Best-selling, award-winning, Canadian author Cory Doctorow has challenged Heritage Minister James Moore’s publicly expressed view that those who oppose proposed DMCA style digital locks (as part of Bill C-32 the Copyright Reform Bill) are nothing more than “radical extremists”.
Doctorow, co-editor of BoingBoing and ardent copyfighter writes:
Here’s what that means for creators: if Apple, or Microsoft, or Google, or TiVo, or any other tech company happens to sell my works with a digital lock, only they can give you permission to take the digital lock off. The person who created the work and the company that published it have no say in the matter.
So if you buy $1,000 worth of digitally locked books for your Kindle or iPad, the author and the publisher can’t give you the right to move those to another device. That means that not only are you locked into the Kindle — so is the copyright holder. Authors and publishers who decide to stop selling via a digitally locked platform have to take the risk that their readers will abandon their investment in proprietary books in order to follow them to the next device.
So that’s Minister Moore’s version of “author’s rights” — any tech company that happens to load my books on their device or in their software ends up usurping my copyrights. I may have written the book, sweated over it, poured my heart into it — but all my rights are as nothing alongside the rights that Apple, Microsoft, Sony and the other DRM tech-giants get merely by assembling some electronics in a Chinese sweatshop.
That’s the “creativity” that the new Canadian copyright law rewards: writing an ebook reader, designing a tablet, building a phone. Those “creators” get more say in the destiny of Canadian artists’ copyrights than the artists themselves.
You should read Doctorow’s complete post and then submit your own response to James Moore to let him know just how many “radical extremists” there are in this country.
Doctorow concludes his post asking Moore for both and apology and an explanation. I think we all deserve one.
My opinion? James Moore should wipe off that brown lipstick he wears to impress the U.S. media lobby and go fuck himself.
Cheers.
UPDATE:Michael Geist posted further reactions to James Moore’s douchebag comments, including Moore’s efforts to deny that he even said them despite the online presence of video footage which proves him to be not only deliberately misleading about Bill C-32 but also an outright fucking liar. What a dick.
On this day, back in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono took to a bed in Montreal to petition the world for Peace. They crafted a song and recorded it there with the help of a few equally optimistic friends and it has since become an anthem for what is desired by almost every living thing on the planet - and yet remains so elusive due to the ignorance and machinations of a few.
I’m in the midst of some changes here which will (hopefully) affect the content of this blog. It’s devolved every once and while into acid rants against any perverse stupidity that stands between humanity and the common good. Sometimes it’s just a pretty collection of neat videos and at other times it is (hopefully) an aggregation of inspiring ideas.
I’m not sure what it will turn into as I change a few things around here - more than just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, I assure you - but it will still be a place for the sticky brain morsels of Robbo to find purchase.
In the meantime - sing-along with John.
The only sure thing about this world is that things change. And I don’t think Gandhi meant for us to impersonate nickels and dimes when he said: Be the change you seek in the world.”
I found this great video over Michael Geist’s blog who also links to a post by Sarah Bannerman. Created at the Vancouver Film School it’s an excellent primer about the impact of DRM on electronic books.
The Harper government is, once again, marching in lock-step with the US media lobby and will attempt to pass a copyright reform bill that echoes the worst parts of the failed US DMCA.
They held a public copyright consultation that garnered a lot of attention and a lot of input - which they have promptly ignored.
The consultations were obviously nothing more than an attempt at pacifying an obviously outraged public who howled in reaction to Harper’s blatant kowtowing to US big media lobby lies and deceit.
Combined with the ongoing ACTA negotiations this bill will put Canada on a path of locked down information and corporate controls over your free speech rights. It’s a fucking drag to have to go through all this again but I hope the anger that will erupt from this becomes an election triggering issue that finally provides the shot in those tiny Harper nads that sends him squealing from any position of public influence.
PMO Issues The Order: Canadian DMCA Within Six Weeks
Months of public debate over the future of Canadian copyright law were quietly decided earlier this week, when sources say the Prime Minister’s Office reached a verdict over the direction of the next copyright bill. The PMO was forced to make the call after Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement were unable to reach consensus on the broad framework of a new bill. As I reported last week, Moore has argued for a virtual repeat of Bill C-61, with strong digital locks provisions similar to those found in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a rejection of a flexible fair dealing approach. Consistent with earlier comments on the need for a forward-looking, flexible approach, Clement argued for changes from C-61.
