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Canada Piracy Your Rights Online

Canadian IP Lobby Calls For ACTA, SOPA & Warrantless Search 129

An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian intellectual property's lead lobby group, the Canadian IP Council (which represent the music, movie, software and pharma industries) released a new policy document (PDF) yesterday that identifies its legislative priorities for the coming years. Anyone hoping that the SOPA protests, the European backlash against ACTA, and the imminent passage of Canadian copyright reform might moderate the lobby group demands will be sorely disappointed. Michael Geist says it is the most extremist IP policy document ever released in Canada, calling for the implementation of ACTA, SOPA-style rules including website blocking and stopping search queries from resolving, liability for advertisers and payment companies, massive surveillance at the border and through delivery channels including searching through individual packages without court oversight, and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars on private enforcement." Reader Bloozguy adds more legislative bad news for Canadians: Bill C30, the country's much-maligned warrantless internet surveillance bill, is coming back with new provisions that would give the U.S. government access to Canadian citizens' private data.
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Canadian IP Lobby Calls For ACTA, SOPA & Warrantless Search

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  • WTF?!!? (Score:5, Funny)

    by zero.kalvin ( 1231372 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @09:59AM (#40257363)
    The only reaction I have if Fuck you! Why don't they install chips in our asses as well to see if we accidentally farted a theme song! What a bunch of idiots!
    • Do NOT give them any new ideas. No, seriously.

      And on the same topic, this kind of crap is exactly why there needs to be some sort of penalty for lobbying for laws that are so far away from any sort of humanitarian ideal, social contract or even basic free market concept. Want to propose a law in parliament that calls for the eating of babies? Fine, but if it doesn't pass, your baby is the only one that gets eaten. Want to propose draconian IP restrictions? Fine, but if it fails, your IP is permanently forfe

      • Re:WTF?!!? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by gman003 ( 1693318 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:31AM (#40257893)

        Wouldn't a better idea be just *not* *electing* baby-eaters to Parliament?

        • no, wrong design paradigm. the baby-eaters WILL come. count on it. expect it.

          what we should do, as intelligent beings aware of our own faults, is to architect a system where the baby-eaters do not last long in positions of power. its hard to know if they'll be baby-eaters beforehand but once they show their cards, they should be ousted and actually prohibited from working in public 'service'.

          strong? ok, jail them.

          but define a system that punishes bad behavior. IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY. I think we st

          • by s.petry ( 762400 )

            Canada is just as corrupt as the US, and Mexico. This is a frightening state of affairs. All 3 of us have straw men leading that are trained liars. That is their job, to tell bold faced lies with a straight face.

            As a first step, each of us needs to figure out a way to rid ourselves of the media monopolies that are dumping bullshit on the populace. Unfortunately, since recalls and legal channels are failing I'm at a loss for how to accomplish this without some type of revolution. It does make one think,

            • by Anonymous Coward

              People HATE to think it has actually gotten this bad. They absolutely refuse to accept that things could be this way. They will cry out that Alex Jones is a nut, that 911 was clean and transparent, that this IP bullshit is "just business" and that there is no endgame.

              It is really unfortunate to see people who laud intelligence and logic become so utterly blinded. Mark my words, we will NOT recover from this. There IS NO "better time" ahead. It is a downhill slalom right into the pit.

            • by hazah ( 807503 )

              As a buddhist (actually as a human), I do have a natural aversion to violence. The sad state of affairs is such that I cannot see any other resolution. Unless we rid ourselves (litterally) of these bad apples, the desease will continue. The other side of the coin isn't that much brigher though, as another infection will take its place. It is unfortunate that blood must flow (mark my words, eventually, it will), yet it is, ultimately, the human condition. We all seem to want justice, but our error is giving

            • Canada is just as corrupt as the US, and Mexico.

              Oh please!

              You obviously have no God damned idea of how fortunate and privileged you are to be living in what ever comfortable liberal democracy it is that you come from.

