US Group Calls Canada a Top Copyright Violator 293
eldurbarn tips a CBC story reporting that the US-based International Intellectual Property Alliance claims Canada has joined Russia and China among the biggest violators of US copyright law. Quoting: "The group's report is the latest to urge the US government into pressuring Ottawa to reform copyright laws." As we have previously discussed here, the current Conservative government had planned to introduce a new copyright law, but dissent from the privacy commissioner and a groundswell of public protest delayed that action. eldurbarn adds, "What makes this story so important now is that this pressure is being applied at a time and in a manner that may cause the Canadian government to fall, forcing an election." Meanwhile, on the other side of the rapidly heating debate, Michael Geist blogs about the forces arrayed against a Canadian DMCA. The Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, which includes a who's who of the telecom, Internet, retail, and broadcast communities, has outlined a list of its copyright reform demands.
FUCK copyright law. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:FUCK copyright law. (Score:5, Funny)
--
== yetihehe ==
"My totem is too great for your desperate fighting techniques!" - T. Hawk (Super Street Fighter II)
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Sweden (Score:2, Interesting)
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'Course I didn't RTA, I jumped right to the point where I start shooting my mouth off.
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Re:FUCK copyright law. (Score:5, Insightful)
There are some politicians in the US who don't seem to understand the Canada is a soverign country, not under US rule. Maybe they do understand and are simply peeved about it. As a soverign country we do as we please, and we believe that copyright holders can either charge a copyright levy or sue copyright violators, but not both.
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With the WTO and other international treaties, no major country can afford financially to piss on the rest of the world any more.
It's like the states and the federal government- technically they can do what they want but the cost is too high.
Sovereignty is overrated. (Score:5, Funny)
As a German, I can just point out that many Americans are in gross violation of German road traffic law (for example, they're overtaking on the right side all the time) as well as German gun regulations. Also, no American carries an ID card compliant with 1-2, PersAuswG (the German ID card law). Those violations have to stop immediately!
Also, most American laws are not written in the German language, which is at odds with the German basic law. What kind of rogue country are the USA?
Re:Sovereignty is overrated. (Score:4, Insightful)
Capital punishment comes to mind. They are the killing people while they complain about us downloading a few movies. It's lunacy.
Re:Sovereignty is overrated. (Score:4, Interesting)
THEN the discussion can turn to such harmonious issues as softwood lumber, fish and steel
When all that has been straightened out, there might be place for some discussion about harmonizing BOTH US and Canadian IP laws with WIPO (and not by changing the WIPO rules to reflect US law like has been done in the past).
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As an Australian, I'd like to point out that driving on the right side of the road is illegal, dangerous and incredibly stupid. You are likely to kill yourself and the poor soul you collide with.
I will be lobbying my goverment to tell your goverment to get into line immediately.
Oh, and overtaking on the r
Re:FUCK copyright law. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:FUCK copyright law. (Score:5, Informative)
This is B.S. on many levels. To begin with, in many respects [blogspot.com] Canadian copyright law is stronger than that of the U.S. In any case, Canada has no obligation to conform to the WIPO treaty. Canada has signed the WIPO treaty but has not ratified it. Signing a treaty merely indicates the intention of the then current government. As the Hon. Jim Prentice, the Minister responsible for this file, commented [google.ca], the relationship between signing a treaty and ratifying it is like that between dating and marriage. Nothing is binding until the treaty is ratified, and Canada has never ratified the WIPO treaty.
As to fulfilling treaty obligations, for the US to complain about Canada is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Take the softwood lumber dispute, for example. The US illegally imposed billions of dollars in tariffs and planned, illegally, to give them to US lumber companies. The US consistently lost at the NAFTA dispute panel, even though three of the five panel members were Americans. The dispute was temporarily resolved when the new Conservative minority government gave in to the US in spite of being in the right legally, but the US is making trouble again and there is a good chance that the agreement will not last.
