Re: [d@DCC] Canada to ratify WIPO treaties?

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: General Discussion <discuss (at) digital-copyright.ca>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:32:44 -0400 (EDT)

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003, Philippa Lawson wrote:

> The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage passed a resolution yesterday
> (with one Liberal member dissenting) to send a letter to the ministers of
> Canadian Heritage and Industry requesting that their officials prepare a
> draft bill for WIPO treaty ratification (WCT and WPPT) by February 10, 2004.
> The Ministers would be requested to reply to the letter within two weeks of
> receiving it.

  Given there is about to be a cabinet shuffle because of a change in
Prime Minister, why is this short time-line being given?  What is the 
urgency with ratification of the WIPO treaties?

http://www.annexweb.com/newsdesk/cp/national/030922/n092279A.html
    In fact, her high public profile, combined with lacklustre support 
    among party faithful and continuing aggravation for the Martin
    coronation plans, could make Copps, 50, expendable.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_zolf/20031002.html
    The wolves are circling around Sheila Copps; they're out to rob her of 
    her pride and dignity in their haste to speed up the ascension of Paul
    Martin.  If Sheila quits the race then Martin could be sworn in as
    party leader now and the February promise made to Jean Chrétien would
    be totally null and void. Brian Tobin, Sheila's fellow rat packer, has
    also asked Sheila to quit the race now.


  Sheila Copps' aggressive behavior at the Juno event (which she turned
into a debate rather than a sharing of ideas) will make me welcome a
change at Heritage, but such an expected change doesn't mix well with this
short time-line.  It is not as if the officials of Heritage and Industry 
will be drafting these bills without the influence of the respective 
Ministers.


  Long before any further changes to Canadian copyright should be a huge
education campaign on open collaborative models for the creation of public
goods.  These cmtees, Canadian MP's and other public servants appear
ill-equipped at the moment to make good policy decisions as there is an
almost total lack of knowledge about changes in the knowledge economy
currently under way.  I don't think my frustration with Sheila Copps'
apparent unwillingness to discuss the larger picture issues is unique to
her.

> Time to organize a campaign?

  Do we have a common enough message among a group of people to have a 
campaign at this point?

  Not enacting USA style "Legal protection for TPM" may be a very serious 
issue, but not enacting this is not enough.   There is a need for 
governments to stop only protecting incumbent interests -- the dinosaurs 
should never be left in control of evolution.

> Also, the committee has hearing from numerous organizations over the next
> few weeks - but not from public interest groups (other than libraries and
> educational groups), as far as I can see.  CIPPIC students are attending
> most of the hearings; we'll post a blog on them as soon as we get our site
> up.

  Let us know if you need technical support services.  Looking forward to 
seeing the CIPPIC website.

Curious:  Will the site be developed using open collaborative
methodologies and tools developed under these methodologies (IE: FLOSS
licensed)?

---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
 electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than 
 politicians should be bought.  -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/

--
For (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
links to other related sites please see http://www.digital-copyright.ca