              Go spend a few months in the Third World (and I don't mean Club Med) and you'll see what corruption means.

        • by hazah ( 807503 )
          You say this like there is a choice. So choose. Option 1 = turd sandwich. Option 2 = douche bag. Choose.
          • Re:WTF?!!? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by snowraver1 ( 1052510 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @12:24PM (#40259711)
            This is why, I think that you should be able to vote for no one. I would rather have an empty chair represent me than most of the crooks currenly in office.
            • sadly enough an empty chair would be much more beneficial to society than most politicians.

              Empty chairs aren't corrupt. Empty chairs don't take your rights. Empty chairs don't give subsidies to their friends. Empty chairs don't collect huge wages and lifetime of medical/dental benefits. Empty chairs don't do insider trading. Okay, now that I think about it, I can't think of a single way a crooked politician would be better than an empty chair. Vote Empty Chair for Congress!

            • As long as the empty chair is counted as voting for the status quo, otherwise it is just fewer people that need bribing to pass a bad law.

              E.g. if you had a house of 300 people , Company X needs to bribe 151 to get their law past. If you had a house of 300 people where 100 where empty chairs and don't vote then X only needs to bribe 101 people (much cheaper). Under my plan X would still need to bribe 151 people but there are only 200 people to bribe (because the 100 empty chairs automatically vote agains

            • by hazah ( 807503 )
              Yes, I've been waiting for that option. It will also send a (unheard) message saying I want none of them. A man can dream...
          • by s.petry ( 762400 )

            There is, at least in the US, but it takes work and it's not instant gratification. Petition to get people you know on ballots and get the crooks out of office.

        • It would be, but these "baby eaters" are simply psychopaths with no conscience with excellent skills at social manipulation, lying and cheating and the average people, pathetic as they are, will readily succumb to their manipulation.

        • Wouldn't a better idea be just *not* *electing* baby-eaters to Parliament?

          The problem is that only baby eaters are standing for election...

    • by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

      Chips in asses has already been done [wikipedia.org].

  • Who needs... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MitchDev ( 2526834 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @09:59AM (#40257371)
    ... Al Qaeda when you have the US and Canadian Governments?
    • Re:Who needs... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dubbreak ( 623656 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @11:11AM (#40258495)
      Well it's a lobby group, so you have to look for the source of the funding.

      I really think there need to be tighter laws on funding lobbyists (preferable it weren't legal, but that's never going to happen). How much of the money funding this group is foreign? It's one thing having Canadian companies spend money to have their political views "better heard" and completely different if this is being funded by outside (e.g. US) sources. Another country should not be able to shape our laws and legislation. It's bad enough companies within our country can push their agendas via money, but at least (if they are Canadian owed) it's Canadian agendas. The whole IP reform does not seem Canadian.
      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Lobbying used to be called bribery and it used to be illegal. WTF happened?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Hey there, watcha doin' on them tubes, eh?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    There needs to be some law or provision set where they can't keep trying this BS. Canadians have already told
    them to kindly take off. Leave our internet alone.

  • by aristotle-dude ( 626586 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:01AM (#40257397)

    If the government insists on collecting income tax and sales tax from me then I demand that they start representing me. Here is what I want them to say to the Canadian IP Council: GTFO.

    I not only pay my taxes but I buy music and TV shows from iTunes. However, I have no interest in seem more laws. I want smaller government, not a larger welfare state for the corporations or individuals. Corporations should be forced to use civil courts for their grievances for copyright. It should be considered breach of contract or license and not a criminal act.

    Stop using my tax money for your crap.

