ATTN ALL CANADIANS: Send a letter to Ottawa to STOP the DCMA

[Feels Good Man]

From my previous topic located HERE

And Ace Gunman's topic located HERE

Canadian Prime Minister promises to enact a Canadian DMCA in six weeks

via, http://www.michaelgeist.ca/

Months of public debate over the future of Canadian copyright law were quietly decided earlier this week, when sources say the Prime Minister's Office reached a verdict over the direction of the next copyright bill. The PMO was forced to make the call after Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement were unable to reach consensus on the broad framework of a new bill.
With mounting pressure from the U.S. - there have repeated meetings with senior U.S. officials in recent weeks - the PMO sided squarely with Moore's vision of a U.S.-style copyright law. The detailed provisions will be negotiated over the coming weeks by the respective departments, but they now have their marching orders of completing a bill that will satisfy the U.S. that comes complete with tough anti-circumvention rules and no flexible fair dealing provision.

For those wondering what can be done, my only answer is to speak out now. Write a paper letter to your Member of Parliament and send copies to the Prime Minister, Moore, Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. No stamp is required - be sure to include your home address and send it to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Once that is done, join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same. You may have spoken out before, but your voice is needed yet again.

Full Story

I got an email today so it's easier to express our concern about this. Just fill out the boxes and send it and hopefully this Canadian DCMA will come to a halt.

Here's the link:
http://www.ccer.ca/send-a-letter-to-ottawa...-canadian-dmca/

Hopefully this will be successful

 

[worlok375]

Grr. Sadly Canada is outside my domain...looks like you're on your own canadians.

 

[Deleted_171835]

I definitely will!
This should be put on the front page so more people notice.

Admin?

 

[Kishu]

Whats the DMCA going to do to Canada anyways?

Sorry, I'm not too familiar with this kind of stuff.

 

[Ace Gunman]

If all went according to plan this was also part of an e-mail GBAtemp sent out earlier. Its pretty much a must to fight back at this point. Either we send these letters or, well, it won't be pretty. I'll copy what I wrote for said e-mail and paste it here (the bolded paragraphs are the core reasons it will negatively impact this community/etc):

To our Canadian and non-Canadians members alike: The Canadian copyright reform was taken to the prime minister's office who immediately sided with the US lobbyists and intends to introduce copyright reform that is a hundred times worse than anything the United States has.

Among many, many other negative aspects this legislation will make owning, purchasing, or importing flash carts or modchips entirely illegal. Downloading pirated content or using such devices after this moves forward will lead to a fine at minimum, or even jail time. The legislation may make even viewing a site like GBAtemp illegal.

Its worse than anything we could have imagined, and would do catastrophic damage to the Canadian public, flash cart-based Canadian businesses, any and all piracy sites hosted on Canadian servers (including some of the worlds biggest torrent sites) and ultimately GBAtemp and ShopTemp (which would no longer be allowed to sell to Canadian consumers).

We have a very limited window to argue against this, a period of six weeks or so. To Canadians, either write a hand-written letter to your MP or use the automated letter generating wizard (in either English or French), making edits where necessary to make it unique to you. A letter will then be physically mailed to the prime minister/etc. Remember, be courteous and civil for the best results.

To our global members, tell all of your Canadian friends and acquaintances about this; if not for Canada's sake, than for GBAtemp and ShopTemp. Tell them to fight back with the above instructions before it is too late. However, if you are not Canadian don't take it upon yourselves to write a letter. That has been used against us in the past.

Finally, both Canadian and global members should digg the following article to make this issue known to the widest possible public. Thank you for your time and consideration, now lets make a positive change!

GBAtemp will likely be doing more soon for this cause as well. Make no mistake, this affects us all. For the record though, in my above statement I chose to focus on the impacts on the emulation/piracy community more so than the general public simply to get the point across on how it will affect you folks. It goes to much deeper and darker places that I only touched upon.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Among many, many other negative aspects this legislation will make owning, purchasing, or importing flash carts or modchips entirely illegal. Downloading pirated content or using such devices after this moves forward will lead to a fine at minimum, or even jail time. The legislation may make even viewing a site like GBAtemp illegal.