Too bad they don't have that much oil... (Score:2, Funny)
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What makes them think... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What makes them think... (Score:4, Insightful)
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http://www.providencephoenix.com/archive/movies/99/07/01/SOUTH_PARK_BIGGER_LONGER.html [providencephoenix.com]
US is worst copyright violator of all! (Score:2)
Re:What makes them think... (Score:5, Insightful)
The US, being the largest economic superpower (still!), and our largest trading partner, has alot of leverage that they're not afraid of using. You know that softwood lumber dispute? The one that the US lost at NAFTA, WTO, etc time and time again? The US just stonewalled Canada...we eventually conceded some tariffs in the interest of saving our domestic industries, even though by every treaty under the sun we were free and clear.
Canada has a number of laws making copyright work for the benefit of society. I don't agree with all of them, but I understand their purpose. The first is CANCON, laws promoting the distribution of Canadian generated media based on quotas. e.g. Don't meet a quota, you lose your broadcast license.
There's practical exceptions too. Copyright is null-and-void for organisations translating media into formats that make them accessible to visually or audio-impaired individuals. e.g. Library can MAKE books on tape for subjects that might not be commercially availably; or they can reprint large font editions.
I worry that our relaxed personal use copyright laws are in jeopardy on a daily basis. Fortuntely the Canadian government is slightly more accessible to the public than the US congress, so we hve some safeguards in place. (note: i said ~slightly~)
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The softwood lumber dispute showed just how fucking hypocritical the US government is in world trade matters. Almost all WTO and NAFTA rulings went against the US position and told them to pay back th
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Indeed. I live in Canada, and am governed by Canadian law. Not U.S. law.
I was recently on a tour in Costa Rica, and the U.S. folks all automatically assumed that the movies on my iPod were somehow illegal, even though I ripped them from legitimately purchased DVDs for my own personal use, and haven't the slightest intention of putting them on BitTorrent or any similar network (which is not fair use). Fair Use seems to have disappeared from the U.S. psyche.
Circumventing CSS to rip DVDs isn't a crime in C
Re:What makes them think... (Score:4, Insightful)
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This seems familiar somehow ... (Score:3, Funny)
Because our copyrighted swill
gives us the right to kill
Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
We need the right to sue
for a case of LaBatt Blue
(further verses are left as an exercise to the reader)
Re:This seems familiar somehow ... (Score:4, Insightful)
There... fixed it for ya
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Breaking American Laws (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Breaking American Laws (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Breaking American Laws (Score:5, Informative)
(slight edit and emphasis mine)
The RIAA and MPAA are not welcome to a single cent of the tax we pay on blank media. It's a Canadian tax. It goes to the CRIA ( you know, the Canadian Recording Industry Association) (and presumably other Canadian organizations).
Re:Breaking American Laws (Score:5, Funny)
Which presumably goes to support the likes of Bryan Adams and Celine Dion?
I'd rather it went to the RIAA, MPAA, Microsoft, Al-Qaeda or hell... pretty much anyone!
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Re:Breaking American Laws (Score:4, Insightful)
"The RIAA and MPAA are not welcome to a single cent of the tax we pay on blank media. It's a Canadian tax. It goes to the CRIA ( you know, the Canadian Recording Industry Association) (and presumably other Canadian organizations)."
Most of it goes to various societies and groups representing publishers, composers, performers (the CMRRA, NRCC, SOGEDAM, SODRAC, and SOCAN). Some goes to record companies, who may also be CRIA members. But none goes directly to the CRIA, nor is the CRIA involved in the distribution of the money to record companies or artists. It's a bit like saying that when you pay your doctor, it goes to the AMA -- perhaps it does in one sense, but that's not the most accurate way to put it.
For what it's worth, only Canadian artists and whatnot are eligible. While I'm guessing that the average Canadian pirate will have a higher percentage of Canadian music in their collection than the average pirate elsewhere in the world, my guess is that most of the music pirated in Canada is actually from elsewhere. If you're an American artist and your stuff is being enjoyed by Canadians who think that you're getting paid when they buy blank media, you're both wrong. Don't expect that check from the CPCC anytime soon!
