Re: [Cdn-DMCA] Comments - Government of Canada Copyright Reform

From: mskala _-at-_ ansuz.sooke.bc.ca
To: No DMCA in Canada <canada-dmca-opponents (at) flora.org>
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 16:17:35 -0700 (PDT)

On Sun, 5 Aug 2001, Stan J Klimas wrote:
> There is no god-given "intellectual property". As a matter of fact, if
> something is intellectual, it is not a property: "if you think of something,

> Unlike material goods, intellectual goods can multiply freely" "I can have it,
> you can have it too". Hence a strong argument can be made against intellectual

People who want to make points like those above might enjoy reading the
letter at
   http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12.html

Written in 1813 by Thomas Jefferson, it makes the point with an eloquence
I think few of us today can match.

> The new law introduces items (e.g., "circumvention protection") that will force

> The new law conflicts with the freedom of speech. Please, have a close look at

> The new law may make it even possible for "copyright holders" to never release

> I fail to see a single benefit of the new law. It may make some corporations

Please be careful with statements like these.  *What* "new law"?  There is
no "new law" - only the discussion papers.  You probably imagine that
there is a proposal to adopt the U.S. DMCA in Canada, "as is", without any
changes except translating it into both English and French, and that's
what you mean when you say "the new law".  But we're not at that stage
yet.  When you start talking about a "new law" that doesn't exist and
that you don't define, you don't sound like you know what you're talking 
about.  No offense to the poster is intended (after all, I *agree* with
his position!), but please people, *read* the discussion papers before
sending in your comments.

Also: I notice that the message I'm replying to was sent to
copyrightdroitdauteur@ic.gc.ca .  That address is wrong.  The correct
address is copyright-droitdauteur@ic.gc.ca , with a hyphen in it.  I'm in
receipt of email from Albert Cloutier at the IPPD confirming this: there
is an error in their Web site.  The address given in the text is correct,
but it's a hyperlink to the wrong address.  So just clicking on the link
won't work.

Matthew Skala                      Don't practise a license without law.
mskala@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca
http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/ <-- NEW URL!


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