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Campaigning for Copyright in Canada 46

Posted by michael from the vote-early-vote-often dept.
kwandar writes "Politicians are on the doorsteps of Canadians over the next two weeks, as the Canadian election campaign winds up. Digital Copyright Canada put together a questionnaire for all the major parties, asking for their position. While I haven't made a decision, I think I'd mod the governing Liberal Party's response as 'off-topic'. The Election 2004 responses make for interesting reading."
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Campaigning for Copyright in Canada More

Campaigning for Copyright in Canada

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  • liberals: as thorough as ever (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xilmaril ( 573709 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:59PM (#9410938)
    am I the only one who can only find Liberal responses on spam and national ID cards?
    • should have thought to ad this in my first post, but the Green party rocks. they've only got my vote because I know they'll never have enough power to screw me over (the green party winning in canada? the day windows is gpl'd)

      But all the same, they support everything /. does. and isn't that all that really matters, when it comes to choosing politicians?
    • The Green Party [greenparty.ca] has answered the questions as well.

      Better answers, and they're more knowledgable about privacy than the Liberals.

    • I'm disappointed not to see responses from the Conservatives (I keep typing "Reform" and having to backspace) and the NDP, though maybe it isn't fair to expect them to respond so quickly. The Liberal response is even more disappointing though. You'd think that they could manage to answer all of the questions. It's pretty pathetic.

  • those stats can't be right (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:25PM (#9411087)
    File-sharing is especially popular among Canadian youth with 60% of Canadian secondary students admitting to downloading MP3s.

    The other 40% don't admit it.
    • The 40% who didn't are probobly with a 40min helicopter flight of the nearest Navy seal outpost so that at any minute the RIAA can bribe a senetor into ordering their immediate incarceration and execution on RIAA obtained records.

      It could happen!
    • I don't see the point of the statistic. So what if people are downloading MP3's.

      First, because of the Private Copying regime it is legal in Canada -- regardless of the source of the music -- bought and paid for by the levy all us Canadians pay on blank media.

      Second, many musicians actually AUTHORIZE the distribution of their music by P2P and other systems. I went to a CD launch in Toronto [fadingwaysmusic.com] last month for a CD that is released under a Creative Commons license [fadingwaysmusic.com].

      The presumption that these 60% of Canadian se

  • Check out the Green Party's Response! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Alphanos ( 596595 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:33PM (#9411136)

    Link. [greenparty.ca]

    Closed protocols, systems, and architectures can play host to deleterious behaviour that is virtually impossible to correct. Open standards and architectures are necessary for any long-lived system.

    The government must be able to create, customize, and improve its systems without having to rely on a single supplier. Conversely, the public must be able to verify and critique the architectures that are used to store, transmit, and protect sensitive information.

    A Green Party government will only acquire systems are built upon open standards and protocols. If such systems are not available, or do not provide sufficient functionality, the value of creating or improving an open source solution will be weighed against the cost of using the equivalent closed system. A closed system will only be used if the vendor agrees to be liable for migrating to an open architecture within a reasonable time period.

    I had been going to vote NDP, but unless they have a similar response I may vote Green instead!

    • Re:Check out the Green Party's Response! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Alphanos ( 596595 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:37PM (#9411160)

      Also, in response to the question about educational use of copyrighted online materials:

      The Green Party will properly fund our educational institutions to allow them to purchase, develop, and produce necessary materials.

      In addition, our government will be a full participant in open content projects, like the various GNU Free Documentation License or Creative Commons licensed knowledge bases. Government funding can in some cases be made conditional on the release of research through these "copyleft" licenses.

      I'm not associated with the Green Party, but my opinion of them has skyrocketed in the last few minutes:).

    • Five words (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Phleg ( 523632 ) <stephen@tCOUGARouset.org minus cat> on Sunday June 13, 2004 @12:45AM (#9411440)
      Single issue voting is BAD.

      • Too green for me (Score:4, Informative)

        by MachDelta ( 704883 ) on Sunday June 13, 2004 @04:17AM (#9412036)
        Right on.

        I'll admit, the green party has some very tempting planks, but some of their other stuff I disagree with (or is just flat out weird). For one, I think their fanaticism with the environment is severely detrimental to the rest of their platform. Increased gas tax? Penalizing petrolium companies? I'm sorry, i'm from Alberta and that shit just won't fly here. They try it, and the hard feelings over the NEP will seem like a gentle breeze compared to what would happen out west.
        Honestly though, I DO find them interesting... they seem to be very open minded, and actually in touch with the modern world -- which is more than I can say for the rest of our deluded parties. But I think they're just a little too far left of my tastes. They seem to be idealists more like the Communis... uh, NDP, than Conservative style realists. So their stance on things like defence spending, justice, and corporate Canada strike me as being weak-handed.