This is why the Canadian levy is a terrible, terrible idea. It's nationalistic (as it kicks a little cash to Canadian artists each year), but it's hardly equitable. It's a tax on everybody who buys media -- whether they pirate or not -- and it gives many people the false belief that the artist is being compensated, thus legitimizing piracy. For Canadian artists, I don't believe the money makes up for lost sales, and as covered above, non-Canadians don't see any money.
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Uh... You might want to check their membership list. They're pretty much just an RIAA franchise these days.
c.
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Show me where you paid a "copyright tax" above and beyond sales taxes.
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but last time I bought some at london drugs, they still itemized the blank cd fine separately on my receipt.
Checking: yep, they still do it:
http://www.londondrugs.com/Cultures/en-US/Content/Library/Computers/cd_levy.htm [londondrugs.com]
These propaganda releases from the RIAA and other IP terrorists are designed to frighten the Canadian politicians into their extremist point of view,
and unfortunate
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At the *moment*, yes but...
http://www.aim.org/special-report/north-american-union-conspiracy-exposed/ [aim.org]
http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/the-amero-is-real/1179/ [rinf.com]
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> international law or local democracy stop it?
Fixed it for ya!
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How dare Canada introduce the DMCA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How dare Canada introduce the DMCA? (Score:5, Informative)
It is of course not legal for the UK to reciprocate.
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Wasn't that one of Tony Blair's campaign slogans?
End this (Score:2, Interesting)
IP reform my buttcheeks ! we need to scrap the whole system.
The last decade has seen to many idiots trying to claim that an idea
is a palpable, coherent and legitimate "object" that can be protected.
I'm not paying to type a smily or say "It's rumbling time"...
Get a job and go scr@$ yerselves! Ideas should be as free as you are.
Mind you, Democracy and freedom are myths, but if you're using them as buidling
blocks to create a society....
Non-sense (Score:5, Informative)
Cannada CANNOT break (grammatically error on country placement inserted intentionally) copyright US law, anymore than an US as a country cannot break coypright new-guinea law . What could happen is that somebody could infringe on the copyright held by somebody else in another country, which means (if I recall correctly WIPO) that a Canadian could at most only break a canadian law on respecting other country copyright. A country can only break international Agreement (like WIPO agreement). So the above quoted line is wrong on the citizen [of the country] level, and it is wrong on the country level. Beside that, it is only propaganda from US copyright holder to put pressure on foreign government or require their paid-off US lawmaker to put pressure on those countries.
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Of course, it's not about adopting the SAME terms, they are pushing for even more egregious terms in Canada so they can come back to the US and "align" our terms to our neighbors.. it's only neighborly!!
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Since when has the US had respect for the law, with their illegal invasion of IRAQ? The US cares about one thing: It's corporate interests. If it has to bully or sanction other countries it will.
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Re:Non-sense (Score:4, Informative)
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Do you smell that? (Score:2, Interesting)
Secondly, how did these guys come up with these numbers? $511 Million? Between China & Canada that's $3.4 billion dollars in piracy. In music and movies. Think about that. $3.4 billion at $20 per movie/CD (assuming that's the average) is 170 million movies and CDs not being sold this year. Do they even have
Re:Do you smell that? (Score:5, Interesting)
It is basically changing the meaning of the word, "loss." The record companies "lose $511 million per year due to copyright infringement" actually translates to, "had all the songs that were downloaded in a given year been purchased at the current market rate, the record companies would have made $511 million more than they did." For someone who is aware of the economist's meaning of "loss," this is obvious and the record companies don't seem that badly off (imagine if they said that they were actually spending $500 million more than they were taking in; they would be going bankrupt). For someone who is not aware of it, it is deceptive -- it makes it sound like the record companies are in serious financial peril, which is about as far from the truth as claiming that 2+2 = -8 i. That's what the companies want, of course.