    • by FriendlyLurker ( 50431 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:31AM (#40257887)
      Well if there was any sort of meaningful political and economic consequence for representing private interests at societies general expense, then this behaviour might stop. But as it is, the same two parties representing slightly different business interests flip in and out of power as they screw up the living standards further, while retired politicians go on to make millions [nakedcapitalism.com] from their time in power. This is not just a Canada/US phenomena [guardian.co.uk], and big mainstream media keeps us all fearful and voting for the same clowns time and again. Sigh.
      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        In the last Canadian election, the third party increased their number of seats by close to an order of magnitude compared to their previous best showing, to become the official opposition. Sadly the first thing they did was move towards the centre. Policies like legalizing marijuana, dropped, along with much else of their platform that I've always liked. It's sad that, especially in first past the post systems, that no matter who the parties are, they end up the same.

    • It only costs big IP about $100 million a year to suborn the U.S. federal government, administration and Congress. What are they spending up in Canada?

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        Our present government is very pro (big) business and probably at heart believe that if you're smart enough to buy some IP, then you deserve the full protection of the State to protect your property.
        Of course the fact that almost every media outlet (owned by 2 or 3 companies now) was pushing the current government full time during the last election is much of the reason they were voted in and I'd guess they remind the government of this regularly.
        Our campaign reforms haven't seemed to have worked and the fi

  • Probably unlikely (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MrKevvy ( 85565 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:11AM (#40257553)

    The majority Conservatives already dropped all of these provisions from C-11 as they're highly unpopular. Recent polls are now in the news showing that the New Democrats are tied with them, and may even be slightly leading. I really doubt they will back this and risk the next election over it.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by silentbrad ( 1488951 )
      Unfortunately, I have a feeling they'll be of the mindset of, "we'll do what we want now, and use the last year to make everyone think we're the best option again."
      • I think the Conservative plan is closer to "We'll do what we want now, and spend tax payer money to convince Canadians that we're good and spend our party's war chest to convince Canadians that everyone else is bad".

        The difference is all their positive advertising is based on spending tax dollars to promote their own party which should be illegal.

      • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

        Doesn't matter too much one way or the other. Even if the law passed, it would be declared unconstitutional in Canada. In Canadaland, the SCC is the final check on the government and they can and will void any laws they see fit. Sure the government can rewrite the law, but getting it into compliance is much harder than simply scraping the entire idea.

        We don't have dumb justices in our supreme court. And half of them are conservative, before people go all flappy-eyed and insane.

    • The next election is a long way off. This is the time for Harper to implement these unpopular measures. They'll be out-of-mind for voters 3 years from now.

      • by Beardo the Bearded ( 321478 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @11:00AM (#40258325)

        Not if we kill 13 of them. Then they lose their majority and force another election.

        If I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison, it sure as fuck will be for a real crime.

        • by Anonymous Coward

          Let's just stick with democracy and its processes, what ya say? I *like* peaceful democracy, I *like* not having a soldier on every corner during elections; it's something worth keeping.

          The root problem here is that that 24.2% of Canadians can give a single party a "majority" ( 39.2% [wikipedia.org] of 61.1% [elections.ca] turnout) government. This false majority, coupled with a political system in which all three federal parties view themselves as pursuing a leadership role (rather than a representative role) in Canadian society, is crea

          • I agree, we should have proportional representation. It makes sense. What we have now just doesn't work right, and you get vote splitting and bad choices all around.

            The Americans have a saying: "There are four boxes to use in the defence of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Use in that order."

            Soap boxes are illegal. You protest, you go to prison if the government decides that it's an illegal protest. G20, G8, Montreal. Warrantless monitoring of everything that happens online? That's an excuse t

    • by alexo ( 9335 )

      The majority Conservatives already dropped all of these provisions from C-11 as they're highly unpopular. Recent polls are now in the news showing that the New Democrats are tied with them, and may even be slightly leading. I really doubt they will back this and risk the next election over it.

      Please cite your sources.

      All the sources that I can find claim that C-11 is completely unchanged from its first introduction as Harper's Conservatives blocked *all* of the proposed amendments.