With mounting pressure from the U.S. - there have repeated meetings with senior U.S. officials in recent weeks - the PMO sided squarely with Moore’s vision of a U.S.-style copyright law. The detailed provisions will be negotiated over the coming weeks by the respective departments, but they now have their marching orders of completing a bill that will satisfy the U.S. that comes complete with tough anti-circumvention rules and no flexible fair dealing provision.
The bill is not expected until June, but it will have dramatic repurcussions once introduced. First, the bill represents a stunning reversal from the government’s seeming shift away from C-61 and its commitment to a bill based on the national copyright consultation. Instead, the consultation appears to have been little more than theatre, with the PMO and Moore choosing to dismiss public opinion. Second, after adopting distinctly pro-consumer positions on other issues, Moore has abandoned that approach with support for what may become the most anti-consumer copyright bill in Canadian history. Third, the bill will immediately impact the Canadian position at the ACTA and CETA negotiations, where the bill’s provisions on anti-circumvention and ISP liability will effectively become the Canadian delegation position.
For those wondering what can be done, my only answer is to speak out now. Write a paper letter to your Member of Parliament and send copies to the Prime Minister, Moore, Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. No stamp is required - be sure to include your home address and send it to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Once that is done, join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same. You may spoken out before, but your voice is needed yet again.
Time to kick this arrogant dead-eyed fuck and his brown-lipstick cronies out of office.
What a goddamned disaster. The Tories have shown — yet again — their utter contempt for public opinion and Canadian culture and small business when these present an inconvenience to more windfall profits for offshore entertainment giants.
Remember: thousands of us responded to the Tory inquiry on copyright law, and overwhelmingly, we said we did not want a US-style copyright disaster at home. Remember: hundreds of thousands of us wrote and called our MPs. Remember: Canadian artists’ coalitions fought against the imposition of a DMCA in Canada. Remember: America’s copyright war has been an absolute trainwreck, with tens of thousands facing lawsuits, competition and innovation eroded by DRM, free speech challenged by copyright takedowns, and no improvements for creators or creativity.
There’s only one thing stupider than being the first country to enact the DMCA, in spite of its obvious shortcomings: enacting the DMCA after the first country has spent a decade showing how rotten and backwards this approach to copyright is.
As reported earlier by the Open Video Alliance, the German film company Constantin Films AG has mis-used the DMCA provision of Notice & Takedown and YouTube’s ContentID system to have YouTube remove a huge number of parody videos that made use of a scene from the film Der Untergang(Downfall) featuring Hitler ranting in his bunker. The official website for the film is here.
The parodies all made use of sub-titles to put words in Hitler’s mouth allowing him to vent on everything from LOLCats to Michael Jackson and anything else imaginable. It was always great fun whenever a new one would crop up and some of them were piss your pants hilarious. It was perfect use of digital media to craft parody and satire. Be sure to read Alex Leavitt’s post on the whole Hitler Video Meme - it’s fascinating stuff.
Unfortunately Constantin Films used YouTube’s ContentID system which commits wholesale removal of materials identitified by the copyright holder without properly checking to see if copyright has indeed been violated. Under the dumbass rules of the DMCA, if a violation of copyright had been committed, YouTube would be obliged to act and remove the videos in question - unless, of course, they were clearly examples of Fair Use. While it is true Constantin Films controls the rights to the original film there are provisions in the DMCA that are supposed to protect Fair Use (also known as Fair Dealing here in Canada and India) which allows for the creation of works of parody and satire - but that rarely happens as large media companies continue to throw their weight around and just fuck everything up.
But why listen to me kvetch? Let Hitler explain it all for you.
Since YouTube has turned off embedding it’s no longer viewable through them except by going to their own pages here. But, since YouTube might take it down entirely - and since I see this as being a true case of Fair Use I fixed it so you can just watch it here:
Hitler Reacts To The Hitler Parodies Being Removed From YouTube
Constantin Films AG should really watch this one before they pull this or any others offline. And if you are interested in seeing the original film you can buy it here - and you do that you might also want to send Constantin Films an email telling them you did just that.
Cheers.
P.S. These video responses to Constantin Films on YouTube are also good:
UPDATE: Doctorow posted on BoingBoing on hw Google has responded to the outrage over the ContentID instant takedowns by highlighting the Fair Use button. Click the button and your video goes back up and the folks who submitted the takedown then have to take you to court to get the video off.
