Jim Prentice! Tear down your wall!
Industry Minister Jim Prentice, seemingly an advocate for the rights of consumers following his spectrum auction announcement, has demonstrated a rather sickening disregard for Canadians recently.
CBC’s Search Engine podcast and its viewers, like many Canadians, have been concerned about an impending Canadian-style Digital Millennium Copyright Act — drafted in the coke-dusted, vodka-drenched backrooms of the corporatist pop-culture industry. Minister Prentice has unfortunately refused an opportunity to answer the hundreds of questions that Canadians have submitted about this horrendous piece of corporate garbage-legislation. Minister Prentice seems to have forgotten whom he is a Minister for.
Minister Prentice claims to defend the rights of the consumer but has so perilously mis-stepped on an issue of tremendous importance for Canadians.
Digital rights are being threatened in Canada. And not by pirates, or the Chinese. But by the Canadian government. Glad-handing, toothy smiling, and pathetic acquiescence to the will of the U.S. corporate entertainment industry, bowing to edicts from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce has become the default state of Canada’s New Government.
Thankfully, Michael Geist adds ten more questions into the myriad that have been asked so far through CBC’s Search Engine.
Encouraged by Dr. Geist’s insistence, I look forward to hearing Minister Prentice’s responses to the questions of a very able and valuable critic and citizen. Moreover, I look forward to his responses to the Canadians surprised by this paradoxical and dangerous move.
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