My plea to Canadians

The entertainment industry wants to hold your internet service provider hostage because they don't like their customers sharing their products. If they had their way, not only would they be able to systematically charge you with piracy before even obtaining proof, they would eventually obtain that proof after the fact by demanding that your internet provider cough up records indicating what internet traffic came and went from your computer. The EU have said 'no'.

Imagine how you would react if after buying a riding lawn mower to help keep the block's lawns cut, the John Deere company sued you for sharing their product. How would you feel if after setting up a community tool share project, Sears sued you for sharing your tools?

But we could even stay within the realm of the entertainment industry. Pretend there was no internet. Would people be sharing movies and music? Sure they would. They always have. So why hasn't the industry sued you for lending your DVD or album to a neighbour or friend? Or selling it on eBay? Their argument is that the internet makes it too easy for you to share your collection. So essentially, their stance is that their product isn't yours to do with what you want, yet they're utterly confused as to why we've bought less and less of that product.

Now I know what the naysayers are saying right now - "Copyright is a law. Sharing music and movies is against the law." But this is only true in countries that have been successfully lobbied by the entertainment industry with their boo-hoo stories of failing to re-work their business model to adapt to new technologies and new realities. Let me make this clear - if the entertainment industry had their way, new technology would have to get their stamp of approval before being released unto the public. Plus, any move to disable the copy protection technology already built into a product would be against the law - even if it was only to try to make the product better, or even to allow for the rights of fair use, research, and educational use. You read that right. Have you ever heard of a more innovation-stifling law than that?

Even software companies have changed their position on the rigidity of being able to use multiple copies of what you buy. More and more titles have relaxed the rules regarding how many copies of the product you're allowed for your own personal use. It's not a perfect situation, but it's better than what the movie and music industries want.

Remember, the industry has a history of crying foul when new technologies come along. They tried to get governments to outlaw video tape machines and failed. They went on to make billions from movies on VHS tapes. The industry cried foul when tape cassettes were invented, claiming it would bankrupt the music industry. At the time CDs were introduced, the music industry was selling more music on cassette tapes than all other media combined (including vinyl).

So do you think the industry's attitude is right? If your answer is no, you owe it to yourself to let your politicians know, before they're convinced to pass laws that protect the industry first and the consumer last. Force the industry to adapt to new technology, not be allowed to stifle it. Here are [one] and [two] Canadian sites with more information. Here's a segment on The Hour about Canada's new DMCA.