[Infowarrior] - Grassroots Campaign for Canadian DMCA

[Richard Forno]

CRIA Launching Grassroots Campaign for Canadian DMCA
Thursday April 09, 2009

As the Canadian government considers its next move on copyright  
reform, it would appear that the Canadian Recording Industry  
Association is readying a grassroots campaign to argue for a repeat of  
Bill C-61.  The following leaked email was widely distributed from an  
executive at one of the major record labels:

I'm sure that all of you are aware of the current challenges that we  
have within our industry around copyright infringement. What you may  
not know is that there is a lack of support within our government for  
laws that are currently in place NOT protecting copyright work.  
Virtually every other developed nation in the world has taken one key  
step to keep peer to peer downloading under control: they have  
modernized their copyright rules for the digital age. It is time  
Canada's Parliament implement similar, long overdue reforms, in  
keeping with our country's commitments under the 1996 WIPO Internet  
Treaties.

You can make a difference by understanding the current challenging  
situation, talking to your colleagues about it, and letting your MP  
know how you feel about this. Below and attached is a Frequently Asked  
Question form that can bring you up to speed on the issues and other  
info that you may not be aware of. Take a minute to review, and then  
please follow up by sending an email to your MP if you feel that music  
and these matters are important to you.  In addition to the email  
message, or as an alternative, please write a letter or call your MP  
and the Heritage and Industry Ministers.

The letter then lists the addresses for Industry Minister Tony Clement  
and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore along with links to a  
series of supportive organizations and a non-functioning link to a  
Copyright FAQ that is currently hosted at Universal Music (but  
indicating that the source is CRIA).

While the industry may face some challenges in generating a major  
grassroots campaign demanding a Canadian DMCA, more important is their  
planned Copyright FAQ which unsurprisingly tells only one side of the  
story.  There are no questions about the robust copyright collective  
system in Canada, private copying, the Songwriters proposal, the CMCC,  
the effectiveness of notice-and-notice to address online infringement,  
etc.  Instead, the FAQ states [with commentary in brackets from me]:

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