aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Oh Canada!
We’ve got some catching up to do to our friends up north…
Cory tells us that Michael says, “A group of geeks, lawyers, academics, policy experts, geographers, and librarians have joined together from across Canada to fight the evils of Crown Copyright (a Canadian thing) and proprietary formats. We’re fighting to get access to our civic data - from high-res maps to minutes of city meeting.”
1. To encourage all levels of governments (county, municipal, provincial, federal) to make civic data and information available to citizens without restrictions, at no cost, and in useable open formats.
2. To encourage the development of citizen projects using civic data and information
And this morning my friend Joe forwarded this from the Canadian Music Creators Coalition:
The CMCC is united under three key principles:
Suing Our Fans is Destructive and Hypocritical
Artists do not want to sue music fans. The labels have been suing our fans against artists’ will, and laws enabling these suits cannot be justified in artists’ names
Digital Locks are Risky and Counterproductive
Artists do not support using digital locks to increase the labels’ control over the distribution, use and enjoyment of music or laws that prohibit circumvention of such technological measures. Consumers should be able to transfer the music they buy to other formats under a right of fair use, without having to pay twice.
Cultural Policy Should Support Actual Canadian Artists
The vast majority of new Canadian music is not promoted by major labels, which focus mostly on foreign artists. The government should use other policy tools to support actual Canadian artists and a thriving musical and cultural scene.
LATER: Meanwhile in France, a proposal to balance the legal protection of anti-user technology with the public interest has been hijacked by entertainment companies and now promises to be one of the worst DRM laws in the world.
