Regulate the Net, say actors, arts groups
p2pnet news view Politics | Freedom | P2P:- Canadian actors and arts groups say it’s time to regulate the Internet.
They’re appearing before the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) which is reviewing its current,”hands-off approach to new media content,” says CTV.
Says Colin Mochrie on his website »»»
Welcome all who love me. I applaud your taste.
It’s ironic that the Colin Mochrie Website is upgraded with new features at the same time that Colin Mochrie is losing features as he enters his 50th year. Change is good.
But, he says, quoted by the Canwest News Service »»»
If you look up Colin Mochrie or Whose Line is it Anyway? or This Hour Has 22 Minutes on YouTube you’ll find entire episodes and numerous clips of me and my colleagues. Over at ctv.ca, full seasons of Corner Gas can be viewed. Increasingly, you can even find footage of my stand-up performances with fans posting online what they’ve recorded on their cameras or cellphones.
And this is now the norm. People are watching original programs online or on their iPods. You see, just like television, new media is simply another platform for viewing and distributing programming content.
Unlike television, when you are broadcasting through new media, the space for content is practically endless. However, being endless, content can easily get lost. So how do we make sure Canadians can find our own content? How do we make sure Canadian content is featured and given “shelf space”?
Starting this week, our ability to watch Canadian programming when and where we want will be determined.
Meanwhile, according to the Canadian Press, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein has observed the world has changed since 1999, the last time the commission checked things out.
Now, the CRTC should, “establish a fund by charging fees to Internet users for the creation of broadcast-quality Canadian programming,” the story has Alain Pineau, national director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, saying.
Richard Hardacre of the actor’s guild ACTRA, however, doesn’t think that’s enough.
He’d, “require that the Internet be subject to similar rules as traditional broadcasters with minimum Canadian content requirements,” says CP.
However, “the groups acknowledge that there’s no clear answer as to how the Internet or mobile receiving devices such as cellphones could be regulated by the CRTC”.
Stay tuned. This could get interesting – in the Confucian sense, of course.
CTV – Arts groups want new rules for Internet content, February 17, 2009
Canwest News Service – Canadian content is getting lost online, February 17, 2009
Canadian Press – Time has come to regulate Internet, cultural groups tell CRTC, February 17, 2009
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February 17th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Let’s think about that, regulate so we only see Canadian content or so we concentrate on Canadian content?
Now if everyone does that, we can’t view the sites of others around the world. Why? Because you’ll be routed back to your own country’s version. What if you actually prefer REM to The Tragically Hip? Too bad, the Hip is what you get.
Maybe it is time to find the freedom fighters in the ISP’s and give these “supporting artists” a taste of what it is like to lose their freedom the way they want it for us. Yes, when Colin goes to read the New York Times or Guardian he’ll be redirected to The Toronto Sun. When he tried to find a non-Canadian biased view of what’s happening to people outside of Canada he’ll find… the Toronto Sun.
When he tries to view the latest Saturday Night Live skit, he’ll get… This Hour Has 22 Minutes because it is Canadian content while SNL is filmed in the US using Canadian actors and producers, it is still US material.
Maybe when they see album sales drop, hits on their blogs drop, book sales drop to the point where they “can’t afford to write anymore” they can question what happened. Duh, you lost your international fanbase!
The whole point of the internet is to have a NON-regulated medium where ANYONE can share ANYTHING with ANYONE on the planet who has access to this medium.
Don’t they get it? Without the freedom in the net you won’t get squat for sales and according to Jack Black, that means “no rocket juice” which means you don’t get much money. But of course you’ll jack up the price to make up for the “loss” you helped foster and then you’ll lose even more sales.
Wake up and realize the potential! No regulation required! Regulate and you’ll lose more audience.
February 17th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
If i want to watch canadian content I will. More trailer park boys type hits and you’ll have my attention. Otherwise Fuck off i’ll watch what i want !!
February 17th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
“Richard Hardacre of the actorâs guild ACTRA, however…” would “require that the Internet be subject to similar rules as traditional broadcasters with minimum Canadian content requirements…”
What in the FUCK is wrong with these people??!?!?!?!!
