US media conglomerates get the red carpet...Canada's manufacturing workers...the back of the hand

Different strokes for different folks as they say.

If you live in this country it's impossible not to know of the thousands of auto workers in Oshawa, Ontario who will be losing their jobs as General Motors closes its truck plant next year. Thousands more in auto parts plants and various support industries will also lose their jobs.

Over 200,000 manufacturing workers mainly in Ontario and Quebec have joined the ranks of the unemployed over the last five years.

This past week Air Canada announced they were giving two thousand more workers "the axe".

There's talk of the economy of Ontario, for over a century Canada's economic "engine" tanking so much that in a few short years the province will qualify for "equalization payments".

You would think that the government of Canada would view this as a "crisis" that needs to be dealt with.

But oh no, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has decided to do...ummmm...errr...nothing.

Okay, they did do something.

In the 1990's then Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin implemented massive cuts to the unemployment insurance system. Workers benefits were cut, qualifying periods were lengthened, and the amount of time the unemployed could collect EI benefits was shortened. They made it much harder for unemployed workers to access job training programmes.

They even renamed the programme "Employment Insurance" and so "UI" became "EI".

Because the programme wasn't paying out benefits, but workers and employers were still paying into the EI fund, a massive surplus was built up...to the tune of over $50 billion!

Everyone condemned what the Chretien/Martin government was doing.

Those on the left of the political spectrum i.e. unions, community and social action groups, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois all argued that benefits for the unemployed should be improved given the massive surplus that was building up in the EI fund.

Those on the right of the political spectrum argued that nothing more should be done for the unemployed, but rather EI premiums for employers and employees should be cut.

When Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government came to power in 2006 at first they continued following previous Liberal policy.

However in this year's budget, they finally did something about the EI surplus. They pocketed it. Harper's government legalized the theft of the EI fund.

Recently, under pressure from the US Ambassador, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and all of the fat cat US media conglomerates who control Hollywood and the recording industry, Harper's government introduced Bill C-61, "An Act to Amend the Copyright Act".

This bill is the US media mogul's wet dream come true. It's a Canadian copy of the U.S. Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)...only worse.

This bill criminalizes just about everything that the average person might do with digital media, opens the door to ISP "snooping" on your online activities and will result in massive numbers of lawsuits against internet users.

Over 28,000 law suits have been filed in the U.S., mostly against teenage kids for file sharing. Think our courts are clogged now?

The Conservative government is engaged in spin right now trying to say that citizen's "fair dealing" rights have been protected in this bill. Don't believe a word of it.

As soon as a corporation puts a "digital lock" on some media, your rights to fair dealing go out the window. Corporate digital locks are given legal priority over your fair dealing rights...just like the U.S. DMCA.

80% of the music industry is controlled by just four corporate conglomerates. Everything will be locked. You'll have no rights at all.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a user of the free software GNU/Linux computer operating system. The movie industry does not supply software that will permit me to watch a legally purchased (but encrypted) DVD movie on my computer.

Right now, I can legally download software that allows me to "break" the lock so that I can watch the movie I just paid good money for on my computer.

Under this new law, viewing a legally purchased DVD movie on my computer will be illegal. Distributing the software that allows me to view an encrypted DVD movie on my computer will also be illegal.

Just about every other kind of "format shifting" will become illegal. If you want to open up your mobile phone so that you can use it with a different mobile phone provider that will become illegal. Want to move music that you've legally downloaded from a music service from one device to another? Illegal.

Parliament is in recess over the summer. They'll resume business on September 15th. Over the summer, contact your Member of Parliament. You can do so easily via the "Copyright for Canadians" website (click here).


The NDP is taking a strong position against Bill C-61 with MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) leading a heroic effort worthy of Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Liberal and Bloc Quebecois MP's in particular need to be leaned on. The Conservatives only need the support of one of these parties to push this monstrosity through the House.

And if you need more information, by all means visit the Copyright for Canadians website at http://www.copyrightforcanadians.ca

Save Our Net!

A new coalition has formed to deal with the ongoing bandwidth "throttling" by the major internet service providers in Canada called Save Our Net. (click on the link).

The Canadian Radio & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will apparently be holding hearings on net neutrality this coming September.

"Save Our Net" will be holding a number of events over the course of the summer.

Gotcha!

For months Canadian federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice has been trying to introduce a U.S.-style "Digital Millenium Copyright Act" under pressure from big U.S. media conglomerates, their puppets in Canada and the U.S. Ambassador.

Unfortunately for Prentice, (and fortunately for Canadians!) he's been up against some very active, informed and smart "netizens".

Chief among those smart netizens is Professor Michael Geist, Canada Chair of Internet and E-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.

This week Professor Geist exposed that Industry Canada computers have been used to edit Wikipedia entries concerning Minister Prentice's proposed "copyright reforms".

Public property is being used for partisan purposes.

It also shows that Prentice and/or his surrogates at Industry Canada are completely clueless when it comes to internet technology. Figuring out who owns the IP address of someone who has edited a Wikipedia entry isn't exactly rocket science.

And it is these same clueless individuals who will make decisions about both copyright reform and net neutrality. These decisions will affect how every Canadian is able to use the internet.

See Michael Geist's Blog