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The Search Engine Prentice Interview

Podcast is here.  Prentice dodges the questions and ultimately hangs up on the interviewer.

Update: YouTube version of the interview. 

16 Comments

  1. Andrew Butash says:

    Wow. Dodging questions is kind of expected from slimy politicians, but outright hanging up on the interviewer should tell you everything you need to know about Prentice’s so-called “defense” of this bill.

  2. Rob Wiebe says:

    Prentice interview
    Written by Andrew Butash on 2008-06-19 13:42:18

    Totally, dude. Ministers Prentice and Verner have been taking their phones of the hook or hanging up on the Canadian public, since day 1 on this Bill.

  3. I find this particularly interesting, found at 8:35

    regarding: Unlocking a Cell Phone with a digital lock

    Prentice: “Adjusts or breaks a digital lock in order to make the apparatus functional to deal with, for example, a different country code that is not a…a… that is permissible under the legislation because there is no intent to defraud anyone or to.. to.. breach the copyright. If the only intent is to make it usable then, um, that is not something to which any of the statutory damages attach to.”

    This isn’t what I read from the bill or what anyone has said before. Whats up with that?

  4. Oh, never mind. < half a minute later he said "Only if you are residing in another country [are you allowed to break a digital lock]"... guess I should have kept listening, I gave him the benefit of doubt there and he bite me for it.

  5. International law?
    Mr Prentice: “Only if you are residing in another country [are you allowed to break a digital lock]”

    So Canada’s laws don’t apply to folks living in another country. Thanks for the major revelation, Mr Prentice.

  6. Anonymous says:

    @Jim R
    hahaha +1

  7. He Knows
    This interview only highlights what I always thought, he knows this bill is horrible and its his job to just deflect the questions until everyone forgets. When confronted with reasonable questions he wastes time with canned speech and pathetic excuses for stuttering. If nothing else, this interview brands him (and by proxy his party) as cowards. It’s going to be very amusing in the next several weeks to see him squirm under public scrutiny. But than again, the public’s attention span is extremely short, so who knows, his cheesy little tactics might pay off.

  8. Steven G. says:

    We need to make sure he does an interview such as The National, and really ask the tough questions.

  9. Steven G. says:

    I love how he says “you’re getting into the technicalities” uh, yeah… thats what we’re all concerned about! Did he just figure this out? By his stuttering it sure sounded like it.

  10. By his tone, I actually think he honestly believes it is a fair and balanced bill. I am starting to believe that he’s not even intending for industry to screw us – he’s just too dumb to understand technology.

    I’m guessing he can barely operate a computer, does not listen to music, has no time to watch movies, and probably thinks most people still use VCRs regularly, nevermind try to understand what the hell a “digital lock” is in the first place. Dishonesty or idiocy? I can’t decide.

  11. Dwight Williams says:

    Bobbing and Weaving
    No idea here either. What I know for sure is this: it felt like a game of “stall until the ten minutes are up” to me.

  12. Decoy?
    My biggest fear is that this bill is a decoy. I think they wrote the worst piece of draconian legislation in order to pull it, and make another slightly less draconian bill seem good in comparison.

  13. Painful
    I really want to finish the interview, i really do… but Prentice answers is way too painful to listen to… I think Prentice does know what is in the bill and what it mean for Canadians…. I think he keep on trying to deflect the questions and avoiding answering anything because he know he can not say the truth because then the public will know that the Conservatives are out to criminalize everyday activities, but he can not lie either because then the soundbites will be used by the Opposition to haunt him in Parliament…..I do like how the interviewer has really valid questions though…

  14. Decoy??
    I’ve been thinking the same thing. In business & government it’s well known you always ask for more, to get what you really want. Need $500,000 for a program, put in for $1,000,000 and you will get what you need.

  15. Farrell J. McGovern says:

    Decpeticon Minister for Industry
    I was really shocked by that interview. I though it would be a good chance for the guy to explain himself…but I didn’t expect a “duck and run”, which is what we got. I was hoping for honest answers, but we got evasions, and then a very rude exit out of the interview.

    This bill may just be the issue that removes Harper from power.

    ttyl

  16. Too technical?
    The bill is so “technical” even the man who proposed it doesn’t understand what’s legal and what’s illegal. How are Canadians supposed to know? Oh, I see, were supposed to behave as good consumers and never copy, ever. Just buy buy buy!

    Either that, or he expects everyone to act “illegally” and enforcement can be at the whim of the content distributors based on what they consider “worthwhile” targets.