Category: Corporate dumbassedness

DRM letter to Mr. Prentice

Dear Sir:

I am not in favour of the Canadian government legislating what it cannot adequately and clearly explain, in the light of the powerful interests pushing for the DRM legislation.  I am not in favour of how fast, given the other important matters facing Canadian legislators, the bill is going through.

I am a content producer.  I hope to some day make my living using the internet as a songwriter and op-ed writer. I have a burning interest in copyright law and I’d be leery of supporting the incoming legislation without more explanation.

I have uploaded a song, currently on Youtube, which is protected under a creative commons licence.  BUT what will happen under this new law if I make a video and this video is uploaded to a server that uses drm software? Can I remove that protection from my own video? As I understand the legislation, I can not modify or kludge any DRM that any legal entity attaches to my work even though I control the copyright.  As the person who made the content in the first place, this is a real kick in the head, and not exactly a spur to my creativity, unless it’s to put more rants about DRM legislation on my site.

If I understand the legislation correctly I won’t be able to adopt new technologies for old content.  Let me tell you something.  I work with geeks and they are NOT sending you emails or begging you to reconsider the legislation.  They will merely, because it’s what geeks DO,(small edit here) subvert and end-run EVERYTHING your government tries to enact with respect to this legislation, and they will laugh at your discomfiture and ignorance (and mine, frankly) while they are doing it.  I have absolutely NO ability to circumvent DRM.  But some of my friends, who are REFUSING TO COMPLAIN about this legislation because they don’t want to be singled out for special treatment later, sure as heck do.

Did you ever consider that the technology to support this DRM was made by human beings who may just have built a ‘back door’ into it which will make the legislation the laughing stock of the free world?

My rights as a content creator are going to be messed over by this legislation, from everything I see, and my friends and colleagues will work tirelessly to pull the teeth of the legislation as fast as you can enact amendments to it! Seems like a waste of time, and an attempt to wring the last little bit of lobbying money from buggy whip media industries.

Don’t do it Mr. Prentice.  The flood of emails and letters you are getting is now the same weight as a tombstone for your political career; please let me know that you’re smarter than the rest of your government, and more far-sighted than the frightened media moguls who are trying to buy a few more years of profits on the back of your career.

Allegra Sloman

I am indebted to Douglas Green, who posted to a CBC website, for providing me with a template for this letter.  If I had a way to contact him and ask his permission, I would have done it, but somehow I don’t think he’d mind.  The link to his comment of November 29 is here 

Polish taser victim

The more I hear and read about the international incident which ended in the death of a legal immigrant from Poland, the more disgusted and angry I am.  He’s being buried today in Kamloops.
Here’s the email address of the mother’s lawyer. waltk@te-law.com

And check this out the Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP has initiated a complaint against the RCMP, and did so on November 8th.   So the watchdog is digging in as well.
I will be emailing the lawyer to ask if I can crosspost a link regarding where to send money to support her efforts to get redress from the RCMP and those incompetent louts at YVR. Man, would YOU like to not speak English and come through Vancouver Airport now???

RIP Robert Dziekanski.

Events in Bolivia

Sometimes I feel very isolated from world affairs – then they strike at my friends and family. This is verbatim from Leo Makela. I am very grateful for the opportunity to repost.

Hi all,

You may or may not have been aware of the incidents in Bolivia:

Bolivian airline nastiness

We have more personal details.

Last week Kevin flew down to Tarija Bolivia for the International Tae Kwon Do Pan-American tournament. He went with Master Lu and another student from Ottawa and another 3 participants flew from Toronto. The tournament was great (Kevin got Silver in patterns) and he loved Tarija, especially the girls.

However,

On the way back they were waiting in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to board an American Airlines flight to Miami when the dispute between the Airlines and the local airport authorities occurred. American Airlines refused to pay the extra fee that the local authorities were demanding (about $2000). After a couple of hours of stand-off the pilot and aircrew suddenly left the departure lounge, boarded the aircraft and (without permission from the control tower) took off – abandoning about 140 passengers in the departure lounge, including the Canadian, American and Puerto Rico TKD teams.

Then the airport authorities told the passengers to collect their checked luggage and leave the airport. Kevin got his luggage and tried to return to the departure lounge to rejoin the other people on the team. Security guards tried to stop him but he pushed through. Then he and other TKD people faced off against about 1/2 dozen riot police who appeared carrying batons. They refused to leave until people were reunited and some settlement was made. The Canadian consulate, the American consulate and the local senator got involved and finally transportation was arranged to take the Canadians, Americans and Puerto Ricans to the Cortez Hotel.Thank God Taekwon Do people, especially our own master, Master Phap Lu know people “in high places”.

The next day the TKD masters refused an offer by American Airlines to fly them out “sometime during the weekend”. Instead, on a strongly worded recommendation by the Canadian consulate and Foreign Affairs in Canada they paid the local airline about $500 per person to fly them to Miami immediately. Darn good thing too – they left around 11:30 Wed night and on Thursday the army stormed the airport.

From Miami, after considerable argument, they managed to get booked to O’Hare in Chicago and then to Ottawa. Finally, around 6:00 pm on Thursday they arrived at the Ottawa airport. Kevin and the others were thrilled to be home in Canada and of course all of us were relieved to have them back. We along with John and Val all showed up to pick them up.

It remains to be seen whether we will be able to get any compensation from American Airlines. – At least everyone returned safe and sound. This incident may severely restrict future international TKD
competitions in the future.