That aside, the *All Canadians are Rights Holders* link on the upper right leads to a petition that’s made out of dead trees and goes to the Canadian parliament physically, not by email.

And you’d be surprised how many people in ‘meat space’ (I’ve never seen that phrase before) check in regularly here.

Meanwhile, p2pnet and sites like it ARE grassroots. (Believe me. heh) And they DO have a place in what’s going on. Apart from anything else, they provide permanent listening areas for voices which haven’t been heard before.

(And Hi Anne – it’s been a while. Good to hear from you again : )

Cheers!

http://magnatune.com/
http://www.iuma.com/
http://www.mp3.com.au/
http://www.opsound.org/

There are heaps of places to legitimately download music with no DRM and no lawyers coming after you. It just requires enough people to totally ignore the music cartels and they will die. Don’t play their game.

But my point is and will always be this is useless without some action behind it. I know I used to be an advocate in the mental health field working on implementing changes to policy in hospitals and law (mental health act, privacy legislation, guardianship act) sitting around and bitching doesn’t count I’m sorry to say, the people we elect NEED to hear our views. The people who make the laws, NEED to hear it. Considering the number of people upset by how things are going with CRIA it was saddening to see only 500 or so signed petitions submitted recently. So yeah the armchair quarter backing and point counter point gets to be very tiring, frustrating and I just lost it.

As I said to Jon once, “Mostly what I have noticed is with the exception of some deeply committed people, the Canadians I have met are pretty apathetic about it all – which is very sad.” and its why I don’t advocate any more, I got burnt out because of apathy in my field. I got to a point where I questioned what the point of it all was. I commend people like Jon, Russel, CIPPIC, Michael Geist etc they don’t have to do this but they do and deserve some kudos from the largely apathetic among us cause without them CRIA would (might?) get its way. I just wish there were more who are willing to fight rather than passively sit and do nothing.

-Anne

No – not THAT right ; )

Look to the advert on the immediate right of this page which starts with “All Canadians,” click it and then …

Cheers!

Those that are getting more unfiltered and unhomogenized news from sites such as this are those that think, not those that accept what they are spoon feed on the nightly news. While the net is still relatively new in this aspect, the users of the net are growing everyday. Those that discover just how badly the news is slanted by this action believe less and less what they hear on the 5 o’clock news. Worse for those that would slant that news, they are telling their friends stuff they never heard of on the news and when asked where that info came from; well you know the answer. More and more folks are learning that if they really want to know what goes on it won’t be from public news and radio.

The issues and the more than just black and white shows on the net. China is doing its dangest to control that access to the outside. Even though they have all sorts of blocks, filters, and tattletails to tell who and where, still the unvarnished truth is getting through. Little Shrub would dearly love to control the net. I suspect these same sort of actions the Chinese authorities have done are in place with only monitor and not actively blocking taking place. Why should that interest the average consumer? Because you can bet any sort of marshall law will activate such blockage if it is in place. If it isn’t there now, it won’t be long.

The RIAA and MPAA want to control access to material they have copyright on strickly to control price and who gets to hear their stuff. In that effort, is all this crap about theft, infringement, and on line sales. There is so much hype to that side you can’t hear the facts for the BS. Tis a sad day when government allows the mega-corporation the ability to monitor, say what goes for products and what won’t, and paint another picture that tries to make them look good. If you have a mind capable of thinking, if you want unvarnished news without the slant, if you are fed up with the crap that passes as news then you are as much an enemy in the long haul as a revolutionary.

Alternative media is important. The mainstream newspaper editors are not going to offer the same level of diverse opinions as alternative media is.

If not sure what to do to help, just ask. The petition is having an important impact, and feedback from bureaucrats suggests that it is working quite well and we are getting noticed. We need to somehow reach as many of those 308 individuals that sit in parliament, as they are the group of people who are setting the tone for what will happen. We aren’t focusing on just the cabinet ministers, as even the most otherwise quiet back-bencher can have an important impact.

BTW: The constantly updated statistics on the number of signatures received and tabled in parliament can be seen at http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/signatures.shtml

Sure if you want to swallow industry PR where settlement =! guilty in a court of law.

blah blah blah more rhetoric … blah blah micheal geist blah blah blah …

You know I like this site but this kind of article is almost as bad as the other side with their public relations hounds twisting things the way they want to see them. Ever thought of actually doing something about it in meat space rather than preach to the converted on-line who are already indignant and pissed off about the unfairness of it all? You’d think with the amount of press this gets here, there would have more than the recent 500 (give or take a few – I know there are more but too lazy to look up the actual stat) signed petitions to the Minister of Heritage who is overseeing the revision of the Copyright Act in Canada. You want change take it to the people who can DO SOMETHING about the change, whining on here is kinda pointless. Start a grassroots campaign, post copies of the petition at libraries, write letters to newspaper editors, get the word out.