Michael Geist sez, “Yesterday there was a firestorm of discussion over Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore’s speech (which was promoted by his department in advance) in which he labeled critics of Bill C-32 [ed: the Canadian version of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act] ‘radical extremists’ and urged confrontation against those who argue for fair copyright, which he said is really an attempt to mislead and oppose the bill.
Almost lost amidst the considerable outrage from many people over Moore’s comments, was the possibility that there was an attempt to bury the ‘radical extremist’ comment. Moore himself denied making the comment in direct messages with several people on Twitter who expressed concern about it.
“By mid-morning yesterday, attendees were not confirming the comment, Moore was denying it, and the event video did not include it. That might have been the end of the story, but IT World Canada reporter Brian Jackson compiled his own video of the event and posted it online. The Jackson video included the reference and made it clear that Moore was not being forthright in his private claims (the event organizer site later added the same video). The lack of candor is rather rich given that Moore’s comments tried to paint critics of the bill as misleading the public.”
Was There An Attempt to Bury Moore’s “Radical Extremist” Comment?
(Thanks, Michael!)