There’s a lot of copyright changes on the go right now. In Canada, there’s bill C-32 which ended up better than expected in some areas and much, much worse in others. ACTA is also out there being negotiated behind closed doors. An access to information request was put forth on this one and the response was a document with the title of the agreement with everything else blacked out. There’s been no transparency and there’s a good reason for that.
All of the changes being pushed for are being funded by publishing organizations and the recording industry. What we are going to end up with is legislation that is completely one-sided. It will favour industry at the expense of the public. It doesn’t take much imagination to envision what this secret agreement will contain. It will make criminals of the entire population with the publishers able to extract as much money from the offenders as possible.
The reason publishers need to do this is that their traditional business model no longer stands on its own. Therefore the only way they can make money is by making the behaviour of the average citizen illegal and therefore “taxable”. The fines and levies will amount to a tax on the population meant only to help the publishers limp along, contributing nothing to society, but extracting a great deal. At least when the government taxes us, we get services in return.
Read up on these initiatives at Michael Geist’s blog. It’s a great source of information. Once you get a better idea of what’s going on. Contact your federal representative. It’s really important as our future is being shaped as we speak, behind closed doors, in blacked out documents. We deserve to have a say in our future.
Dave George // Jul 7, 2010 at 9:34 am
Quite knowledgeable one !
Crude John // Jul 9, 2010 at 3:35 am
yes! this post give reader a lot useful information.
thanks !
Shirley Kelly // Jul 9, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thanks for the information. I’m guilty about not keeping up with legislation.
William // Jul 9, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Yeah, just about a week ago all access to thepiratebay has been restricted.
Samuel // Jul 11, 2010 at 12:31 am
I wish these industries would spend some time trying to find ways to work with consumers instead of suing them.
Lee@lovedating // Jul 11, 2010 at 10:29 am
i agree with Samuel who has commented, industries should spend a lot more time trying to finds ways to work with consumers instead of getting rid of them
Micehal // Jul 12, 2010 at 8:41 am
I agree with your point. But i have small doubt.
singapore free // Jul 13, 2010 at 7:20 am
Piracy is a big problem in the industry I guess. Something like that will never be stamped down with a fist. Education might stand a chance though
Merry Christmas // Jul 16, 2010 at 8:13 pm
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qoko // Jul 18, 2010 at 9:46 am
Thanks for this excellentpost
Matt // Jul 19, 2010 at 3:35 am
i dont understand anything when it comes to copyright thing
But gotta say, you explained well,
Jennifer Kyte@fencing Melbourne // Jul 19, 2010 at 4:41 am
As an American I expect the USA to forcefully assert its legitimate national interests.
But I am angry at how my corrupt government is acting domestically w.r.t. intellectual property, and ashamed at how it is acting abroad.
Denim // Jul 19, 2010 at 7:24 am
The whole process of this Bill has me so incredibly frustrated and disillusioned with my government. I already knew I was going to hate having Harper in power, but it is still disheartening to feel like your government doesn’t really care in the slightest about what the people actually want.