The Wire Report covers Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore's "radical extremist" comment reporting that industry insiders advised that they "believe Moore was speaking out of frustration with the effectiveness of the copyright user lobby and that the comments were intended to discredit Geist and his supporters."
Wire Report on Moore’s “Radical Extremist” Comment
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It’s not just Moore. The entire copyright industry appears to be extremely frustrated with the effectiveness of Canadians in resisting heavy-handed attempts to reform our copyright laws in favour of foreign corporations. Thank the gods we have a minority government right now, or we might have ended up with Bill C-61 in the first place. This means we’re doing something right. First they ignore you, then they fight you, right? Keep up the great work Professor Geist!
Frustration
If you can’t sway them to your way thinking, point them out as the enemy. Of course it is frustrating him – he’s got all that foreign money leaning on him to push this bill through, and all the people he’s supposed to be representing telling him that it’s unacceptable. If the best he can muster is to demonize the voting critics of it, I think he needs to ask himself whether he wants to stay in politics – now might be good time to admit he’s bitten off more than he can chew, at this time in his life, and gracefully step aside.
Also – how come the frustration is with the voters, not with the unyielding pressure of the industry? Frustrating indeed Mr. Moore, for us as well.
Digital Locks
I think we’re going about it the wrong way here. We should FULLY support the digital locks in Bill C-32 as is. That should make Moore happy.
Just add a provision on the “permitted uses” of digital locks. So that it’s forbidden for any company to use a digital lock that prevents a the purchaser from view, listen or using their legal purchases. Make it so we can sue the entertainment industry for putting the lock there in the first place.
I just simply want to watch my iPhone movie purchases on my HD ready Linux computer, or HD ready Open-Source media player. Not have to purchase a $2,000 apple computer so I can watch my legal purchases.
Is this part of a campaign?
The same language – “extremist radical” – is being used in the U.S.
On June 16, David Israelite, CEO of the National Music Publishers Association said “These four groups have an extremist radical anti-copyright agenda.” His targets were the EFF, Public Knowledge, the Consumer Electronics Assn. and the Computer and Communications Industry Assn.
The choice of language particularly stands out as deliberate because it is so obviously wrong. “Radical” refers to fundamental change, which is what C-32 and ACTA represent. Opposing such change is if anything conservative, not radical.
As for the use of “extremist,” we have heard before claims that piracy finances terrorists. This is done by first equating infringement with counterfeiting, absurdly placing filesharers in the same category as organized crime.
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/10/06/30/1019224/ASCAP-War-On-Free-Culture-Escalates
I find it quite disturbing that just over a year ago so much time and attention was devoted to Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla’s caregiver controversy by the media and Conservatives and it ended up being a seemingly non-issue.
Meanwhile comments that directly attack Canadian citizens are virtually ignored by the media and opposition parties. Frankly C-32 as a whole doesn’t seem to get much proper coverage in the big media.
Geist.. IS a radical extremist on the subject of copyright.
Let’s call a spade a spade. He’s losing credibility because he will go to all lengths to support “pro-consumer” views, but offers very little in the way of creating a real solution that will allow content creators to continue doing what they should be doing.
Wow, Jimmy, I didn’t know Geist was a legislator, working for the Canadian Gov’t. I thought he was a law professor whose specialty was in copyright and consumer rights in the age of digital media. I thoughts James Moore et al were responsible for said legislation.
As for losing credibility, well, I have to disagree.
Jimmy seems to have confused law with business methods.
I’d suggest he look into the history of copyright, how it has evolved over the last 300 years. The continual erosion of the balance between the public and the creator.
That is one of the reasons that Michael Geist *is* looked upon as an expert on copyright. He knows history, and the law. And he makes a lot of sense.
Michael Geist is no expert
It’s a good thing he ISNT a legislator, because for someone claiming to be an expert, he has a profound level of ignorance of why copyrights are needed for content creators. He conveniently and insultingly walks over stakeholders with his own ideals and opinions to suit his own agenda. The only thing Michael is an expert at, is rhetoric and propaganda. His views on copyright are extremely one sided for the consumer.
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