Michael Geist has posted the final tally of numbers based on the responses to the infamous Bill C-61, which was intended as copyright reform but which was so obviously an attempt to cram US-style DMCA laws on Canada.
The copyright consultation concluded last fall and it seems worth reminding Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement what Canadians had to say when they asked for their opinion on copyright reform. It has taken some time to calculate the final numbers as the government conducted a review to ensure that all were properly posted. There were ultimately more than 8,300 submissions - more than any government consultation in recent memory - with the overwhelming majority rejecting Bill C-61 (6138 submissions against, 54 in support), while thousands called for flexible fair dealing and a link between copyright infringement and anti-circumvention rules.
Go read the full post to see how the numbers break down across the full range of concerns raised from the massive number of submissions.
As the UK goes full bat shit crazy with it’s incredibly undemocratic Digital Economy Bill it’s good to see we in Canada have at least a veneer of public input into a process that has been, and continues to be, corrupted by the media industries. As for anyone in the government paying attention to this input I don’t trust those fuckers to ever do the right thing and they should continue to be watched closely and lead by a firm grip on their nuts to ensure they do pay attention to what the citizens of Canada want in any copyright law.
Yeah - you read that headline correctly. Cory Doctorow posted an item on BoingBoing about Michael Geist’s reaction to a leaked negotiating document for CETA, the Canada - E.U. Trade Agreement.
Similar to the still “secret” negotiations of ACTA, the E.U. is seeking to impose copyright reforms that include term extension, DMCA legislation, resale rights, and ISP liability.
Geist writes:
Having viewed the document, I can report that it goes downhill from there, promoting the key message that Canadian laws are inadequate, while liberally quoting a report from the Canadian IP Council and discredited counterfeiting data.
The document states that the trade negotiations are a “unique opportunity [for Canada] to upgrade its IPR regime despite local anti-IPR lobbying.” It includes an assessment of recent copyright reform efforts, noting that two bills have died due to “political instability.” The document adds that the copyright reform process was revived in 2009 with the national copyright consultation, but notes dismissively it may have been a “tactic to confuse.”
I am so fucking sick of this trade negotiation bullshit where corporations bypass the will of citizens, dictating social policy outside of any legislative process and shitting down our throats. It’s not just business and it’s not just Canada. This kind of crap is going on all over the place.
“The decree subjects the transmission of images on the Web to rules typical of television and requires prior ministerial authorization, with an incredible limitation on the way the Internet currently functions,” opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Paolo Gentiloni told the press conference.
Article 4 of the decree specifies that the dissemination over the Internet “of moving pictures, whether or not accompanied by sound,” requires ministerial authorization. Critics say it will therefore apply to the Web sites of newspapers, to IPTV and to mobile TV, obliging them to take on the same status as television broadcasters.
“Italy joins the club of the censors, together with China, Iran and North Korea,” said Gentiloni’s party colleague Vincenzo Vita…
“It’s the Berlusconi method: Kill your potential enemies while they are small. That’s why anyone doing Web TV — even from their attic at home — must get ministerial approval and fulfill a host of other bureaucratic obligations,” Gilioli wrote. He said the government was also keen to restrict the uncontrollable circulation of information over the Internet to preserve its monopoly over television news.
Business and government don’t like it when the citizens can speak to each other and hear other voices than those which have been approved.
Fuck them.
I can only hope the net is growing fast enough and becoming pervasive enough that it will be impossible to regulate like this without causing massive unrest and the public dismemberment of the greedy cretins responsible. But that doesn’t mean they won’t stop trying.
In the early days of radio the airwaves were public. Supposedly they still are but they are held in trust by governments who auction off the rights to the highest bidders. They call it spectrum management - also known as theft and control. In the very early days of radio anybody could be a broadcaster if they could get their hands on the gear. It was chaotic and anarchic and a shit load of fun. Imagine what the world would be like today if those airwaves hadn’t been hijacked by government and big business. It’s too easy to say it needed regulation or (with the benefit of hindsight) that the cultural treasures from those days (including news, music, comedies, dramas and their attendant advertising and propoganda) would have been lost. I’d like to think the airwaves would have evolved in a manner similar to the growth of the web - with innovations being introduced to help manage the chaos and new economic opportunities arising from it all. We’ll never know.
