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Feds Place Canada on Piracy Watch List Alongside China, Russia
by Kris Graft [PC, Console/PC]
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April 30, 2009
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The U.S. Trade Representative said today that it has elevated Canada to its copyright protection-focused Priority Watch List for the first time, saying the country urgently needs to reform its copyright laws.
Canada joins notorious piracy hubs such as China, Russia, India, Thailand and Venezuela. There are 12 countries on the Priority Watch List.
Industry trade group the Entertainment Software Association promptly issued a statement applauding the decision made by President Barack Obama's administration. "Canada’s weak laws and enforcement practices foster game piracy in the Canadian market and pave the way for unlawful imports into the U.S.," said ESA CEO Michael Gallagher.
The move by the U.S. Trade Representative comes as part of its annual Special 301 Report (pdf), which reviews the "adequacy and effectiveness" of intellectual property protection by U.S. trading partners.
The Special 301 report said there is a "high level of cooperation" between the U.S. and Canadian governments, and Canada has promised to reform its copyright protection laws. But despite the apparently good intentions on the part of Canadian officials, "...The Government of Canada has not delivered on these commitments by promptly and effectively implementing key copyright reforms," the report read.
The ESA said that the games industry has "repeatedly" asked Canada to reform its policies and practices regarding copyright circumvention devices such as mod chips, online piracy, improved border measures and general anti-piracy enforcement efforts.
Canada is home to many high-profile game studios, a fact that Gallagher said should motivate the country to get its piracy laws up to speed.
The U.S. Trade Representative hopes Canada will implement appropriate legislative changes "without the need for a court order."
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http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3835/125/
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3912/125/
Your a little off topic, I think the point of most of this is that the U.S. is trying to blame and shame other countries when in fact it's Anti-Piracy law is weaker than many of those that it's criticising. Sure to say there's no piracy in Canada is unrealistic, but to say that they have a bigger piracy problem than you do simply because they refuse to institute your laws is foolish and wrong.
As for the affect of Piracy on the dissolution of various companies, I think you're being a little melodramatic. World of Goo for instance, the Piracy rate was exceptionally high, but 2D Boy isn't in any fiscal trouble and sales are steadily rising, and they still speak out against DRM despite the high piracy rate. While not truly defending piracy, it's more that game companies need to wake up and realise that the problem is there and it's not going away, blaming piracy for poor sales is a cop out. The more draconian you get the more you piss off regular users, games like Demigod and World of Goo, while perhaps hurt by piracy, both prove that you can survive it easily enough, by placing an emphasis on pleasing your customers rather than frustrating pirates.
The US can stay out of our policy making, thanks. This whole thing is absurd, it's shameful. I thought the US was going be taking a step back from commercial imperielism? Instead they're putting their ally and neighbor on a 'piracy watch list?'
Please. I am insulted, and Canadians everywhere should be. Whatever your stance on piracy, this is absolutely no way to act toward an ally and neighbor.
The good news is that many Canadians have caught on to the debate and are voicing their concerns over the public and consumer impact of a large section of the bill's contents. Indeed, these voices are being heard and the debate continues to stall at the level of fairly fundamental concerns.
The bad news is that Canada, very much like the USA is not only prone to the influence of Corporate and Political lobbying (though I've spoken to a lot of fellow Canadians who don't believe this to be the case - at least not to the same extent) but also that very little is being done (or will be done in the near future) to curtail the continous prodding of fingers from across the border.
Tim Carter: Yes, You are 100% correct Geist has an agenda. But what you don't seem to appreciate is that given a voice that agenda will do more to serve not only the growing pool of small to medium size businesses , but also put educational and academic interests ahead of those of Corporate rights.
To anyone following the dbate so far, it's fairly obvious that the voice of the academic community along with that of the growing community of small businesses predominantly and overwhelmingly support Geist's initiatives.
I wonder why.
Maybe they've just given over to the Socialist propaganda eh?
You can't have your cake and eat it. By all means charge people for an activity they may have no intention of partaking in, but don't complain when they feel that gives them the right to partake in said activity.
It can hardly be denied that the current US approach is deeply flawed, in that it a) tramples the legitimate rights of consumers; b) opens the door to all sorts of abuses by IP owners; and c) is entirely ineffective at its stated goal of increasing content protection. Like many other countries, Canada has so far rejected total acquiescence to the US IP industry agenda. This is not a mistake, nor an offense, but only minimal good sense. Canadian copyright laws are actually quite strong, and in many ways far more rational than the US' idiotic DMCA. (On the other hand, Geist has frequently pointed out that Canada's laws are in some ways more draconian than those in the US; for example, the principle of 'fair use' is lacking.)
It's also important to note that the USTR "watch lists" at any given time include a large proportion of the countries on Earth - even while piracy rates are known to be just as high or higher within the US itself. Protection of IP is a serious issue, but this is clearly not helping in any way.