      Some light reading:
      http://www.michaelgeist.ca/tags/c-11 [michaelgeist.ca]

  • One year of Harper (Score:5, Interesting)

    by msobkow ( 48369 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:12AM (#40257579) Homepage Journal

    This is the damage done by one year of Harper.

    We've three more years of hell before we'll be rid of him, even though his government is illegitimate and does not have a real majority because of the robocall scandal.

    Living under a fascist government sucks royally when their ideals for the nation are your worst nightmares.

    • by SteveFoerster ( 136027 ) <steveNO@SPAMstevefoerster.com> on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:32AM (#40257899) Homepage

      Kind of sucks when Americans can't even say, "That's it, I'm moving to Canada!"

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Well, the whole province (lets say more than 80%...) voted for Jack Layton and Ontario which was around 50% for NPD and conserv party aren't to blame in this. It's rather the "west side" of Canada that is to blame if we got these kinds of lay because they mostly voted for the conservative party. Steven Harper showed the whole country you don't need Quebec to get the majority in the Gov. And everyone knows what happens if Steven Harper had the majority in the gov. He can do what he wants without any question

      • It's rather the "west side" of Canada that is to blame if we got these kinds of lay because they mostly voted for the conservative party.

        Saskatchewan is solid blue because the federal ridings are gerrymandered to hell and gone. the NDP voters in Regina and Saskatoon are divided up and lumped in with conservative voting rural areas. In Saskatchewan, the NDP got 32.3% of the votes and 0% of the seats.

        • That might be true but my numbers are from the time Harper got elected. All the numbers were in the newspaper all over the country. Your numbers might be from today cause no way it was from that time...hell no.
          • That might be true but my numbers are from the time Harper got elected. All the numbers were in the newspaper all over the country. Your numbers might be from today cause no way it was from that time...hell no.

            As are mine. My 32.3% figure is from the last election.

        • Saskatchewan is solid blue because the federal ridings are gerrymandered to hell and gone.

          The Conservative party had ZERO to do with this--blame Cretien-era Liberals since they had the most clout in the last review of electoral divisions. That is when Saskatoon and Regina were carved up and lumped in with vast swaths of surrounding prairie. It appears to have been a strategy to ensure Liberal cabinet ministers like Ralph Goodale had more opportunity to be competitive mostly at the expense of the NDP. For example, Regina as a city is pretty left leaning, so it was carved up and Mr. Goodale was

          • 1. I said it's gerrymandered, I didn't say the Conservatives were the ones who did it, just that they're the ones benefiting from it.

            2. Three-way-race? You are obviously not looking at Saskatchewan election results. There is not a single riding where the 3rd place party was anywhere close and only 4 where the 2nd place was fairly close. The remainder had the Conservatives getting 1.5-3x as many votes as the next candidate.

      • It's an interesting situation -- provincially the western provinces tend to vote closer to liberal than to conservative (NDP has strong support in some areas) -- but western provinces traditionally vote conservative federally because they've felt that they have no real voice in a Liberal parliament, that tended to cater to Ontario interests primarily, with just a nod to everyone else (note that the Maritimes tend to get ignored by ALL governments).

        As for the Quebec vs Alberta/BC animosity -- I think much of

    • by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

      It sounds like your Harper is little different than our Dubya was. Well, maybe not as bad, nobody has attacked Canada and Harper hasn't invaded a foreign country because of bad intel.

      I fear that Romney may win the Presidency and take us back to the Bush years. MBAs apparently make awful Presidents, especially "trickle down" politicians like Bush and Romney.

      I urge my neighbors in the Great White North to fight the madness the MAFIAA is trying to inflict on you.

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        It sounds like your Harper is little different than our Dubya was. Well, maybe not as bad, nobody has attacked Canada and Harper hasn't invaded a foreign country because of bad intel

        Harper is worse then Bush, not only has he roughly the same philosophy, but he is very smart and patient. He managed to show false colours for years when he had a minority and every time he didn't get his way, managed to turn it around that the opposition was the bad guy. Even when he prorogued parliament to avoid losing a confi

    • This is the damage done by one year of Harper.

