No subject

"Almost alone among developed economies in the OECD, Canada has taken
no steps toward modernizing its copyright law to meet the new global
minimum standards of the WIPO Internet Treaties, which Canada signed a
decade ago. Its enforcement record also falls far short of what should
be expected of our neighbor and largest trading partner. Pirates have
taken advantage of the gaps in Canadian law to make it a leading
exporter, both of camcorded masters that feed audio-visual piracy
worldwide, and of devices =96 illegal in most global markets besides
Canada =96 that are intended to circumvent technological protection
measures used by the publishers of entertainment software. Canada
lacks effective border controls on pirated products, and most of its
other enforcement efforts suffer from insufficient resources and a
lack of deterrent impact. To underscore U.S. insistence that Canada
take action to address the serious piracy problem it has allowed to
develop just across our border, and that it bring its outmoded laws up
to contemporary international standards, IIPA recommends that Canada
be elevated to the Priority Watch List in 2007."


My comment:
Most of that is typical RIAA spin, hype and BS (around export and gaps
in Canadian law) -- nothing of substance. However, there is one
section which does provide legitimate criticism of Canada. Pirates are
proliferating and doing damn good business LOCALLY. This is not a
consequence of weak laws -- this is a consequence of weak law
enforcement.

DMCA-style legislation would tragically take responsibility and power
for law enforcement out of the hands of (accountable) government
agencies and put that into the hands of (unaccountable) corporations.
That would be a tragedy and an abdication of our government's
responsibilities (though, that would fit right into the neo-con's
agenda of destroying government's ability to operate). Canada needs
better law enforcement, not more laws. Plus, most of their criticisms
can be ignored.

Eric.