Friday, June 13, 2008

Jim Prentice - Dumbass of the Year

The "Honourable" Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, has certainly stirred up a firestorm with the tabling of the proposed new Copyright Bill in Parliament yesterday. In checking out the CBC storyCopyright law could result in police state: Critics I found that if this bill passes I'm likely on my way to being on the RCMP's Most Wanted list. From what I can see with these aged eyes, little Jimmy Prentice now ranks right up there with his boss, Stevie (Shrub) Harper. Dumbasses both. (P.S. a Shrub is a little Bush.) I'd better be careful here; maybe That 70's Show has a copyright on the term dumbass.

From what I can see, the Conservatives propose to make me a criminal because I like to record certain TV shows (including full seasons) from my satellite service and save them to a DVD for later viewing. And I'll also be a criminal because I sometimes watch a DVD (which I've purchased) on my Linux-based computer using libdvdcss to bypass the encryption. And if I rip a digitally protected CD to make a copy to listen to in my car or create a compilation CD of favourite recordings, I'll now be a criminal. And what about ripping a digitally protected CD or DVD to my Mythbuntu system and making it available to any computer in the house. And am I to be criminalized for using the DownloadHelper Addon for Firefox to grab interesting video clips off Youtube? And God forbid, what if I create a clip, attach some music and upload to Youtube?

Hey people, we're on a slippery slope here. If we let dumbass and crew get away with this then we've only got ourselves and some lame politicians to blame. It's time the people took the country back from the American lobbyists and the political hacks in the Conservative party. As far as I'm concerned, when I buy a DVD or CD or pay to download some media from the internet, it's mine to listen to wherever, whenever and on whatever I want.

Anyway, that's the view between keyboard and chair.

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