Its worse than anything we could have imagined, and would do catastrophic damage to the Canadian public, flash cart-based Canadian businesses, any and all piracy sites hosted on Canadian servers (including some of the worlds biggest torrent sites) and ultimately GBAtemp and ShopTemp (which would no longer be allowed to sell to Canadian consumers).

Is it actually going that far?

 

[Scott-105]

Oh jeez. I never knew how bad this was until Ace posted what he did. I just sent a letter via your link. I seriously hope it works because I, as well as a bunch of other members, are screwed.

 

[ShadowSol]

i even remember getting an email earlier today from shoptemp about this.
so i sent the message now. hope this does something

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Yeah, I just sent a letter using the automated site, as well.

If the proposed copyright reform is as bad as what Ace Gundam says, I simply don't understand how that kind of law could possibly make it through in Canada. Even the United States wouldn't try to pass off something that draconian as law; I can't see this sneaking through without a massive fight. IMO, the situation in this country is getting out of hand, if legislation like this has even a chance of being forced through against the will of the public. When the next election comes, hopefully the public will finally realize it's time to put an end to the minority Conservative experiment, and just vote them out before they're allowed to do significant damage.

 

[Ace Gunman]

From what I've been told, essentially the public consultations were so successful that a large number of politicians were swayed in favor of a more level-headed reform. Things were on the up swing. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and what we were left with was two sides equally matched unable to decide how to move forward.

So they brought the legislation to the prime minister's office (whether it be him directly or his immediate staff, I don't know) and essentially said "We can't figure it out, you do it".

Of course our prime minister, a man who makes famously terrific decisions *cough*sarcasm*cough* such as abolishing gun control because it costs "a couple million dollars" (because the US can spend 3 trillion dollars on a war and we can't spend 2 million making sure we don't get shot?)... decided hey, lets give in to every one of the US lobbyist demands.

Now I am being a bit harsh, but honestly I'm becoming quite tired of Stephen Harper being a conservative stereotype. Don't get me wrong, there are many fair-minded conservatives out there, but Harper and his regime match the very definition of the "we like money, hate gays, love guns, and bend over backwards for the RIAA because that's just how it is" archetype that even most conservatives don't identify with because its so radically one-sided.

A good politician, and they may be few and far between, but a good politician takes note of both sides of the equation and makes an informed decision based on logic rather than just "Well, this is what my party is supposed to support so this is the direction I'll go". I cannot understand how he keeps getting re-elected.

So to answer the questions, yes, it is that bad. When I said viewing sites like GBAtemp may become illegal, I meant it. This legislation could make even viewing a website that informs on matters of piracy a punishable offense. Even if they in no way link to or directly support it. That said, there is still hope if we use the letter writer wizard or send in hand written (but civil) letters to the prime minister and our MPs.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

The only positive thing I can see is that even if this did pass, I don't see it as any kind of law that's possible (in any way) to enforce. The DMCA was an utter failure in the US, and this would be no different.

However, the Conservatives have failed twice before to get crap like this through. I don't have so little faith in the Canadian public yet that I believe this latest attempt will succeed, either.

 

[Raiser]

So to answer the questions, yes, it is that bad. When I said viewing sites like GBAtemp may become illegal, I meant it. This legislation could make even viewing a website that informs on matters of piracy a punishable offense. Even if they in no way link to or directly support it. That said, there is still hope if we use the letter writer wizard or send in hand written (but civil) letters to the prime minister and our MPs.

I don't get it, how would they find out? I mean, piracy itself is already illegal and there are millions of people who do it. But rarely anyone gets caught.

