The following is my submission to the ongoing consultation by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, on the so-called Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

Available in HTML, OpenDocument and PDF formats

ACTA represents an attempt by a few businesses using outdated business methods to try to find a way around Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma. They are doing this by lobbying for rules which will protect their existing business methods against emerging businesses which might transform the economy and replace the old ways of doing things. In their lobbying they are manipulating language to suggest what they are asking for is very different than what they are actually asking for, and they are trying to suggest that activities are devastating and must be stopped if someone else does something which the companies the lobbiests represent commonly do themselves.

>> Read full article on IT World Canada's blog.

Petitions

We have a number of petitions we are sending to the Canadian parliament. Please print and sign all of them. They are on paper rather than electronic so that they can be tabled in Parliament. It is best if you try to get the signed petitions to us so we can coordinate getting them to members of parliament, as signatures have been lost by members of parliament.

These petitions are generic in their wording, and not specific to any bill being tabled. They were as relevant to the historical Bill C-60 and Bill C-61 as they are for the bill expected to be tabled early in 2010.