        But yeah, the parent is right. Single issue voting is bad. Look across the whole spectrum of parties and issues before you jump on a bandwagon.
        Or not. You could very well be like me, decide no one party comes close to representing your views, conclude that Canadian 'democracy' sucks and is broken, and consequently you won't bother voting but will just go back to playing video games instead. ;)

        • Re:Too green for me (Score:3, Informative)

          by Feztaa ( 633745 )
          Dude, VOTE! If you don't vote, nobody will ever know or care why you didn't vote and nothing will ever change.

          At the very least, show up at the polling station and register your refusal to vote (you can do this). If more people do that than the losing candidate(s) needed to win, they might call you and ask why, and then you can bitch and moan to them.
        • You could very well be like me, decide no one party comes close to representing your views, conclude that Canadian 'democracy' sucks and is broken, and consequently you won't bother voting but will just go back to playing video games instead.

          Vote anyways. With the new campaign finance law votes == dollars. If you are not going to use your vote to pick a candidate use it to give money to a fringe party with few resources. They can then use the money to create better debate next election, forcing the m

          • He could also either formally refuse to vote (as suggested by another poster), or spoil his ballot if he feels all the candidates are not worth voting for. Either one sends a clearer message. Voting Rhino (back when they existed) was a slap in the face of the other major parties, especially when, despite not winning, still managed to get more votes than the other two major parties that were in the election.
            • He could also either formally refuse to vote (as suggested by another poster), or spoil his ballot if he feels all the candidates are not worth voting for. Either one sends a clearer message. Voting Rhino (back when they existed) was a slap in the face of the other major parties, especially when, despite not winning, still managed to get more votes than the other two major parties that were in the election.

              You have a much higher opinion of politicians than I do. They don't care about spoiled ballots.

              • Someone with a lot of money, media power, and connections could point to all those spoiled ballots and say "Wow, there's room for a 3rd party. Let's find somebody who can appeal to this disenfranchised portion of the voter population, and make life hell for the established parties." That's what happened here in the states with Ross Perot, and he managed to dictate a lot of campaign issues simply for the fact that he was grabbing voters left and right who were sick of the established parties ignoring them.

        • Re:Too green for me (Score:4, Insightful)

          by checkyoulater ( 246565 ) on Sunday June 13, 2004 @07:40AM (#9412467) Journal
          Or not. You could very well be like me, decide no one party comes close to representing your views, conclude that Canadian 'democracy' sucks and is broken, and consequently you won't bother voting but will just go back to playing video games instead.

          It is this exact reason that the Fiberal party of Canada has been in power for so long, and it part of the reason that the NDP ran Ontario into the groud about 10 years ago. The hardcore party supporters will always vote, and the rest of the people get so disenchanted with politics that they stay home. Plus, the Liberals have done a masterful job of painting the rest of the parties as nothing more than a bunch of unfriendly radicals. They make the Conservaties look like a bunch of Republican fundamentalists, and the NDP look like a bunch of commies. Vote for us, because we are the only non-racist, non-radical, and quite friendly party.

          That link to the Liberal response is a great example of the kind of answers they always give. When is the last time the Liberal party has been straight with an answer? They just wait until every other party has answered, and try to stay right in the middle.

          I wish Canadians could organize by riding and all choose to vote for the best person who can beat the liberal party. Or bring in Monty Brewster and hold a big "Who You Gonna Vote For?" Campaign.

          All that being said, I do vote for the Green Party, but I also know that if they won the election, we would be completely screwed.
        • . Increased gas tax? Penalizing petrolium companies

          Burning gas has costs that are presently externalized to the Community. Pollution, subsidy, dangerous-public-rights-of-way, sprawl (etc)... all rely on an absurdly low Gas Tax.

          I am the president of a Windsor-Area EDA. I can tell you, with honesty, that $0.10 tax per litre is a goal of our Party. This tax will be used to treat the medical ills created by our addiction to Cheap Gas (burning it willy-nilly in guzzling autos). A $0.10 L gas tax can als
      • this is the most insightful, correct post i've ever seen on slashdot,please mod him up more.
      • aren't a single issue party, are they?

        Damn.

    • Happy Tuesday! (relativly inside joke)

      Yeah, I have been looking at the various platforms for the last while and have now narrowed it down to the NDP or the Green party also. They seem to address my issues (and the issues of most of the /. crowd it seems) the best.

      The liberals response was laughable and more or less non-existant. They only responded to like 2 questions and didn't say much other than "we are looking into it" ask us after you elect us, by then it will be to late BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

      Unfortunat

  • Green Party (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hexfortyfive ( 219375 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:36PM (#9411152) Homepage
    Sharing files is not illegal reproducing copyrighted materials without permission and distributing them is. File sharing should not be prohibited, as it is simple transmission of information.
    ...
    The Green Party believes that the open discussion of copy protection mechanisms (including their mechanism and means to circumvent them) can only result in the creation of better copy protection schemes. Private citizens have the right to own and control devices used for lawful purposes.
    ...
    Closed protocols, systems, and architectures can play host to deleterious behaviour that is virtually impossible to correct. Open standards and architectures are necessary for any long-lived system.