      So why is this "interesting" and not "offtopic" or "troll"? How is the release of a policy document from a Hollywood-industry lobby group the result of a conservative government policy? The parent comment to yours mentioned that though not perfect, the current copyright bill was significantly toned town through both public pressure and (believe it or not, I'm sure you won't due to your blind partisanship) genuine concern from those within the Conservative party. "Damage done"? If anything this is eviden

    • by caseih ( 160668 )

      Could be worse. You could live in Canada under Harper *and* Alberta under Redford. Talk about absolute rule by fear. Reminds me of elections in communist countries.

      • I'd far far far FAR rather live under Redford's Conservatives than the Wild Rose's "Hate the cities, bash the gays" neo-conservatives....
  • by cpu6502 ( 1960974 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:17AM (#40257671)

    "From time to time the Tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Civil disobedience is its nature manure." - Thomas Jefferson, 1790s. Of course what Jefferson ACTUALLY did was to form a new party called the Democrat-Republicans, and takeover the government in 1800. They dominated politics for the next three decades. WE need to take back our government(s) in Canada, the EU and the US.

    • Lobby exist to destroy those powerful "groups" unfortunately. Besides, if you look at the parties that already exist right now, who can lead Canada better than Harper ?That is a good question.
      • by tbannist ( 230135 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @11:08AM (#40258459)

        Is that a trick question? Mulcair, Rae or May would probably be better than Harper. I'm not particularly fond of the NDP, Liberals or Green party, each party has it's own problems. However, I detest the Conservative Party. The CPC is engaged in a grand enterprise to dismantle Canadian society for the benefit of resource extraction companies.

        Harper's conservatives fire or muzzle scientists to hide inconvenient facts, lie about nearly everything, are under investigation for vote fraud, and have been convicted of money laundering during elections. They have taken the mechanisms of Parliament and turned them into instruments to wage war against the other political parties and the people who support them. They seem incapable of seeing government as anything other than a war of "us versus them". The Canadian government hasn't always been that way, Harper and cronies just keep seeming to find new lows to sink to.

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        Lobby exist to destroy those powerful "groups" unfortunately. Besides, if you look at the parties that already exist right now, who can lead Canada better than Harper ?That is a good question.

        Anybody who is willing to compromise as long as it is a minority government.

        • Don't you remember, last election was a minority government, look what happened... nothing special. It was more problematic that it is now.
          • by dryeo ( 100693 )

            Read my post again, Anybody who is willing to compromise. The Conservatives have not been willing to compromise or even be honest about certain things like how much the F35 fighters cost and whether they're even useful for arctic conditions. How much building a bunch of prisons are going to cost to throw people like me in jail as I don't want to support drug gangs and to grow a bit of pot from seed means planting more then 6 plants outside where there is high mortality and 50% males. Allowing DRM to be bro

            • Look, there in majority now. it doesn't matter if its minority or majority. The only thing that matters is that the conservative party is the problem...minor or major... that doesn't matter
  • No. An army of acid belching mutant ponies. With cyborg riders designed to override all of Asimov's laws on command from central in an undisclosed island fortress, accessible only via private submarine.

    • No. An army of acid belching mutant ponies. With cyborg riders designed to override all of Asimov's laws on command from central in an undisclosed island fortress, accessible only via private submarine.