 

[Ace Gunman]

So to answer the questions, yes, it is that bad. When I said viewing sites like GBAtemp may become illegal, I meant it. This legislation could make even viewing a website that informs on matters of piracy a punishable offense. Even if they in no way link to or directly support it. That said, there is still hope if we use the letter writer wizard or send in hand written (but civil) letters to the prime minister and our MPs.

I don't get it, how would they find out? I mean, piracy itself is already illegal and there are millions of people who do it. But rarely anyone gets caught.

Theoretically they would enlist the ISPs (and when I say "enlist", I really mean "legally force them to comply"). Your bandwidth and internet traffic would be monitored. We already see this happening in the US, to a lesser extent. The RIAA and other such groups having ISPs log what someone downloads then cutting off their service and suing them for $25k. So on many levels this is also about net neutrality.

It really comes down to a complete overhaul of the general public's digital lifestyle in every regard. Policing what we download (what content is legal), how we download (the programs we can and cannot use), where we download from (closing down websites), how we choose to back it up, what devices can and cannot be used to back things up (and thus what buy)...

The way this is sounding the internet would be purely informational. With the exception of netflix or legitimate gaming, most people would have no need for 20mbps connections. This last statement is a bit of a tangent, but I can't imagine the ISPs would be happy with a Canadian society that had no needs for truly high-end connections.

 

[iFish]

So to answer the questions, yes, it is that bad. When I said viewing sites like GBAtemp may become illegal, I meant it. This legislation could make even viewing a website that informs on matters of piracy a punishable offense. Even if they in no way link to or directly support it. That said, there is still hope if we use the letter writer wizard or send in hand written (but civil) letters to the prime minister and our MPs.

I don't get it, how would they find out? I mean, piracy itself is already illegal and there are millions of people who do it. But rarely anyone gets caught.

Theoretically they would enlist the ISPs (and when I say "enlist", I really mean "legally force them to comply"). Your bandwidth and internet traffic would be monitored. We already see this happening in the US, to a lesser extent. The RIAA and other such groups having ISPs log what someone downloads then cutting off their service and suing them for $25k. So on many levels this is also about net neutrality.

It really comes down to a complete overhaul of the general public's digital lifestyle in every regard. Policing what we download (what content is legal), how we download (the programs we can and cannot use), where we download from (closing down websites), how we choose to back it up, what devices can and cannot be used to back things up (and thus what buy)...

The way this is sounding the internet would be purely informational. With the exception of netflix or legitimate gaming, most people would have no need for 20mbps connections. This last statement is a bit of a tangent, but I can't imagine the ISPs would be happy with a Canadian society that had no needs for truly high-end connections.

Too add to that, the IPS's will also not be happy, this no pirating or like downloading. Your ISP cannot charge you for going over your download limit, and less money to them.

 

[playallday]

So to answer the questions, yes, it is that bad. When I said viewing sites like GBAtemp may become illegal, I meant it. This legislation could make even viewing a website that informs on matters of piracy a punishable offense. Even if they in no way link to or directly support it. That said, there is still hope if we use the letter writer wizard or send in hand written (but civil) letters to the prime minister and our MPs.

I don't get it, how would they find out? I mean, piracy itself is already illegal and there are millions of people who do it. But rarely anyone gets caught.

Theoretically they would enlist the ISPs (and when I say "enlist", I really mean "legally force them to comply"). Your bandwidth and internet traffic would be monitored. We already see this happening in the US, to a lesser extent. The RIAA and other such groups having ISPs log what someone downloads then cutting off their service and suing them for $25k. So on many levels this is also about net neutrality.

It really comes down to a complete overhaul of the general public's digital lifestyle in every regard. Policing what we download (what content is legal), how we download (the programs we can and cannot use), where we download from (closing down websites), how we choose to back it up, what devices can and cannot be used to back things up (and thus what buy)...

The way this is sounding the internet would be purely informational. With the exception of netflix or legitimate gaming, most people would have no need for 20mbps connections. This last statement is a bit of a tangent, but I can't imagine the ISPs would be happy with a Canadian society that had no needs for truly high-end connections.

