The Canadian Copywrite hysteria of the moment.

[purplepolecat]

Update : I emailed my Liberal MP about this, and received a letter back this week. It looks like the Libs won't let this bill pass, at least without amendments. As the NDP and BQ will no doubt vote against it, we should be OK.

An excerpt from the letter:

"This Bill does not serve either consumer or creator well. It prescribes narrow, punitive solutions to a complex problem. In fact the Bill could well have the effect of curbing the use of digital technology, to the extent that it becomes useless. This would be a pity ! As well implementation of the measures in the Bill would be nearly impossible, unless one abandons all privacy rights or imposes locks on the digital technology that severely limits its application...

As Liberals we believe that there should have been extensive consultations with legal experts, creators, distributors and conventional and digital media industries to find the right balance of solution. It is typical of the Harper government that they do not consult but impose."

[guy07]

Phew.

[Sereenie]

Well, my MP is Lawrence Cannon. He didn't even bother replying himself. I only got a canned reply "from" Verner. And you can't make it any more canned than my writing to them in French, specifically requesting a reply in French, and only getting a letter in English.

I use that as a great way to know whether or not an MP (or politicians in general) take constituents' letters seriously. It works with businesses too. Obviously, in my case, they didn't even bother reading mine.

S.

[Sukunai]

The real basis behind privacy laws is a combination of "slippery slope" reasoning and the fact that a LOT of people do illegal or embarrassing things and they believe that not only do they have the right to keep that hidden, they have the right to keep everything else hidden so that people don't automatically expect something bad.

Actually, you stated that rather well Bashar.

I more or less agree, most of the hysteria comes from downloaders of illegal content that are worried they might be about to be caught like deer in a head light.

Frankly I have no problem with my privacy being invaded if they can only do it to see if I am downloading illegal content. I sure ain't dumb enough to suggest I don't like anything that prohibits illegal activities.

The glitch is of course, how do they produce the tech necessary to discern one activity to the next.

And Sereenie, guess you know who gets your vote?

An update based on a class action suit from Quebec vs Bell Canada, it appears it is being extended to include Ontario. I'm sure glad I don't own shares in Bell Canada

[Sereenie]

And Sereenie, guess you know who gets your vote?

Ha! As if the Cons had *ever* had a chance to get mine!

Then again, my previous MP was Paul Martin, and he wasn't any better. Bastard didn't do a thing for us for the whole time he was elected. Obviously, he knew he didn't need to worry about getting reelected, since you could write "Liberal" on a trashcan and it would still have gotten elected. Why should he bother making any effort?

S. (quite unlucky with her various representatives)

[Sukunai]

There are actually people that honestly think supporting Liberals is a way of combating the Conservatives copyright activities of late.

They seem to have forgotten why the Liberals are not running the country of late.

But then, if you don't pick Liberal and you don't pick Conservative you end up with the Green Party like me last time. No I'm not going to actually call the "spend all the money like it lasts forever" NDP a good choice.

[Sereenie]

BQ, GP, NDP: that's still a 50% wider selection than the Americans'.

Small consolation...

S.

P.-S. I suck at maths, so don't bother correcting my percentage if I got it wrong!