Of course, even the economic sense of the word "loss" is dishonest, because the sales probably wouldn't have happened, especially in the case of students or people living in China (where the price of a CD is, for some people, equivalent to 1 week's pay).
Not invented here == BAD (Score:5, Insightful)
Please note that Canadian lawyers (who enjoy generally greater social respect) will look at US law and find it similarly lacking. But do not have the insufferable American arrogance to claim their national laws should somehow govern all.
Canada is a different country with different norms and practices. Superficial language similarities mask much deeper fundamental differences. In copyright, Canada has a CD tax to compensate artists for such personal copies. The US does too (Music CD blanks), but it is little enforced.
As long as both the US and Canada conform to WIPO, neither has reasonable complaint of the others' national customizations. Utter arrogance and extraterritoriality to maintain otherwise.
In other news.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:In other news.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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CD Tax in Canada (Score:2, Interesting)
Doesn't that mean that they have the right to copy all they like since it's already been paid for?
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http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/news/c20032004fs-e.html [cb-cda.gc.ca]
"Both "ordinary" CD-Rs and CD-RWs and their "Audio" counterparts can be used to copy music, and both are commonly used for this purpose. In fact, in volume terms, most CDs used to copy music are "ordinary" CD-Rs and CD-RWs (subject to a levy of 21), not "Audio" products (subject to a levy of 77)."
However, this obviously doesnt apply to P2P, and most people dont burn music to CD's anymore, its from PC to MP3 Pla
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I don't see the problem... (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally I'd love it if they called the UK one of the top copyright violators in the world. Unfortunately our goverment seems to think right now that copyright is more important than even the people that employ them - the general public.
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Why would I quit thinking of it that way? The Faceless Megacorps have gone out of their way to prove it IS that way.
No unfettered distributio
Violator of US Law (Score:5, Insightful)
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age old recipe applied again and again... (Score:5, Insightful)
It used to be done in secret diplomatic meetings and under a cover of foreign relations when big corporate interests dictated their agenda through government mouthpieces, usually with the threat of military/economic pressure looming in the horizon. Their favorite government of choice to carry their agenda was of course US. Now either because governments are too inefficient to flex rapidly or because vote-counting hasn't been "modernized" yet (Diebold anyone?) and most of all because even the most successful PR campaigns always take a finite amount of time to sway public opinion in desirable directions (e.g. took years to convince americans that Iraq was behind 9/11) corporate interests have taken it upon themselves to apply their gunboat diplomacy.
Who needs official government representatives meeting each other anymore when articles written by a lobby team in the US can bring a foreign government down? What is outrageous to the average
Being a Canadian citizen all I have to say is.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Being a Canadian citizen all I have to say is.. (Score:2)
if you were really Canadian, surely that should be
So, eh?
Let it never be said.. (Score:2)
>may cause the Canadian government to fall
!!!!!!
Cause the government to fall?!? (Score:2)
This is a bit of exaggeration. Anyone following Canadian politics knows that a federal election may be forced in the next few weeks, but the reasons for that are:
1) Parliamentary vote on the extension of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.
2) Parliamentary vote on this years federal budget.
3) Parliamentary vote on contentious anti-crime bill.
With a minority government, any of these could, and likely will, trigger an election. Copyright issues are about #7
Mmmm... Beer! (Score:2)
Hm- Anyone else notice the acronym for "Intellectual Property Alliance" = "IPA"?
How appropriate...
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This is just gold! (Score:4, Interesting)
What does sovereignty mean anymore ? (Score:2, Interesting)
You don't like how things work around here, just don't "export" or do business here. Lets face it, if it wasn't profitable for them to operate in Canada they wouldn't.
So mind your own business, try as best you can to make a buck if you so choose, but let us worry about how we run our own country. </rant>
Yeah! Canada wins again! (Score:5, Funny)
You other American law breaking countries never had a chance!
Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
I say "good on them" for sticking to their own copyright system (for now). I can't remember the last time our (British) government did something that stood up against the Americans.