      ... for the children, of course. Anyone who doesn't agree is just helping the pedophiles escape

  • Do While... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mk1004 ( 2488060 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:36AM (#40257963)
    It's a war of attrition: 1) A bill is submitted, public outrage ensues, legislators back off support, the bill dies. 2) A new, slightly different bill is submitted. 3) . Goto 1. Oops, forgot to put in the "public finally gets tired of hearing about it, less and less outrage, a bill finally passes" exit from the loop. Lobbyists never quit.
    • Re:Do While... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @10:53AM (#40258215)
      An effective strategy. It goes hand-in-hand with the overreaching approach of lobbying for something completly unrealistic in order to achieve a lesser but similar goal.
    • Lobbyists are in effect public figures so put up a Facebook page identifying them, photos, businesses and names, and what they are peddling so the whole country can know.
      • by Hatta ( 162192 )

        Why would that stop them? Head MPAA lobbyist Chris Dodd offered Obama a bribe on national TV and everyone took it as business as usual.

  • goths will feel like they created the world and Le philip de Dick will be tossing around in his grave partying til eternity o no wait, i meant like terminator-esque, o no wait , i cant find the right novel / movie to compare it with, hunger games was so oscarry and mostly boring
  • The more unsuccessful an interest group becomes, the more strident and extreme its demands become.

    This is a direct result of the failure of ACTA, SOPA et al - a desperation move, not the head-in-the-sand reaction implied by the summary.

  • Sounds like the Canadians finally read the book.

  • Now that Canada seems to be twirling down the same fascist toilet as my own beloved America, you folks can begin to understand our predicament!

  • It seems to me that the obvious long-term solution to this problem is to create lobby groups that are diametrically opposed to these IP lobby groups. The IP lobby groups aren't going away, so we need more ALCUs in this world to defend civil liberties, privacy, and advocate massive copyright reform.

  • Sometimes i have this idea that we should just launch our 5000 or how many we have straight up,
    and once they reign down, the 8 of us that survive can feel the freedom our forefathers had,
    and we can do like we did before and make a pilgrimage for the new homeland... /pissyrant

    Being an American was once something to be proud of, granted far before i was born, but, wtf happened?
    If i say we need to take the government back i'm red-flagged and a terrorist, i'm told to cast my vote to the pre-seeded bullsh
    • i once saw the quote that said it better than i could: "If elections changed anything they'd have been outlawed years ago".

      Yea, that is a good one, isn't it?

  • by Jawnn ( 445279 ) on Friday June 08, 2012 @11:14AM (#40258557)

    ...and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars on private enforcement.

    Right out of the "conservative" playbook - "socialize expenses, privatize profits". I like my word better - fascist.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    "The report doesn't mention that the Business Software Alliance recently released its annual global software piracy report with new data that not only shows that Canada hit yet another all-time low but has the biggest percentage decline in the world over the past five years." - http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6528/125/ [michaelgeist.ca]

    I would hate to see what they would do if pirating was getting worse.

  • When the USA was threatened with SOPA, many critics united from all over the world in an almost single voice to make their objections to it known... and the impact was felt.

    With Canada now facing the same issue, I cannot help but wonder if other countries will be as willing to help a country that may only have a tenth of the population, but is one that is supposed to be no less free.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      If Americans were smart, they'd be extremely interested in what's going on up here and very supportive. As soon as these things get passed up here the US Lobbyists will run back to congress/lawmakers and go "Look look! they have it, we're no longer the "best" at protecting IP. Implement the same things!!!"

      And it will be done. It happens often enough.

  • The 2011 Canadian census was processed by Lockheed Martin [globalresearch.ca]. Under the Patriot Act, Homeland Security can compel any US company to surrender any data, and can also compel them to withhold all information about the surrender of data. So if Homeland Security wanted the 2011 Canadian census data, they could get it, and nobody would hear about it.

    This represents a definitive intelligence test. If you think they don't already have it, you're incredibly stupid.

    • According to the very link that you've given, Lockheed Martin was contracted to develop software for data processing; they were not given the data itself. It then proceeds to claim, with no proofs, that LM might have inserted some kind of backdoor into said software to harvest data, and that the data thereby harvested would be subject to PATRIOT Act. Which looks like a conspiracy theory, pretty much.

  • I want OFF this fucking planet.
  • Live your life accordingly.

Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.!

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