[kwlug-disc] Your country needs you (or "Our MP is on the C-32 committee")

[unsolicited]

Excellent thought.

Perhaps at a LUG meeting, although I expect many of us would attend an 
evening event, wherever, and whenever. Date likely dictated by when 
he's in the area, and the time of the next vote - sorry, that's wrong, 
the time by which his committee must send their report to parliament 
for the next vote.

I'd think you'd get much more than 50 though - we'd need a UofW 
lecture hall or something, capacity wise. [Where did we get together 
for Marcel's new book meeting night?]

There is some likely crossover here, with UofW, Communitech(? Where 
the android/iphone/symbian? night happened, just off University), 
perhaps others.

If a non-University venue is needed, I could probably arrange the 
First United gym - podium, sound, screens, projector, although we'd 
probably run out of chairs around the 150 mark. Other chairs could 
probably be arranged. Wouldn't look 'businesslike', but would look 
'grass roots' or 'town hall', which may be appropriate.

If someone else wants to run with this, I can corral the facilities 
and manpower to set it up. If you remember, First is right next to 
Waterloo Square, so parking wouldn't likely be an issue.

	I would need dates sooner rather than later to check for availability 
- it is usually pretty solidly booked. (No, I can't easily do the 
reverse, tell you what dates are available.)

- I'd post pictures, but zooomr appears down at the moment.

A lecture hall or auditorium with seats would be less work though. 
Will someone at UofW run with that?


Chris Bruner wrote, On 11/20/2010 5:24 PM:
> I wonder if it would be possible to have a chat at a lug meeting, 
> letting him know that open source and free software advocates are very 
> concerned about this matter. If it's just 1 or 2 people calling and 
> chatting it may not have much of an impact, however with a lug meeting 
> of 50 or so members ....
> 
> 
> On 11/20/2010 10:16 AM, Denver Gingerich wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Apparently (and quite surprisingly to me) Peter Braid is one of the 12
>> people on the committee that will be revising Bill C-32:
>>
>> http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/5249
>> http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4774129&Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3 
>>
>>
>> For those who are in Waterloo, this is an excellent opportunity to get
>> your voice heard.  The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to
>> arrange an in-person meeting with him by calling his office at (519)
>> 746-1573 and saying you're a constituent that would like to chat with
>> him.  Call as many times as needed until you get a firm date; I've
>> found that MPs' offices often say "we'll schedule it and call you
>> back" but it could be a week or two before they get back to you.  The
>> squeaky wheel gets the grease (the persistent constituent gets the
>> firm meeting date).  Oh yeah, and the sooner the better because I've
>> heard that the government wants Bill C-32 passed before the end of the
>> year!
>>
>> I think the most important thing to point out is that the WIPO
>> Internet Treaties (WCT and WPPT), which the Conservatives want to
>> ratify, do not require the prohibition of "anti-circumvention"
>> (restriction removal) tools like doubleTwist and libdvdcss, which Bill
>> C-32 prohibits in its current form.  Geist makes this very clear in
>> his article, "The Case for Flexibility in Implementing the WIPO
>> Internet Treaties: An Examination of the Anti-Circumvention
>> Requirements" (don't worry, the "EULA" is just BY-NC-ND):
>>
>> http://www.irwinlaw.com/pages/content-commons/the-case-for-flexibility-in-implementing-the-wipo-internet-treaties--an-examination-of-the-anti-circumvention-requirements---michael-geist 
>>
>>
>> To demonstrate how often TPMs (use "TPMs" instead of "DRM" with MPs as
>> it more accurately maps onto the Bill C-32 terminology) are used and
>> whether C-32 restricts their removal, check out these posts of mine:
>>
>> http://ossguy.com/?p=612 - "DVDs and TPMs: how often is CSS used?": a
>> list of DVDs and whether they use CSS; conclusion is that about 98% of
>> DVDs use CSS (useful in demonstrating that TPMs are extremely
>> prevalent so one should not take the question of how to regulate them
>> lightly)
>> http://ossguy.com/?p=662 - "What C-32 means for DVDs": confirmation
>> that CSS is a TPM (sort of)
>> http://ossguy.com/?p=696 - "What C-32 means for jailbreaking":
>> confirmation that jailbreaking is prohibited by C-32 (also sort of)
>> http://ossguy.com/?p=717 - "Will exemption rulemaking work for C-32?":
>> analysis of how the US' exemption process works (it's not really
>> useful, so we shouldn't depend on it); related to "What C-32 means for
>> jailbreaking"
>>
>> Along with pointing out that the WIPO Internet Treaties don't require
>> prohibition of anti-circumvention tools, it's important to note that
>> prohibiting them is in fact a very bad idea, as hopefully the above
>> articles will help to show.  It's likely best to approach this from
>> the competition point of view, ie. if I buy a movie on iTunes, it's
>> anti-competitive for Apple to restrict that movie to be played only on
>> Apple devices and as a result, it is necessary to have circumvention
>> tools to bypass anti-competitive restrictions (so I can play it on the
>> device of my choice instead of the device of Apple's choice).
>>
>> I hope this is helpful.  If you're planning to visit Braid and want
>> some tips, let the list know (or me directly) and we'll help you out.
>>
>> Denver
>> http://ossguy.com/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kwlug-disc_kwlug.org mailing list
>> kwlug-disc_kwlug.org at kwlug.org
>> http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> kwlug-disc_kwlug.org mailing list
> kwlug-disc_kwlug.org at kwlug.org
> http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>