Canadian Minister of Industry Jim Prentice refuses to be interviewed about the forthcoming Canadian DMCA that his Ministry will be bringing down. Last week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio show Search Engine solicited public suggestions for questions to put to the Minister about his copyright bill, but the show has been informed by the Minister's office the he will not schedule an interview with the show to defend the proposal.
The Canadian DMCA follows the USA off the copyright cliff, instituting even more draconian provisions than were present in the USA's 1998 law. Since then, the US has seen the bankrupting-by-lawsuit of technology companies, lawsuits against tens of thousands of fans, a general trammeling of fair use and consumer rights (pity the poor schmucks who bought Microsoft "PlaysForSure" devices!) and for all that, no reduction in Internet copying and not one penny put in a musician's pocket.
I believe the Minister is running scared because he knows that the last two Ministers who tried to bring down a Canadian DMCA lost their jobs.
Industry Canada has notified Search Engine that despite the overwhelming amount of concern expressed on this site by the Canadian public (see below), Minister Jim Prentice will not come on to our program to answer the people’s questions before his new copyright bill is introduced. His office has told us to expect a statement explaining why, which we’ll post here once we get it.
See also:
HOWTO Fight Canada's coming DMCA copyright law
Canada's coming DMCA will be the worst copyright yet
Canadian DMCA: how it might have happened
CBC radio show needs your input for question with Minister responsible for Canadian DMCA