Too add to that, the IPS's will also not be happy, this no pirating or like downloading. Your ISP cannot charge you for going over your download limit, and less money to them.

Wrong, ISP's mostly like this stuff. As long the as gov covers the fees for the spying tools they love it. Most people don't go anywhere near the download limit, so this will just bring down costs for them.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

I'm still going to be doing my part to speak out against this, but I don't see the government being able to regulate ISPs in the ways being suggested without spending a boatload of money and resources they don't have. These laws have failed elsewhere, and they'd fail here as well if they were ever introduced. Some of the speculation seems like a "worst case scenario" deal to me... it just sounds so unworkable, and the Canadian government as already proved it can't even manage workable laws very well most of the time.

If it ever does go through, would a VPN service be enough to counter any monitoring activities?

Wrong, ISP's mostly like this stuff. As long the as gov covers the fees for the spying tools they love it. Most people don't go anywhere near the download limit, so this will just bring down costs for them.

On Micheal Geist's blog site, it has some quotes from Rogers speaking out on the whole ACTA thing about how ISPs shouldn't be policing the activities of their customers. I don't think ISPs would be in favour of this kind of stuff, as a whole. Ultimately, it means less business for them.

 

[iFish]

So to answer the questions, yes, it is that bad. When I said viewing sites like GBAtemp may become illegal, I meant it. This legislation could make even viewing a website that informs on matters of piracy a punishable offense. Even if they in no way link to or directly support it. That said, there is still hope if we use the letter writer wizard or send in hand written (but civil) letters to the prime minister and our MPs.

I don't get it, how would they find out? I mean, piracy itself is already illegal and there are millions of people who do it. But rarely anyone gets caught.

Theoretically they would enlist the ISPs (and when I say "enlist", I really mean "legally force them to comply"). Your bandwidth and internet traffic would be monitored. We already see this happening in the US, to a lesser extent. The RIAA and other such groups having ISPs log what someone downloads then cutting off their service and suing them for $25k. So on many levels this is also about net neutrality.

It really comes down to a complete overhaul of the general public's digital lifestyle in every regard. Policing what we download (what content is legal), how we download (the programs we can and cannot use), where we download from (closing down websites), how we choose to back it up, what devices can and cannot be used to back things up (and thus what buy)...

The way this is sounding the internet would be purely informational. With the exception of netflix or legitimate gaming, most people would have no need for 20mbps connections. This last statement is a bit of a tangent, but I can't imagine the ISPs would be happy with a Canadian society that had no needs for truly high-end connections.

Too add to that, the IPS's will also not be happy, this no pirating or like downloading. Your ISP cannot charge you for going over your download limit, and less money to them.

Wrong, ISP's mostly like this stuff. As long the as gov covers the fees for the spying tools they love it. Most people don't go anywhere near the download limit, so this will just bring down costs for them.

i go over our limit once in awhill 60GB limit.... last month it was 30GB limit :/

 

[TM2-Megatron]

While many of them seem to be tools themselves, I doubt they can afford the tools necessary for this, no.

Even if this law passes (which I hope to my fictional god it doesn't), I see it, ultimately, as being entirely unenforceable.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Perhaps in the short run unenforceable, but in the long run, I'm sure it will be viable sooner or later.

Maybe. They've failed twice before to sneak this kind of draconian garbage through, though, and I can't see them getting away with it this time either. This is an issue a lot of people care about, which was proven the last time it was tried. I wouldn't even mind so much if this issue triggered another election, provided said election removed the Conservatives *cough*Reform/Alliance*cough* from power.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

A lot of this might become moot. If Bell Canada gets it's way, UBB will make it practically impossible to indulge any sort of sums of data movement sufficient to make downloading worth the effort.

The flashcarts loss would suck, but anyone that gets in the way of me being able to download anime fan subs is looking for a fight.

Privacy laws would need to be changed though in order for anyone to 'see' what I am downloading.