Sowrey, fellow Tweeterer and friend of the blog, posted a very good letter today conveying mild disappointment with some Conservative copyright legislation.

Dear “Honourable” Jim Prentice,

Allow me to express my sincerest feelings when I say you are responsible for fucking over the Canadian people. This bill you are introducing this morning — likely as I write this very post — is not for the benefit of the Canadian people.

Not one bit.

This is purely to support two things: Archaic business models that have not yet woken up to the new economy, and to the United States government. You are blatantly ignoring the wishes of the informed Canadian public, who (thanks to the grassroots efforts of Michael Geist) have told you that this is a bad idea. You mistakenly believe that it is business that runs this country, and not its citizens.

You claim you wish to find balance between the Canadian people and business. Unless there are 10+ million business involved, Mr. Prentice, I’m rather certain there will be no balance even considered. And when the courts become clogged with incessant and insipid lawsuits rivalling the ridiculousness going on with the RIAA south of the border, we’ll know who to thank.

…You are effectively handcuffing our daily activities for no valid reason. Please explain to me why I am not allowed to put music I have purchased on my iPod? Or watch television shows when I actually have the time to watch them? You can’t.

There is no valid reason … except money of course. I dare not suggest anything further on this matter, since I’m sure it would raise some interesting legal issues. But I truly do wonder what is going through that pin head of yours that thinks this is good for the Canadian people.

Absolutely true.

There are indeed implications for all of us if big business is allowed to effectively modify Canadian social technology and physical technology innovations. As we’ve seen with wireless policy in this country, the consequences can be huge.

There are huge labor policy implications involved in this decision. Canada’s long term global competitiveness could be put at risk.

Now is the time to put up the biggest stink about this.

2 thoughts on “Worth Quoting: An Open Letter to Jim Prentice

  1. Geoff says:

    Holy shneikies! I hadn’t even thought of the labour implications.

    Any initial thoughts what might come of it?

  2. I’m about to write another post on the topic.

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