    I havn't checked the rest of their platform, but they sure seem informed and their answers to this survey. Can't say the same about the Liberals though; all I got out of their response was "We don't know, but whatever it is it'll be good for the Canadian economy". Bah! Spouting off slogans isn't an answer!

    Where are the PC's responses? And the Bloc? I hope posting to slashdot will expediate the reply processes.
    • "We don't know, but whatever it is it'll be good for the Canadian economy".

      Which is also pretty much the form response I received (~two months later) from Minister Scherrer's [liberal.ca] office irt to an Email I sent back when she said [slashdot.org], " 'As minister of Canadian Heritage, I will, as quickly as possible, make changes to our copyright law.'".

      Bah! Spouting off slogans isn't an answer!

      Especially in the capacity as Civil Servent.

      liberals--;

      • I am glad to announce that I reside in Louis-Hebert (Sherrer's circonscription) and I'm not voting for her, and a poll announced this morning gives her as losing. YEAH!
        • It might be useful for you to let other people in the riding know about what the Heritage Minister and Heritage committee was working on. We have per-riding discussion forums on the Digital Copyright Canada [digital-copyright.ca] site specifically to help people organize in their area.

          First they pat themselves on the back for the tax on CDs which mean that all the FLOSS CDs we have had a tax that went to the major record labels. Next they want to tax educational institutions for their use of the royalty-free Internet (Yes, stu
  • How is it that the Canadian Green Party's responses coincided so perfectly with my own (and I believe many other /.ers) opinions?

    I ask because I'm from that country parked due south of Canada and I can't seem to find a party I agree with so well, much less one that responds to a questionaire such as the Canadians have. Did I miss the U.S. Copyright questionaire or is it so pitling of an issue in this country no one cares to ask or tell?

    Looking where to aim my vote,
    Matthew
    • Not that it could ever really happen, but I wonder if, as you say, many other /.ers believe these things; and if they were to all vote Green ... would the Green party make much of a showing?

      There has been a big to-do in the press this election (as in most elections) that young people don't vote. And how to get them to vote: address issues "young people" care about. But really, I know young Conservatives, young NDP-ers, and probably a lot of closet young Liberals, and none of them are going to switch alle
      • I think this is a communication problem in two ways. First is the fact that the traditional communcation methods between candidate and voter aren't as effective with young voters as they are with older ones. I don't find political advertising particularily compelling, nor am I attracted to the cookie cutter promises of each party's platform. I can visit their content free websites and marvel at the complete lack of information. This story is the perfect example of information I'd like to see, but do I w
        • I am the webmaster of Digital Copyright Canada [digital-copyright.ca] and have been working closely with the CIPPIC [cippic.ca] and PIAC [www.piac.ca] before and during this campaign.

          Helping to run this information campaign has been an eye opener for me. I had thought that each of the parties were similar as far as having local candidates in each constituency able to run their own local campaigns.

          The centralization is quite high: A number of NDP and Liberals have responded saying that party headquarters will be answering, with some NDP candidates indi
          • I would like to thank you for putting up that website. It's enlightening if somewhat depressing. If the majority of respondants had even replied in the way Mike Redmond had, saying "I don't know", I would've had more respect for most of them. I'm a bit surprised with the Conservative party's responses, as I would've thought they'd be doing centralized control, too.

            A bad situation is brewing and most people don't even realize it yet. As Canadians, we pay a levy on blank media for the privledge of privat

            • I think we should be proud that we are causing them to notice us during the election. We need to push harder, but we have a good start.

              In the 2001 consultations we easily generated 650 of the 700 responses received. I'm hoping to get an even larger number of people involved during the election asking questions during all candidates debates and so-on.

              We also have a petition for users rights [digital-copyright.ca] that we will be presenting to the new parliament. Currently we have between 100 and 200 signatures, and I really w
    • The green party of Canada might as well be your Ralph Nader. They are becoming more mainstream, but alas, they are still young ones stuck in a pile of steaming fossils who barely "get" technology, let alone understand how it can influence our lives through its inner mechanics.
    • The reason you cant find a party to agree with here in the US of A..... well because frankly nobody sticks to their guns anymore... any of them can be bought out by big business. There will always be PAC's (insert the appropriate gov't re-worded way to say money under the table to turn their heads while rights get trampled on) that line their pockets... Anyway - I hope the Canadian lawmakers just leave things alone up there before they write another DMCA....
    • i'd recommend the green party of the united states, they havea similar stance, so long as ralph nader doesn't get the nomination. I personally feel that he has an agenda seperate from the green party, and that the green party and ralph nader are different enough to make me question whether I'd vote for green party if nader was their nominee.

      green party website [gp.org]

  • We have received many more responses to the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) Election 2004 questions [cippic.ca].

    We look forward to commentary on the NDP [digital-copyright.ca] and the Bloc Québécois [digital-copyright.ca] (Google Translation [google.com]).

    Missing at this point from the major parties is the reply from the Conservative party [digital-copyright.ca].

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