The purpose of “anti circumvention” laws is to protect the tie between the purchase of digitally encoded content and specifically branded access technologies — IE: the purpose is not to “protect copyright” but to remove consumer choice and personal control over private property.

http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/ipnii/ – 1996 Lehman report that launched the attack on the rights of citizens.

Our BLOG on WIPO
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/taxonomy/page/or/361

And specifically the counter-agenda to the USA which is the “Development Agenda”: http://www.ipjustice.org/WIPO/WIPO_DA.shtml

I know that the United States historically protected the freedom of its citizens, but in ways far beyond these laws that has been changing in recent decades. Please fight to protect those freedoms and don’t ever assume that you will always have them. The most dangerous thing is politics is apathy.

To learn more about how your rights are under attack, check out http://eff.org which is one of many US citizens rights groups trying to protect against the attacks to these rights launched by the US government.

Yes, the US has it’s problems with mega-corporations, cartels, a corrupt government, and some bad/broken laws, but the one thing going for America is that we still have Freedom of Choice.

What they want is that if you look at too many foreign websites without looking at some “Canadian” websites your browser may get disabled (or automatically show you some government approved “Canadian” websites).

If that suggestion seems far fetched, then please look more closely at what DRM is capable of doing. DRM has little to nothing to do with stopping “copying”, and everything to do with creating a broadcast-like centralized intermediary who can control what we can and can not do with Information Technology.

The following letter was sent to a number of key MPs, as well as to the editor of the Hill Times.

ACTRA, CIRPA, SOCAN and the “Friends of Canadian Broadcasting” have taken out a full page advertisement in the September 5 issue of the Hill Times promoting government intervention into a recent CRTC decision on satellite radio.

I was pleased that the CRTC decision recognized that subscription satellite radio is not the same as broadcast radio. I support a full spectrum of production, distribution and funding models for creativity, and believe that the greatest threat to Canadian creativity comes from those who wish to impose past models onto all creativity.

I support Canadian Content (CANCON) rules where an intermediary can limit the choices of Canadians, such as traditional broadcast radio. This is a highly concentrated market where play-lists are decided by a DJ, the station, or increasingly the owners of a network of stations.

A market where CANCON rules shouldn’t be needed is retail. While dedicated music retail stores stock far more titles than high-volume stores such as Walmart, the reality is that the vast majority of recorded music is not available at any price. The extremely limited stock with Walmart suggests that CANCON rules should be applied to that market.

XM radio provides more choice to Canadians than many of the retail options, which is why true independent musicians are excited about this option. As a subscription service XM radio should be less regulated than broadcast radio.

Those who paid for the poll and advertisement are not protecting Canadian culture. These are primarily the same organization lobbying for ratification of the 1996 WIPO treaties, now Bill C-60, which promotes the US industry interests who are the primary authors and beneficiaries of the treaties. Ratification of the 1996 WIPO treaties will have a greater harmful impact on Canadian music than if we abolished CANCON rules entirely. This is before the possibility we may see something worse than C-60 based on the lobbying from US/EU major label controlled CRIA.

Links:

Kill Bill C-60, the primarily US-interest authored copyright bill.
http://KillBillC60.ca

Petition for Users’ Rights (and thus follow-on creators’ rights)
http://digital-copyright.ca/petition/

Canadian Independent Recording Artists Association
http://www.ciraa.ca

Independents Support Satellite Radio
http://www.indiepool.com/main/csr/

Canada Music Commons.
http://www.canadamusiccommons.net/

There are probably thousands of Canadians who have a friend or relative in the US subscribe for them and then ship them the equipment and other material so they can listen in Canada. There’s no great electromagnetic curtain of static draped across the US Canadian border. The RF is from satellite radio reaches Canada just fine. Why not let those who want to make use of it do so? It’s probably that there is some turf-war going on within the Government about what agency gets to deal with it.