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James Moore’s “Radical Extremist” Speech: Annotated Edition

As I pointed out when Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore delivered his "radical extremist" speech, the comments ran counter to many well-known groups and individuals who had expressed concern with the digital lock provisions found in C-32. Working with one of my research assistants Tamara Winegust, we've created an annotated edition of the speech that mixes in comments from politicians and groups involved in copyright issues.

24 Comments

  1. Anarchist Philanthropist says:

    Every time i hear that man talk it makes my blood boil.

    In my opinion Canada needs to be that outlier, Canada needs to be her own independent country with a government that believes in the sovereignty of her borders. I agree bringing business into Canada is good but I also believe the businesses and governments of other countries should not be dictating Canadian policy.

    And if someone is caught working for a “foreign interest”, they should be charged with treason and sedition.

  2. Great video
    This is a great tool that can be used to show people the misrepresentations of Mr. Moore and educate the common Canadian on the issues. Good job!

  3. Good Job
    Fantastic Video, very well done. Keep up the fantastic work and keep fighting the good fight.

  4. So according to him attracting foreign business to Canada means steam rolling over Canadian citizens wishes/rights. Just imagine if this guy had a say over our natural resources.

  5. Although it is clear that there are many people and industries that disagree with this proposed legislation, is there any realistic hope that the bill’s most significant flaw with regards to the absolute supremacy given to digital locks will be corrected before this bill makes its way into law?

    Besides writing a letter to their MP, what else can concerned Canadians do?

  6. Jack Robinson says:

    New Rome’s Not-So-Sly Assassins
    Given James Moore’s reptilian New Rome appointment and clout as ‘Heritage Meister’ and his Neo Condo disconnect from the essential mechanisms through which Canadians create, share and disseminate our increasingly imperiled creativity… I’m at once disgusted, enraged and sadly unsurprised that Harper Hegemony Inc. not only enjoys an 11 point poll lead amongst the Ostrich Nation electorate… and have a genuine dose of the heebie-jeebies that our true cultural sovereignty concerns will soon succumb to the sideshow distractions of Geek Rabble Rage over DLP and other trip-wired trickery that any savvy twelve year-old has already cracked, whacked or hi-jacked.

  7. @Mark
    I am curious about the same. Us writing to our MPs does not guarantee that MPs will act according to our requests. Moore & Co can attach this Bill to a more significant legislation, like a Budget Bill, and make it an election issue. Namely, if the opposition is not ready for an election, they will have to affirm the larger Bill and along with that the Bill C-32.

  8. @Sam
    …”Us writing to our MPs does not guarantee that MPs will act according to our requests.”

    No, but if you keep track of which MP’s voted for the bill, you know which ones will NOT receive your vote next election.

    Interesting that Moore is saying these “radical extremists” need to be confronted everywhere, on facebook, twitter, in the media. Yet he is the one that is also blocking all kinds of followers on twitter that disagree with C-32. He is refusing media interviews. Perhaps it’s time for him to walk the talk?

  9. Your commentary, on Mr. Moore’s unbelievable attack on Canadians, is sharp and succinct as always. Thank you.

  10. RE: oldguy
    “No, but if you keep track of which MP’s voted for the bill, you know which ones will NOT receive your vote next election.”

    Of course I would never vote for Gordon O’Conner. Unfortunately, he always wins in this area…

  11. Maybe it’s just me, but I find the notion of knowing who not to vote for in the next election to be completely meaningless in the face of what this bill will do in Canada. Once something’s passed into law, it doesn’t usually change very easily… laws are like that. And deciding to vote for somebody else after the fact is further unlikely to change it once is already passed into law, so it’s no consolation to me to think that if my MP voted for this bill I’d know not to vote for him next time.

  12. @Mark
    …”Once something’s passed into law, it doesn’t usually change very easily”

    In that case, C-32 can be challenged on constitutional grounds. See:

    http://www.irwinlaw.com/pages/content-commons/constitutional-jurisdiction-over-paracopy-laws—jeremy-f-debeer

  13. And we still have a chance to clean up C-32 while it is being evaluated in committee. One it hits committee, you can feedback through this site:

    http://www2.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/Default.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3

    After that, we can bombard the Canadian senate and make them pay attention. They have to approve any bills passed by parliament. Most often it is simply a rubber stamp, but not always.

    A few angles yet..

  14. Mark Anthony says:

    Muppet
    Did he write that speech or did the industry write it for him? James Moors is such a tool…

  15. “Radical Extremists” is a pretty strong term. I guess we are the new “Terrorists” – Surprised he didn’t use that term to describe us

    What a douchebag

  16. David Carroll says:

    I will give you a ten on editorial content Mr. Geist and Ms. Winegust, but I feel your video would have more impact if you included still images of the “radical extremists” along with their rebuttal text, name and titles. Narrating what they have said would fit the medium better as well.

    The ideal would be to have participants repeat their comments to camera or by phone/Skype. So they are on an even playing field with Mr. Moore.

    I understand that this would be time consuming, and countering Ministerial bullshit in a timely manner is important.

    The ultimate would be to get Samantha Bee to interview Minister Moore et al. Not gonna happen but a boy can dream can’t he?

