Newest letter

I have now lost count how much I have written about copyright law. Well, here is my latest rough draft for a letter. Go my one reader! Rip apart my grammar and typos.

It has been 3, almost 4 years since I started being active on copyright legislation in Canada. During all those years I asked everyone where the consultation with Canadians is. It was the topic of almost every discussion on copyright law I had. There was a public consultation from July 20, 2009, to September 13, 2009 with over 8,000 submissions not to mention the round tables and town halls. The lingering questions in my head is did anyone learn anything?

I honestly believe that people did learn some of the pitfalls of bad copyright legislation. Unfortunately I do not believe that knowledge has reached the Prime Minister's Office if current news has anything to say.

I only ask for legislation that is based on evidence and Canada's needs. By looking copyright laws around the world while using Canadian's opinion we could create a gold standard in copyright legislation. My fear is that we will table a bill that caves in to foreign and big business pressure for reasons not based on evidence.

Copyright is not a natural right, but a man made one which is why we should not loose sight of what the purpose of copyright law should be which is “to promote the progress of science and useful arts.” What Canada needs is a properly tabled bill based on evidence that will help the aforementioned purpose not a bill based on fear, or corporation's agendas, or other failed bills, or even maximizing consumer spending. I will only accept a bill based on evidence and Canada's needs

In case you were wondering what caused my motivation feel free to check out Michael Geist's latest post. I was actually starting to believe in Tony Clement. I suppose in a way I still can. I will prepare to aim my dislike over the next copyright bill at James Moore. The ministers of industry are probably tired of me anyways.

Ground Breaking Ceremony

With the recent event's of Bill C-499 and M-506 not to mention the speech from the throne and Tony Clement's response to it means I need to break ground on a new essay which is the first step to meeting a MP. The first MP I meet with in person gets a copy of The Public Domain! Admittedly I will deface page 206 by highlighting a paragraph but it is a small price to pay to get a almost pristine book.

Here is the passage I am highlighting:

In this chapter I want to offer a suggestion that in any other field would be stunningly obvious, boring even, but in the funhouse mirror of intellectual property appears revolutionary. We should make our policy based on empirical evidence of its likely effects and there should be a formal requirement of empirical reconsideration of those policies after they have been implemented to see if they are working. Why is this a good idea?

One day I will not be the copyright guy because there will be good legislation in place and in the back of my head there will not be the nagging thought of "why don't you do something about it?"

Step one in building my essay is find out what happened with the Online Consultations [1][2]. Secondly I need to find out what a motion is besides jokingly making a motion for Chris to buy me a pop and hoping someone will second it.

Perspective: The new cabinet

Apparently it is new cabinet day today. Hooray!

It looks like Jim Prentice is going to be falling off my radar as he is moved to the Environment. I am going to miss driving down to Calgary and chilling with Fair Copyright for Canada - Calgary Chapter.

The new Minister of Industry is The Honourable Tony Clement. The new Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages is The Honourable James Moore. May they do awesome jobs and consult with Canadians.[1,2,3,4]