs to step down as liberal leader. The same, in principle, goes for Mr. Layton and Mr. Duceppe. Voting with the Canadian Republican Party at this point is not a vote to forestal an election, it is a vote against Canada.
For the last 61 days Dr. Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa has posted 61 problems with Conservative bill C-61 which pretends to be a copyright bill but is ultimately one of the most draconian laws anywhere in the world. It is a law that is almost impossible not to break - for performers as well as consumers. 