Some of them really do come from a different planet than the one we’re on.
The way they talk about “The Internet”, you’d think it was a fuckin’ TV network!!
~~~~~
It’s completely unclear what Colin Mochrie’s words (by themselves, as used here) have to do with internet regulation. He certainly doesn’t appear to be commenting on the topic.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
What people still don’t seem to realize is that if they want to ‘regulate the internet’ they can’t without all countries of the world agreeing and enforcing the legislation. That will never happen. There’s no way of enforcing Canadian content, I can think of multiple ways to bypass that. I want to smack the CRTC, what have they been doing? The Do Not Call List is an absolute failure & the CTRC allowing Bell Canada to throttle bandwidth all over Canada without penalty. I pay for unlimited internet, and in my case as many others, bittorrent is limited to 15-30Kbps between the hours of 4pm to 2am. Bell Canada isn’t even my ISP, what gives them the right to do that when it’s been proven that the Bell network isn’t clogged like Bell intimates. Bell had also stated that they weren’t limiting in the first place and then were forced to admit it. Why would the CRTC believe anything coming from Bell reps.
We need to restructure the CRTC then force Bell Canada to stop the bandwidth throttling first.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I’ve got an idea how the CRTC can be “restructured”.
[queue "bulldozer"]
[queue "evil laugh"]
)8 P>
February 17th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
“Unlike television, when you are broadcasting through new media, the space for content is practically endless. However, being endless, content can easily get lost. So how do we make sure Canadians can find our own content? How do we make sure Canadian content is featured and given âshelf spaceâ? Starting this week, our ability to watch Canadian programming when and where we want will be determined.
”
I translated it so that folks can understand it better:
“Unlike television, when you are broadcasting through new media, the space for content is practically endless. However, when there are no limits in place, we can’t force people to view our content and only our content. So, how do we make sure Canadians watch our and only our content? How do we evict everything else resembling competition from the shelves?
Starting this week, we will deliberate in secret with the gang at CRTC in order to agree on the best way to screw you, the Canadian consumer.
“
February 17th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Regulation of the internet?
In other news, custard has been nailed to a wall.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
“If you look up Colin Mochrie or Whose Line is it Anyway? or This Hour Has 22 Minutes on YouTube youâll find entire episodes and numerous clips of me and my colleagues.”
But here are two episodes of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHRqusXauw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt-T5DCp9lc
“This video is not available in your country.”
So, are you planning on using Canadian taxpayer money and geo-fence the work because Canada isn’t good enough? By the way, the videos do not show in the search results either.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Actually, Youtube has been doing it even to user-generated videos for a while. NOT because of copyright. Some videos are “deemed illegal in some countries”, and, because Youtube chose to have presence in questionable countries like China and Germany, they have to comply with their laws. Other alternative would be NOT to have presence in these countries, but they desperately want to make money off “huge untapped market of China” and the like, so…
The uploader never knows where his video is not viewable from some locations in the world; so, there is no appeal to be made if a block was wrong.
Read the comments here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22This+video+is+not+available+in+your+country%22+site:youtube.com
February 18th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Boo Hoo, no more Anime 4 you Canucks! Guess you’re stuck with Rocky and Bullwinkle – oh wait, that was a U.S. cartoon – DOH!!!!!!
February 18th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Rest assured, when Quebecois with their inferiority complex (Bill 101, language police, CanCon, etc.) come to CRTC, they will screw everyone else. The radios play in French and some in English, and any other music simply does not exist on mainstream radio. The Net allows minorities to watch ethnic programming, now THEY are plugging this loophole, even if that may be paid for subscription IPTV. The only thing this will cause is hostility towards “de souche” from everyone else.
The Net allows people to watch what THEY choose, unlike radio who plays what was paid for (read bribed) by the labels. Without the bribes THEY can’t even get accepted their shit (read Britney).
Regarding the inferiority complex of the Quebecois. In Greece, the official language is Greek, but the stations in the metro are announced and posted in English as well. In Montreal, STM can’t even post the security instructions (how to evacuate the train!) in English using the same font and size. Inferiority complex, indeed.