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Canada May Ratify WIPO Copyright Treaty 46

Posted by michael from the some-imports-should-be-stopped-at-the-border dept.
rocjoe71 writes "It appears the Government of Canada might be ratifying the WIPO copyright treaty, which will surely bring an end to our P2P downloading heydays. Among the measures that could be enforced by ratifying WIPO would force ISPs to comply with a 'notice and takedown' system against subscribers who violate copyright laws... As we speak RIAA lawyers are amassing on the Canada-U.S. border, ready for an all-out invasion."
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Canada May Ratify WIPO Copyright Treaty More

Canada May Ratify WIPO Copyright Treaty

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  • Canada currently has a minority government, and they have far bigger problems to deal with than copyright law extensions.

    • Right, enabling legislation... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Hamster Lover ( 558288 ) * on Friday November 05, 2004 @06:17PM (#10738857) Journal
      would have to pass the House, head to committee pass third reading and then to the Senate. If it even makes it to committee I would be surprised.

      Also, notice no mention was made of outlawing technologies that could disable digital rights systems, something a previous Commons committee report on copyright strongly advised against.
      • Anyone wanting to learn what is happening in Canada in this area of law should go to the Digital Copyright Canada [digital-copyright.ca] forum. There are a number of misconceptions in the comments to this SlashDot article, including not recognizing just how close we are to getting US-DMCA-style legislation in Canada.

        Please sign our *PAPER* petition, and coordinate with us to contact your MP and other policy makers.

    • I read your sig/link.
      It would be nice if you'd at least acknowledge cognizance of the fact that there are almost 50% of us -- about 150 MILLION -- who are AT LEAST as unhappy about it as you are.
      Remember: we also suffer all the consequences experienced by the rest of you, AND we LIVE here.

      Did you feel the same animus against the millions of ordinary nameless faceless Soviet citizens, when their government invaded Afghanistan?
  • John titor's prophesy. Bring down ALL establishment and rebuild everything from scratch.

  • I saw this comming... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Steamhead ( 714353 ) on Friday November 05, 2004 @06:21PM (#10738887) Homepage
    As a Canadian I can see that our two cultures are too intertwined for this not to happen, we usually pride ourselves on not being American, but we are always only a few years behind.

    I suppose its truly time to move to Europe...
    • As a Canadian I can see that our two cultures are too intertwined for this not to happen, we usually pride ourselves on not being American, but we are always only a few years behind.

      Always? Come on.

      (First, this is subjective. I assume we agree the liberal / self-choice is progressive and that the religion of one may not be the basis of opression upon another.)

      Its not always true regarding civil rights-related freedoms. Canada is on legalizing marijuana (already done?), Canada legalized gay marriage. I'm
      • Canada is on legalizing marijuana (already done?)

        Not legal. A bill to decriminalize (not legalize) marijuana has been re-introduced to the house. May pass, may not.

        Canada legalized gay marriage.

        Only legal in some provinces. However, unless our minority government collapses, it will likely be legal very soon.

        euthanasia

        Not even close. However, there was recently an interesting case concerning assisted suicide [www.cbc.ca] in BC.

  • ISPs, Policing Copyright and Existing Taxes (Score:4, Insightful)

    by zrafnid ( 155155 ) on Friday November 05, 2004 @06:27PM (#10738942) Journal
    Here we go again. If the Gov't wants to make ISPs responsible for the actions of their users, I certainly hope they're planning on providing some payment for the time it will take.

    Effectively, the action suggested in the article would make an ISP a branch of law enforcement - requiring them to comply with orders to disable user accounts and, probably, pay penalties for non-compliance with such orders.

    I now question, quite strongly, the reason there are taxes on blank CDs, DVDs, Video Tapes, and other storage media. I had believed that this tax was to go directly to SOCAN (the Canadian RIAA equivalent) to ensure that artists were compensated for copies of their materials. If they now believe that any person downloading a song that they already own is a target for prosecution, I don't think I'll be too keen on paying those taxes. Time to talk to the MP in these parts, I guess.
    • We the US have accepted taxation without representation for quite a long time... Guess you finally get that one too, eh?
    • While im not FOR this by any means, you do realise that any 'payments' the government makes comes from taxes... Your taxes..