  17. pat donovan says:

    actra
    the riaa etc, (us and britain) has started the ‘you’re guilty, pay us now or we’ll sue)
    chain letter / mass mailings again.

    and I thought class action suits had limitations on penalties in the US (are illegal now?)
    they just criminalized the behavior instead.

    Is that anything like CSIS method of sending you the material, declaring it illegal, then busting you? (a reporter got nailed with this here in ottawa)

    or is it more.. ‘he might try it someday”
    type of guilty?

    there’s a demonstration on the hill saturday.. screaming protests against the methods of policing
    from the g20 thing. (Parliament hill, ottawa)

    i REALLY suggest you show up, wrie a letter or something..

    stopping things NOW might turn out to be handy, eh?

    oh, the new copyright law is the last gasp of cannibalism capitalism.
    2+2=4 is a patentable concept now, along with orphan works, and making you a renter, not a owner.

    You have been warned.

    pat

  18. Speaking of writing a letter…
    I just received a form letter from Minister Clement, the meek member of the dynamic duo, which was worse than just being a form letter. It didn’t even acknowledge that I had sent a letter of strong opposition to the digital locks section of the bill, and was simply a long-winded advertisement for C-32 and why it’s so gosh-darn wunnerful, puppies and daisies, and Good For Canadians.

    A quote: “It gives creators and copyright owners the tools to protect their works [i.e. DRM] and grow their business models [i.e. make breaking DRM illegal]. I provides clearer rules that will enable all Canadians to fully participate in the digital economy, now and in the future.”

    Funny, how all the tools are provided to the businesses and the rules are applied to Canadians.

  19. re: Speaking of writing a letter…
    Oh, and the last page of the letter refers to “balancedcopyright.gc.ca”. I was not aware that a .gc.ca domain name could be applied to something which promotes a political party’s idealogical point of view…

  20. Ignaz Semmelweis says:

    Terrible Politician is Terrible
    I’m certainly not trying to Godwin this thread. I just want to point out a common propaganda technique used by many, but pioneered (and mastered) by Dr Goebbels. People should take the time to read “Die Zeit ohne Beispiel” written by the Nazi propaganda minister. It makes it very easy to spot this technique used, as this is a pillar to marginalizing the public view of your opponent.

    BTW the greatest users of this technique are the US government. They brand people “terrorists”, and other derogatory terms. Often when committing genocide you refer to a class of people as “cock roaches” or other terms that paint a group in a sub-human nature. You see it used commonly on the African peninsula prior to acts of Genocide (Rwandan being a classic example of this).

    When Mr. Moore used this term, it was done so with calculated intent. It was not a slight of the tongue. Somewhere behind the scenes is a big US PR firm pushing this agenda. Dropping pre-packaged media stories and directing people on what to say to push this agenda for Hollywood.

    Thank goodness Canadians are so naturally skeptical. The next step will be to dumb down our education to the level of that of the US. So that the common citizen is incapable of reasonable skepticism. Much easier to pull the wool over everyones eyes then.

    Hopefully folks like Dr. Geist will continue to shine a flashlight on this sort of thing. Unfortunately there’s more and more money going around to silence these critics.

  21. …”Unfortunately there’s more and more money going around to silence these critics.”

    That could get expensive very quickly. For every critic they pay off, 3 more pop up. And the price goes up each time.

  22. What about a lawsuit?
    What if all of us who are opposing Bill C-32 filed a joint class-action lawsuit against Moore & Co?

    Some venues to explore would be slander (he called all Canadians who opposed this Bill “radical extremists” or in other words “terrorists”), violation of Charter of Rights and Freedoms (some provisions of the Bill violate the Charter), fraud (this Bill is being passed against the wishes of Canadian citizens and is being funded by special interests groups), and so on.

    What does everyone think? If we cannot influence them using reason, we can influence through courts.

  23. Digital War Measures Act
    It’s funny the Harper government can’t get public support for Stephen Harper’s “radical extremist” Copyright bill since bill C-61, so he’s introducing the same bill with a different name and minor changes. James Moore was critized before bill C-32’s release, and you can see the desperation in his speech to garner any support. I wonder how much James Moore got paid to memorize and regurgitate that speech.

    The only one practicing “radical extremist” is James Moore himself by tabling the “radical extremist” bill C-32, talks like a “radical extremist”, etc.

    It’s clear James Moore and the Harper government only agree with one section of the Charter, the exception section; and they abused it without providing any good reason, and we’re not even in a dire crisis like an invasion. Canada and the rest of the world do not need to follow the failures of the DMCA! Canada does not need a War Measures Act for the digital age!

  24. Sounds like someone is a pro corporation lobbiest….
    Fear mongering American mentality at its best…
    So we can be like America and open up lawsuits so Americans can have more jobs and viacom and major media companies lawyers can make bank sue sue sue… NO NO NO this aint the land of the frivolous lawsuits this is Canada not the USA. I am all for media sites having to pull content off their under say DMCA laws when they have gotten a request to do so and that is certainty fair. But opening control of our law making system to corporate interests beyond our border is unacceptable. This is not the USA lobbies do not own us and have no right to infringe on our liberties. Just cause the USA government sells out to highest bidders doesn’t mean we should copy their system.

    These are the same people pushing to kill public domain period so they can collect of artists work at the expense of society. Every 20 years lets extend copy right another 20 years, hey that could work then we can kill of fair use and charge everyone for every frame of everything they watch mentality.