Musician Lobby Terms Balanced Copyright "Disgusting" 319
An anonymous reader writes "While most of the attention at Thursday's Canadian copyright town hall was on the recording industry's strategy to pack the room and exclude alternate voices, the most controversial activity took place outside the hall. It has now been revealed that security guards threatened students and a Member of Parliament for distributing leaflets, and the American Federation of Musicians termed the MP's leaflet, which called for balanced copyright, 'disgusting' and demanded a retraction and apology. At this point, such an admission seems unlikely."
What was in the Leaflet? (Score:1, Interesting)
I skimmed through the linked stories, and none of them seem to have copies of the leaflet that they were distributing. I'm curious what they contained that the AFM thought was so 'disgusting'. Perhaps they were using the goatse guy to illustrate the position the *AA's new laws would put us in. Does anyone know where to find a copy? (Of the leaflet, not the goatse picture.)
Re:Actually (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:haha (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh well, if we are playing the stats game. Here are a few more stats for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate [wikipedia.org]
Infant mortality (per 100000)
Canada 4.8 5.9
United States 6.3 7.8
Life expectancy
Canada 81.23
United States 78.11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems [wikipedia.org]
over all cancer mortality rate
Canada 148.2
US 160.5
And you can talk waiting lists as long as you want. Canada, the U.K. and many European countries may have waiting lists that force those with money to wait a bit longer, but they also ensure that those without get the same respect. In the US those without the means don't even get on the waiting list.
Re:Frankly (Score:5, Interesting)
Nope. There's a famous historical anecdote about this very issue.
Mozart had to worry about excommunication as punishment for his piracy at the time. If the RIAA were functioning in Mozart's time as it is today (100+ year copyrights), he would have been prosecuted.
Source: http://www.music-with-ease.com/mozart.html
Re:Frankly (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry no. While he did start writing his own music at a very early age, he did indeed get his first music lesson playing others music. And Mozart lived before all copyright laws so he often found that after one of his new pieces was played in concert, the town down the road was performing his music the next week and he didn't see a cent.
A want copyright laws that allow artists to earn a fair living. I want fair use spelled out. I want a limited copyright term, say 20 years. I want NO DMR.
Re:How can the orginal article be slashdotted? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Learning from the folks down south (Score:3, Interesting)
Americans typically see Canadians as stoic and think we're passive. You see we're self-deprecating and think we lack confidence. You see we're polite and think we're weak. Then you come up against our hard limits and wonder what you were thinking.
As an Australian, this is what I've never been able to understand. America on the one hand appears continually as sociologically/culturally speaking, representing the proverbial mouth of Hell, and yet Canada is consistently depicted as the very paragon of civic responsibility, integrity, and harmony by comparison.
If it's true that you're so much more enlightened, why haven't they learned from your example? Also, do you think it would be possible for you to somehow teach them to stop making war on the rest of the planet? Some of the rest of us would really appreciate it. ;)
Re:Forces of Reality (Score:0, Interesting)
How might authors be protected from the devaluation of their work when copyright no longer exists? /. seems to forget that downloading media is stealing; you are getting something without paying for it, and authors are not compensated for the enrichment they give to their audience. What would protect authors from lost revenue when their work is stolen?
Re:Actually (Score:3, Interesting)
Except in areas where the band actually makes a profit (all of our concerts were free at the time and open to the public, no profit was made except during marching band season) how is this not all covered under fair use?
Because your music director chose to perform works first published on or after January 1, 1923 (in the United States), or works whose author was still alive or had died less than 70 years ago (in most other countries).
The destruction of copyright (Score:4, Interesting)
About 8 years ago, I warned industry types that the end result of their activities would be the destruction of copyright - not because I wanted it destroyed, but because the more hysterical and unbalanced their attempts to protect their legacy business models become, the stronger the inevitable reaction would become.
I was roundly jumped on for that opinion, but I have seen nothing the period since to make me change it. In fact, I think it's now like Communism during the 20 years after the suppression of the Prague Spring - it's already too late to reform it, and the only real question is how the end will come.
Re:haha (Score:3, Interesting)
We also have private hopsitals, I've even known people who had knee surgery in a private hospital paid for by the NHS because the NHS didn't have an open slot soon enough. If thr NHS won't treat you you can rely on your medical insurrance (if you have any) to get you treated. I have private healthcare myself, never used it.
I don't know why I'm bothering your obviously just an eejit troll.
Re:haha (Score:2, Interesting)