    • According to the committee recommendations here [parl.gc.ca] , section B, the private copying provision will remain (as will the levy, likely). Here's the text of interest:

      The Committee concludes, after considering the submissions and testimony of the witnesses, that the private copying regime does not prevent Canada's ratification of the WPPT. Analysis of the private copyright regime as a whole will continue as part of the copyright reform process.

      So at least that part of "not breaking the law by copying songs

  • CONTACT THEM NOW (Score:5, Informative)

    by Medgur ( 172679 ) on Friday November 05, 2004 @07:29PM (#10739377) Homepage
    When this came up last spring I contacted ministers responsible with a short message detailing my distaste for WIPO and attempted to explain in layman's terms just why it's a very bad idea. Their response came down to "this is what the CRIA wants" padded in beuracratic bull shit. I thought this might have disappeared with Hélène Scherrer being voted out, but I see now this was wishful thinking.

    Still, we can make a difference if we contact them and explain in simple yet clear terms why it's bad. By Canadian law they must respond to your email, so at the very least you know someone is reviewing it, and if enough people write in we can probably enact some change.

    So, here's the important info:

    The email address for the Heritage Committee: HERI@parl.gc.ca

    The email address for Heritage Minister Liza Frulla (head of the committee): Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca

    The web site for the Heritage Committee (Gee, seems like all they care about is copyright. Nice doublespeak): http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteeHome.aspx ?CommitteeId=8974&Lang=1&ParlSession=381&SelectedE lementId=e17_

    And for future reference, in case you're wondering where I get all this
    information from:
    The list of members of the House of Commons, with contact information:
    http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb /house/members /CurrentMemberList.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=1&Se ct=Hoccur&Order=OrganizationName

    It will only take 5 minutes, go write them!
    Even if you're not Canadian, the message will still be read, so go write them!

    • Re:CONTACT THEM NOW - working links (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      For the lazy:

      The email address [mailto] for the Heritage Committee.

      The email address [mailto] for Heritage Minister Liza Frulla (head of the committee).

      The web site [parl.gc.ca] for the Heritage Committee.

      The lists of members of the House of Commons [parl.gc.ca].

      Posting AC so feel free to increase visibility.
      • You can also mail Liza Frulla at:

        Liza Frulla, MP
        House of Commons
        Ottawa, Ontario
        K1A 0A6

        It's even free (in Canada) if you make sure you put the "MP" someplace on the envelope. E-mails are great but snail-mail gives that nice official touch that says I took the time to fire up Word or OpenOffice and print off a letter that I then mailed on my way to work.

        While you're at it, e-mail Paul Martin and tell him you support/oppose missile deffence, gay marriage or whatever issue is burning you:

        Right H

    • What to write (Score:3, Insightful)

      by alexo ( 9335 )

      Canada is an immigration country.

      A lot of residents are not comfortable writing to their representatives due to either limited proficiency in English (and/or French) or not knowing what phrasing is "socially acceptable" in Canada.

      Some example letters could be very helpful for these people.

      • Re:What to write (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Copyright is a system for regulating technology -- it regulates technologies used to make and distribute copies. We have lots of technology regulation in the world: there are rules that govern the operation of automobiles and rules that govern the marketing of electrical appliances. This isn't per se wrong.

        But when the 20 horsepower locomotive was invented, the blacksmiths weren't able to successfully lobby to have 80 horseshoes welded to each engine, despite the rule that said that every "horse" used for

      • My letter (Score:2, Insightful)

        by lhaeh ( 463179 )
        I'm sure you've revieved many emails about this so I'll keep it short.

        I am against the WIPO. It will raise the cost of doing business for IT
        companys.

        It will curtial free speach; If I were to send an anonymous takedown
        letter to an isp claiming that a site is violating my copyright, they
        would take it down without a question. The ISP would have no other
        econimically viable choice. This tatic has been abused in countrys
        with simular laws.

