This series began to counter some of the the misinformation about copyright that has been floating around since the Statute of Anne. In particular, I was (and still am) concerned about what was then draft legislation called Bill C-11, which has now been passed into Canadian Law as our shiny new “Copyright Act.” Although the law passed, the fallacies are just as real, and likely to become more so as the new law is turned against Canadians, so the series will continue.
Copyright: Fallacy #1 | Fallacy: Copyright is a “right.”
Copyright: Fallacy #2 | “…to allow artists, musicians, and authors to make a living?”
Copyright: Fallacy #4 | CLAIM: Piracy costs Hollywood Money
Copyright: Fallacy #5 | CLAIM: Copyright Protects Creators Work
Backstory:
Most Canadians still don’t understand that copyright increasingly affects all of our lives, but almost all of those that do opposed passage Bill C-11. There were many overdue copyright reforms included in Bill C-11 that were supposed to mollify opponents, but making digital locks [the “protection” of Technological Protection Measures] paramount, regardless of whether such DRM is tied to infringement, was the deal breaker.
Yet because of the way our woesfully unrepresentative democracy works, currently a single political party represents less than a quarter of Canadians but holds 100% of the legislative power under our Winner Take All system. With this kind of power a majority government can pass any law it wants, regardless of how many Canadians oppose it, or how much harm it will do to the public good. So our current majority government chose to pass Bill C-11 to appease American special interests.
Laurel's Free Culture Blog 