Bill C61 - call to arms!

[SteveB]

We need links to more information, and a place so people could contact their MP online. Most people these days are too lazy to pick up a pen and paper, and we can't let the Bill C61 pass by.

Here's the bill itself:

Bill C-61

Some other useful links:

Fair Copyright For Canada (main protest group - they have a Facebook group also).

Look up your local MP's addresses here:

MP Finder

Ministers:

Industry Minister Jim Prentice - Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca, Minister.Industry@ic.gc.ca

Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner - Verner.J@parl.gc.ca

You can find some boilerplate complaints around various sites, but it's really better if the letters aren't all the same text. Just write and say directly that you don't like it and want it voted down, and why. Paper copies get taken much more seriously than email and (in case you didn't know) you can write to any MP for free, no postage required. Write "OHMS" in the corner where you would put a stamp, if you want to do it right.

For me, the anti-circumvention clause is the big thing wrong with this bill. I suspect I wouldn't care much about the rest if it were removed, although I might change my mind after I give it a thorough reading. So when I write I'm going to say why I dislike it, with a couple short examples and make sure they know my background (ie that I have a fledgling media company and would in theory be one of the people benefitting from this bill, yet am still against it and the groups for it sure as hell are not speaking for me).

[SteveB]

P.S. Here's an address for automated e-mail complaints:

Easy gripe form

And here's the email I just fired off this morning:

Subject: Bill C-61 must not pass as it stands

Dear Sir,

I have been following with alarm the recent introduction of bill C-61. The government has ignored the protests of a very great number of Canadians to produce in near-secrecy a bill and an upcoming trade act which will serve to criminalize people for ordinary behaviour, and give a few private agencies a hunting license to victimize ordinary people.

This must not pass. In addition to the way its introduction has been handled, the anti-circumvention provisions of the bill are also particularly offensive. If bill C-61 cannot be amended to remove this clause and similar obnoxious provisions, please vote it down. If it becomes a confidence motion, please vote against it anyway, even if it means bringing down the government. The principle of this is bigger than the immediate issue. I consider the current form of this bill to be a sell-out to a few narrow interest groups, and a party which would treat Canadians this way does not belong in power.

Some loud voices will attempt to drown out the many thousands of us protesting this, perhaps dismissing us as pirates. Against that, let me offer here a bit of my own background: I am a professional software developer. Not only do I not make illegal copies of anything, but I am also the owner of a fledgling media business myself (an online game). That puts me in the category of people who should in theory be most at risk from piracy, yet I still strongly oppose this bill. The Entertainment Software Association does NOT speak for me. If anything, this bill would hurt my business rather than help.

Other countries have managed to pass more balanced copyright laws which respect our treaty obligations without conceding too much to lobbyists. We can do the same. Please remedy this.

I will follow up this email in writing.