        This law only placets the CIRA. We have given them enough concessions
        alre
      • Here's my letter, feel free to copy it yourself but try to paraphrase in your own writing, they won't like getting a million copys of the same form letter:

        Hello,

        As you are probably aware, copyright is an agreement between a content creator (author, musician, artist, etc) and society, to grant them a temporary monopoly on their work, to allow them to profit from their efforts. There is no inherent right of a person to control his works indefinitely. Furthermore, there is no such thing as an original thoug

        • revised for clarity:

          Hello,

          Copyright is an agreement between a content creator (author, musician, artist, etc) and society, to grant them a temporary monopoly on their work, allowing them to profit from their efforts. There is no inherent right of a person to control his works indefinitely. Furthermore, there is no such thing as an original thought, as all thoughts are the results of building upon previous ideas. Once they have earned their profit, other people must have the right to build upon these work

      • Dear Honorable Members,

        It has come to my attention, as a Canadian Citizen, that the Canadian Heritage Committee, including the Hon. Mrs. Frulla, has recommended WIPO Copyright treaty ratification. I strongly oppose this without adequate measures to protect existing rights of consumers and the public domain, and I will detail why.

        As you are well aware, the WIPO treaty contains language similar to the anti-circumvention clauses similar to those in the United States' DMCA. The language forbidding the circumv
    • Why oh why can't people make links out of their URLs??

      The email address for the Heritage Committee [mailto]
      The email address for Heritage Minister Liza Frulla [mailto] (head of the committee)
      The web site for the Heritage Committee [parl.gc.ca] (Gee, seems like all they care about is copyright. Nice doublespeak)
      The list of members of the House of Commons, with contact information [parl.gc.ca]

  • Speaking as a someone who puts his spare time into a canadian based, non-profit P2P company, I wonder how long a grace period there would be before action is taken, if this new law is passed.

    Surely nobody expects canadians to have to comply the minute the treaty ink is dry.

  • How's them apples! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Take that Canada, with your Universal Health Care, liberal government, and Civil Rights! You're becoming just as fucked up as us (USA).

    You know, that didn't make me feel better. The "you suck too" argument worked so much better when I was 6, now it's just depressing. Oh well, back to looking for a job.

  • had me worried for a sec (Score:3, Funny)

    by shaitand ( 626655 ) on Friday November 05, 2004 @10:54PM (#10740201) Journal
    I thought this might be taking place in a real country. Hell Canada could be renamed "USA Part Deux" without detracting from it a bit.

    It seems to me that the rest of North America should just give in and accept that it's all really the US anyway.

    • Re:had me worried for a sec (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      As a Canadian, I just wanted to tell you EAT SHIT AND DIE YOU AMERICAN HOSER!
      • Look Buddy, haven't you seen southpark? You damned Canadians, with your square heads and unattached jaws that open and close leaving a hole in your head while you talk, are just going to have to accept your place in things.

        With that said, I'll be moving in next door later this week (anything to get away from religious rule).
    • Actually, I was thinking the opposite... that both coasts of the U.S. plus most of the northern border should just accept that we should be part of Canada anyway and let the rest of the country try to make it on its own.... :-)

      • And what would we call whats left of the 'States? The United States of the Midsouthwest? Jesusland? Dubyakzastan?

        (laugh, it's a joke... actually come to think of it it's a touch to serious to be funny).

  • What scares me the most (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @12:44AM (#10740498)
    Is this bit:

    "The committee also recommended allowing for extended licensing of Internet material for educational purposes, meaning that a fee cannot be collected for publicly available material.

    That publicly available material would be defined as material that available on public Internet sites that do not require subscriptions or passwords and for which there is no associated fee."

    Is it just me, or does that seem extremely abusable?
    • The educational exemption for use of copyrighted materials already exists. For example, if an instructor wished to discuss an article that appeared in a newspaper or magazine, the instructor could make as many copies as needed for the class without violating the copyright. The recommended changes would simply extend this exemption to cover material pubically available on the Internet, if I read this correctly.

      It is a necessary and appropriate addition, in my opinion.

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