Dear Canada, (Score:2)
Saudi Group Calls USA a Top Sharia Violator (Score:2)
"blahblahblah tips an Al Jazeera story reporting that the Saudi Arabia-based International Sharia Law Alliance claims the USA has joined the UK and Holland (you know what those Dutch get up to) among the biggest violators of Islamic Sharia law. Quoting: "The group's report is the latest to urge the Saudi government into pressuring the USA to reform morality and public association laws." As we have previously discussed here, the current Republican government had planned to introduce new m
I believe I speak for Canada when I say (Score:2, Funny)
Send for Captain Copyright! (Score:2)
Government Falling (Score:2, Insightful)
Bringing Down the Government (Score:3, Informative)
The allegation that this issue could bring down the Canadian government is pure, unadulterated bullshit. If Stephen Harper's minority government falls, it will be because that's what he wants. The other major party is in disarray, and Harper's Conservatives see a chance to go after a majority.
On top of that, the economy is showing signs of following the U.S. economy into the toilet, and Canadians are getting as sick of the way Harper kisses Bush's ass as the American people are of Bush himself. And there are some pretty ugly questions being asked about the government's conduct of our involvement in Afghanistan. The Tories sense that they may never be more popular than they are right now, so they're trying to turn every vote short of a decision on who buys the coffee into a confidence motion.
Canadian Copyright Law Stronger than US (Score:2, Informative)
Keep it up, Canada! (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Media cartel doesn't respect copyright either (Score:2)
They pointed a finger at Canada, but there are three more pointing back to them.
FUCK OFF (Score:5, Insightful)
We are sick and tired of this kind of arrogance.
Give Canadians the Services... (Score:3, Insightful)
There are many entertainment services available to the US that aren't available in Canada. For instance, iTunes movie rentals, online network TV episode viewing, etc., Pandora's box (hehehe) are not available in Canada. If the US companies could get their sh!t together and figure out how to sell these services to Canadians, perhaps Canadians wouldn't have to seek entertainment fulfillment through other channels.
ChrisRe: (Score:2)
Not sure if this was rhetorical or not, but there may be treaty obligations that Canada is subject to, and the lobbyistsrepresenting the media cartels are trying to lock-in US style protection to all applicable treaty signers. Or more likely the greedy bastards are trying to get away with what ever someone will let them.
Concerns in our “information economy”. (Score:3, Insightful)
People pushing for these laws tend to apply flawed common-sense reasoning that intellectual property is strictly analogous to physical property, and then build anachronistic business models around it. The United States economy consists largely (if not mostly) of immaterial goods and services these days, and many believe copying that property is tantamount to stealing goods from factories, for example.
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Clearly there is a solution to this copyright problem for the **AA. STOP selling music to Canadians. If they do that then any of their music in the country is obviously copyrighted and we can all then see just how big a problem it is.
Now, while you are laughing at the suggestion, ask yourself why they won't do that. And then ask again because that is the real problem. They are using
Re:Though fucking noogies (Score:4, Insightful)
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Remember the proposal of several years ago to have **EVERY** storage device check, at the harware level, if the bits it was copying were not copyrighted?
To be honest, no I dont remember that.
A couple google searches did not return anything related. If you happen to have any links handy, that would be awesome.
However, despite how boneheaded such a thing appears to you and me, we can easily make them happy.
I can tell you right now if the bits going through the HD are copyrighted or not, without any hardware modifications!
For US law: Yes
For countries copying US copyright laws: Yes
For all other sane countries: No
In the US, all works is copyrighted once it
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Honestly, I know people who have(had?) boxes with multiple drives of stuff they never watched...just to share at some monitored torrent site. That way when new stuff was out they'd have 'first dibs' on what they really wanted. Know a few others who download all day, since 'if I have to pay for all this bandwidth, I'm damned well using it'. Lastly I know people who are too lazy to rip their CDs and find it easier to just download it again...and if they change their playlist and then chan