The web benefits from the rapid and ongoing acceleration of technological development. It is self-healing and does not require regulation to control it - it needs regulation to keep it free. If we’re lucky the web will grow in size and ubiquity to such a scale that it is no longer feasible - technically, culturally and politically - to wrestle it into a locked box.
Of course, stranger shit has happened in this world - if we let it happen.
No matter what kind of fancy sauce the politicians and lobbyists smear all over their pious reasons for wanting to control the net - and you - it will always smell and taste like bullshit. Trust your senses.
2010 marks the beginning of a crusade against the public use of the net. This decade will define what the net becomes - or is allowed to become. The outcome of these forces which seek to control your eyes, ears and minds will define how free you will be. This is no exaggeration.
There’s been a lot of bullshit happening in Canada as the Harper government does its best to look pretty whilst wearing the brown lipstick of the U.S. media industry. You can find out more about the pitiful shenanigans of the music industry, blatantly stacking town hall meetings to discuss copyright reform, and the suppression of alternative voices at these so called “open and public discussions”, on other blogs like Michael Geist and Jill Golick or P2P.net and BoingBoing. I’ve ranted and raved about it before - and doubtless will again - but right now it’s the weekend and I’m lazy and I’m gonna go lie down and read a cheap mystery novel.
In the meantime, here’s a short video of Prof. Lawrence Lessig giving a talk this past February at the New York Public Library (along with Steven Johnson and Shepard Fairey) addressing the very real concerns that our copyright laws are being hijacked by dying media industries to support a failed and archaic business model and in those efforts to stem the inevitable tide of technological and cultural progress they are stealing our voices, stealing our right to speak and hear about our world.
Will copyright laws stifle creativity? If the major media companies are allow to corrupt our elected officils and subvert our democratic processes to assert their right to define what culture is - as in: whatever they sell us and nothing else - then Yes the laws of copyright are a threat to creativity and freedom of speech as well as freedom of thought.
Make noise. Kick these fuckers in the nuts.
Cheers.
P. S. Actually the mystery novel is not cheap, it’s Dashiel Hammett’s classic “The Big Knockover” - in case you were wondering.
UPDATE: As mentioned in the earlier version of this blog post, Michael Geist will launchhas launched the Speak Out On Copyright website and you should go there now.
I’ve been bleating for some time now about how the Harper government was trying to jam through Bill C-61 in the hopes of looking good in that particular shade of brown lipstick the U.S. media lobby loves so well, and how in the well-intentioned but malignantly misguided efforts to reform copyright law in Canada the people most affected by these changes - the people of the country - were not consulted.
Here’s your chance.
Michael Geist reports on the launching of the Copyright Consultation Website where you - and everyone you encourage to go there - can let the government know exactly what you feel and think about copyright law and how it affects you, this country and the world.
There has been some criticism over the past week about perceived “A” lists for those invited to roundtables and those excluded. My view is that the only list that really matters is the list of people who take the time to make a public submission. That process is open to everyone and this is the ideal opportunity to ensure that Canadians voices are heard. The government has not consulted on copyright since 2001 and this consultation represents both a crucial opportunity and a potential threat. While Canadians can ensure that the government understands that copyright matters and that a balance is needed, some groups will undoubtedly use the consultation to push for a return of Bill C-61. Indeed, the recording industry has already said that that bill did not go far enough. That means we could see pressure for a Canadian DMCA, a three-strikes and you’re out process, and the extension of the term of copyright to eat into the public domain.
Countering those calls will require broad participation. To help foster that participation, tomorrow I will be launching a new website geared specifically to the copyright consultation along with my short form response to these questions. I plan to blog a long form response throughout the summer.
Geist will soon have his own site up to help organize voices that can speak just as loudly as the favoured elite who get to sit in on the roundtable discussions and twist the government’s ear. This is important shit that will affect everything from the public domain, the DMCA, that fucking ACTA bullshit, Net Neutrality, Freedom Of Speech, government transparency, open culture and more.
I’ll be sure to holler about it when the other site comes online.
In the meantime visit the consultation site - tell your friends - talk about it - think about it and be sure to give Geist’s latest post a read since it really distills the issues to the core points that will affect everything we will do for the rest of our lives.
Everything? Really? Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? Indulging in hyperbole, perhaps? Not when you give it even just a moments thought.
Here’s Geist’s thoughts on Why Does Copyright Matter?
