Tag Archive for government

US copyright lobby to Canada: pass our stupid laws or we wont let you into the suicide pact! – Boing Boing

January 16, 2012 / admin / No comments

Michael Geist sez, “The U.S. government just concluded a consultation on whether it should support Canada’s entry into the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations. The TPP raises significant concerns about extension of copyright and overbroad protection for digital locks, so staying out might be a good thing. However, the IIPA, which represents the major movie, music, and software lobby associations, sees this as an opportunity to force Canada to enact a Canadian DMCA and to implement ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It has told the US government to keep Canada out of the talks until those laws are passed, adding that any exception to protect Canadian culture will not be included in the TPP.”

TPP is the second coming of ACTA, the last round of incalculably evil, back-room copyright shenanigans. This seems like a pretty big miscalculation from America’s copyright-pushers: “If you don’t pass the crazy, awful copyright laws we’ve demanded, we won’t let you be a part of our suicide-by-copyright-pact.” Say it ain’t so!

US Copyright Lobby Wants Canada Out of TPP Until New Laws Passed, Warns of No Cultural Exceptions

Category: Government / Tags: , , ,

Canadians: tell Parliament to preserve Canada’s public domain! – Boing Boing

January 9, 2012 / admin / No comments

Michael Geist sez,

Canada celebrated New Year’s Day this year by welcoming the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Carl Jung into the public domain just as European countries were celebrating the arrival of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, 20 years after both entered the Canadian public domain. Canada’s term of copyright meets the international standard of life of the author plus 50 years, which has now become a competitive advantage when compared to the United States, Australia, and Europe, which have copyright terms that extend an additional 20 years (without any evidence of additional public benefits).

In an interesting coincidence, the Canadian government filed notice of a public consultation on December 31, 2011 on the possible Canadian entry into the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, trade talks that could result in an extension in the term of copyright that would mean nothing new would enter the Canadian public domain until 2032 or beyond. The TPP covers a wide range of issues, but its intellectual property rules as contemplated by leaked U.S. drafts would extend the term of copyright, require even stricter digital lock rules, restrict trade in parallel imports, and increase various infringement penalties.

Now is the opportunity to help preserve the public domain in Canada by speaking out against TPP copyright provisions that would extend the term of copyright or impose even stricter digital lock rules. The consultation is open until February 14, 2012. All it takes a single email with your name, address, and comments on the issue. The email can be sent to [email protected] Alternatively, submissions can be sent by fax (613-944-3489) or mail (Trade Negotiations Consultations (TPP), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Trade Policy and Negotiations Division II (TPW), Lester B. Pearson Building, 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2).

Help Preserve the Canadian Public Domain: Speak Out on the Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations

Category: Government / Tags: , ,

DOJ to America: we won’t reveal the circumstances under which you can be assassinated by us – Boing Boing

December 22, 2011 / admin / No comments

The DOJ has rejected a Freedom of Information Act request from the New York Timesthat asked the agency to reveal the legal basis for the newly unveiled American program of strategic drone-attack assassinations of American citizens off the field of battle.

Summary:

* The government dropped a bomb on a U.S. citizen,

* who, though a total dick and probably a criminal, may have been engaged only in propaganda,

* which, though despicable, is generally protected by the First Amendment;

* it did so without a trial or even an indictment (that we know of),

* based at least in part on evidence it says it has but won’t show anyone,

* and on a legal argument it has apparently made but won’t show anyone,

* and the very existence of which it will not confirm or deny;

* although don’t worry, because the C.I.A. would never kill an American without having somebody do a memo first;

* and this is the “most transparent administration ever”;

* currently run by a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

For Christmas, Your Government Will Explain Why It’s Legal to Kill You

 

Category: Government / Tags:

Canadian MPs use bogus video-game industry data to defend hated DRM law they’re about to ram down the country’s throat – Boing Boing

December 15, 2011 / admin / No comments

Michael Geist sez,

The Canadian government has turned to the video game industry as a major source of support for its much criticized digital lock rules. Given the fact that writers, performers, publishers, musicians, documentary film makers, and artists have all called for greater balance on digital locks, the government has been left with fewer and fewer creative industries that support its position. On Monday, government MPs repeatedly referenced the video game industry and the prospect of lost jobs as a reason to support restrictive digital lock rules. For example: “I wonder if the member and her party opposite are talking about putting an end to the video gaming industry in this country with weak TPM measures [ed: that is, making it legal to break DRM if done for a purpose that doesn't violate copyright].”

Later, an MP asked an MP: “Could he explain to the House how, in the absence of effective technical protection measures, that industry could continue to flourish in the province of Quebec?”

Government MPs regularly referenced the 14,000 jobs in the industry and suggested that they would be put at risk with “weak” TPM measures. Given the focus, it is important to examine the evidence that supports claims that jobs are at risk. A closer look at the industry’ own evidence demonstrates the government’s claim that adding balanced digital lock rules to Canadian copyright law would destroy the industry is plainly false. Based on the industry’s own data, opinion surveys of Canadian video game makers, industry growth in other countries with balanced digital lock rules, and the massive taxpayer investment in the industry, there is little reason to believe that amending the Bill C-11 digital lock approach would harm the Canadian video game industry.

The False Link Between C-11′s Digital Lock Rules and Video Game Industry Jobs

Category: Government / Tags: ,
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