[Flora-help] The calm before the copyright policy storm.

(Please circulate!)

   It may seem that we are waiting for a bill to be tabled, and then we 
all come out of the woodwork to let the government know what we like and 
dislike about the bill.   The problem is, once the bill is tabled, most 
of the negotiations are over.

   This means that we should not be waiting, but spending our energy to 
make sure that our voice is heard now.

   There are many things people can be doing.   We need to make sure 
that the government realizes that we do not want to take Canada down the 
same road that the USA has taken.  There are many reasons for this, 
including harm our cultural industries as well as the massive problems 
that "legal protection for TPMs used by copyright holders" are causing 
to citizens rights and computer security.

   We sample letters which you should send to your MP 
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/letters which mentions the thousands of 
people who have signed the first petition, the Sony Rootkit issue, as 
well as the view of an official of the USA's Department of Homeland 
Security on this issue.  Make sure your MP knows you are concerned about 
this issue!

    If you only have a little bit of time, sending this letter is 
something very quick to do.  The sample letter asks if the MP is willing 
to meet you or members of our community, and we can arrange for other 
people to have that meeting if you didn't have the time.

   The more time you spend, however, the greater the impact will be on 
our attempt to protect our rights!  The more individual the letter, and 
more spontaneous your correspondence appears to be, the greater the impact.

   We have two petitions:

   The Petition for Users rights which discusses a need for balance 
between competing interests in Copyright revision
   http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/

   The Petition to protect Information Technology Property Rights which 
states that that it is the owner of computer hardware that should have 
the legally protected right to choose what software runs on their hardware.
   http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/ict/

   Please sign both, and consider going to all your family, friends, 
neighbors, co-workers or even enemies to get them to sign.  It is 
critically important that it be clear to the government that there is a 
very large number of Canadians who do not like the direction that 
copyright revision has been taking, and the petition is a very simple 
way to do that.

   If you are part of an association, you may want to convince the 
executive to endorse the petitions, which will make it easier to get 
signatures from members of that association!

   Please also see Michael Geist's 30 Days of DRM: 30 Things You Can Do 
at http://www.michaelgeist.ca/daysofdrm for more ideas!

   And for inspiration:

The Parallel Politics of the Environment and Copyright
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1477/159/

Thank you!

-- 
  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
  Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property
  rights as owners of Information Technology. Sign the petition!
  http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/ict/

  "The government, lobbied by legacy copyright holders and hardware
   manufacturers, can pry my camcorder, computer, home theatre, or
   portable media player from my cold dead hands!"
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[Flora-help] The calm before the copyright policy storm.