ATTN: All Canadians (URGENT)

[The Tjalian]

My fellow Canadians, a matter of the greatest importance has come to our attention. TOMORROW new laws will be passed by the Canadian government which will effectively OUTLAW the use of modchips and flash carts, among other things.

This new copyright reform in the form of the Canadian DMCA has been influenced by US lobby groups rather than the voice of the Canadian people. What we're faced with is legislation that is potentially even more extreme than that of the US DMCA which is what allows the RIAA, MPAA, etc to function in the United States as they do.

This would be a blow not only to Canada, civil rights, and copyright law, but also YOUR rights, this fine community, and all of the businesses that make their living by selling said products. Our digital way of life would effectively come to a stop. They're even going as far as proposing a minimum $500 fine per incident. While copyright reform is an important issue, this is not the way to go about it.

In response to this backdoor policy-making a growing movement and coalition has been actively pursuing making the Canadian voice heard in this legislative process. All is NOT lost; they previously attempted to impose similar legislation back in December but this very movement's response stopped them in their tracks. We MUST speak up! We MUST make ourselves heard before it's too late!

As such the Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights has created a simple pre-written letter sending service that will allow for us to be heard. I implore any and all Canadians to use this service to send a letter to Prime Minister, Stephen Harper; Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry; and Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage TODAY before we have no tomorrow.



Digg this to promote awareness

Source

Please bear in mind this could also mean losing your ability to back up CDs and DVDs, as well. Sending the letter only takes a minute! Remember, it's pre-written!

[ooPo]

If it was being passed tomorrow, it would be far too late to change things now.

Yes, they're possibly introducing new legislation tomorrow. This is the first step in a long process before passing. If it is anything close to what the rumors say it will be, there's very little chance it would make it through unchanged. If it passes at all.

This isn't the first time something like this has been proposed, and there's little reason to get upset until the full text has been revealed anyway. Spamming an office with pre-written emails beforehand is premature and immature.

Wait and see how tomorrow plays out, then create a personal response and forward it to the appropriate people. Unlike in the US, your opinion will be heard if you act like a reasonably mature adult.

http://www.michaelgeist.ca <--- A good place to keep informed about this and other Canadian technology issues.

[The Tjalian]

I would say that the letter being sent is far from being immature.

[ooPo]

Perhaps not, if only one person was sending it.

The problem is that when thousands of people send the same piece of text with no more effort used than clicking a button. That kind of response can be easily discounted and ignored.

By all means, write your own response and send it to your appropriate representative. I have in the past and plan to do so probably later this week once the full text of the legislation has been introduced.

The important part is to write it in your own words.

Do it.

Now.

While you're still angry.

[ooPo]

It looks like it was finally introduced today.

As expected, the Canadian DMCA is big, complicated, and a close model of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Industry Canada provides a large number of fact sheets here). I'll have much more to say once I've had a careful read, but these are my five key points to take away:

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3025/125