Canadian tek issues you probably should be doing something aboot

Over the past year, I've been trying to get more involved on issues that I'm interested in. I'd like to give a brief description of a few tek things going on in Canada that you, yes YOU*, should be aware of and perhaps do something about.

First off, let me introduce you to http://openparliament.ca/ Open Parliament provides you a news feed on MPs, Bills and specific topics being discussed in the House of Commons. So what you can do is subscribe to the news feed for your MP, and you'll be informed on how they vote, when they've been mentioned in the press and what they're saying in debates. All that awesome stuff!! The best way to follow your MP is to set up a RSS feed (I used Google Reader) to be updated when there is new information. Yet another reason to have a Gmail account. Anyway if you like to follow politics or just want to know what your Member of Parliament is doing, check this site out.

If you are using an RSS Feed, I also recommend following Michael Geist, a Canadian law professor at the University of Ottawa whose blog I follow. He talks about law and technology in Canada and the world. Very interesting stuff and a good way to keep tabs if you're interested.

Anyway, those issues I was talking about...

ACTA - The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is an international trade agreement that is bad news. Negotiations surrounding ACTA have been highly secretive. A very nontransparent process. From what has been leaked, the agreement would override Canada's current copyright policy, such as giving legal protection to digital locks and mandating a Notice of Take-down notice system like in the States.
-Digital Locks stops people from being able to tinker or modify devices they buy. It's a way to make sure devices are not used in a way that the right holders do not wish to allow. This flies in the face of Fair Use.
-DMCA allows right holders to send a letter to an ISP or web storage (YouTube) to take down infringing content. Can easily be abused and difficult to fight if you're not infringing on copyright.
-Force ISPs to implement internet disconnection and website blocking. A most likely result would be a three-strikes rule for illegal downloading. If you get caught (or if someone in your house, or someone who is using your wireless network) for copyright infringement (illegal downloading) three times, your internet gets disconnected. Not only is it difficult to prove copyright infringement but it would be like taking away someone's phone or cable. Internet access is becoming a basic need as opposed to a luxury.

ACTA is a step backwards and you should let your MP know how you feel.


Canadian DMCA - Due to a dissagreement between Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore (who wants a US style appraoch to copyright - see DMCA) and Industry Minister Tony Clement (who supports a more forward-looking, flexible aproach that includeds fair dealing) the Prime Minister is going to introduce  a US style Canadian  DMCA bill very soon. This will result in quite a dramatic change. We actually had a huge national copyright consultation process last year and this would completely ignore what was brought up from that. Anyway, DMCA can be abused and is against Fair Use.

Let Minister Moore know how you feel by sending a pre-made letter here. It's easy and only takes a couple of minutes.

You can also tweet Moore. I found a good pre-made message to send him.
@mpjamesmoore: I oppose any IP bill that includes strong digital lock provisions, excludes flexible fair dealing, & ignores public consult.


I know this is a lot of information, so please don't hesitate to ask questions below. I think this is all very important and spreading the word will help bring these issues to the public.

*Only applies if you're Canadian. So... maybe not you exactly.