For me, copyright matters because I am a professor and my students need access to copyrighted materials and the freedom to use those materials. It matters because I am a researcher who needs assurance that as materials are archived they will not be locked down under digital rights management. It matters because I am deeply concerned about privacy and fear that DRM could be harmful to my personal privacy. It matters because I have created videos and need flexibility in the law to allow for remix and transformed works and do not want my content taken down from the Internet based on unproven claims. It matters because I am a writer and I need certainty of access to speak freely. It matters because I am a consumer of digital entertainment and I want the law to reasonably reflect the right to view the content on the device of my choice. It matters because I am a parent whose children have only known life with the Internet and I want to ensure that they experience all the digital world has to offer. It matters because I live in a city with a strong connection to the digital economy and we need forward-looking laws to allow the next generation of companies to thrive. It matters because I am a proud Canadian who wants laws based not on external political pressure, but rather on the best interest of millions of Canadians.
So think about it. Read about it. Talk about it. Visit the site(s).
And then speak up.
Cheers.
P. S. Muchos gracias to Jimmy Kayak(aka Jim Taylor) for his shout out about this post and the issue at large. Thanks, man!
I’ve written before about Rogers and Bell playing their lying-arse, smarmy, two-faced, greed bastardly bleats and pronouncements of how they have to throttle bandwidth of users in order to better manage the internet. I got so fed up with Rogers interference in my network usage I shit-canned my account with them and signed on with TekSavvy.
TekSavvy, which wholesales bandwidth from Bell and provides far better service, is now subject to the same throttling practices Bell uses to give their own customers incredibly expensive and uber-crappy internet access.
Of course, Bell is reserving the right to decide what gets throttled which, coincidentally, doesn’t include their own priority products and services and recent forays into IPTV. This has been a bone of contention among the re-sellers of access and has made Rocky Gaudrault, CEO of TekSavvy, a major hero in the dispute with his efforts to get the CRTC onside and finally come up with rules, regulations, controls, policies or something that will tell the fat-headed lard-arse fucktards of Bell and Rogers that the internet is not owned by them and they should bloody well be prepared to open the doors for equal access under law and allow for a true state of Network Neutrality to be established in Canada.
It’s said best in an email Gaudrault sent out to TekSavvy customers yesterday and which I am posting here for you:
Dear Customers,
In March 2008 Bell started throttling its Wholesale Customers (TekSavvy among a group of many) without notice. We attempted to have the CRTC force Bell to stop as it removed our ability to do business and give Market choice. The throttling was done in the name of congestion, even if Bell, at the same time launched higher speeds (which they did not share with their wholesalers) and also dabbled with launching IPTV, which consumes even more capacity.
The CRTC sided with Bell in November 2008 but launched a Public Hearing to discuss Network Management Practices, clearly showing they made a decision on throttling without having all the details in hand to do so. As a result we launched a request to reverse their decision from November (The Review & Vary) in May 2009.
The only way we are going to make a difference at this point is to get full public support to stop companies like Bell from bullying the market and the regulators! The Telecom and Cableco Monopolies control 96% of our marketplace, so if we don’t stand up and voice our concerns, this will become a two party dance where choices and services are going to be completely removed and rates raised to unreasonable levels!
Here are the details on how to submit your comments:
Rocky Gaudrault
Chief Executive Officer
TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
Even if you’re not a customer of TekSavvy - or any of the other smaller, more effective, companies getting cornholed by Bell - you must step up to the plate and let the CRTC know how you feel about this very important issue. Network Neutrality equals Free Speech. Your ability to see, hear, sense, & speak to and about the world is in danger of being held under the control of a bunch of small minded cretins who only care about their bottom line and the twisted MBA ethics that guide them on that crumbling path which leads us all away from the future.
Fuck Bell. Talk to the CRTC. Make that body relevant again. Use it.
Tom Perlmutter, head of the NFB, brilliant man and possibly the world’s nicest guy evar, stated recently in Banff (and I’m paraphrasing here) that we need to regard the advent of the internet as being akin to the industrial revolution; the changes to business, politics and culture are that far reaching and that profound; and we need to address this with a national strategy and not just leave it up to the marketplace - cuz we all know how well that shit shakes down, don’t we?
They held a public copyright consultation that garnered a lot of attention and a lot of input - which they have promptly ignored.
I’d like to add the words of 
