04-18-2002, 09:13 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Canadians, wake up and start emailing
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/xta-asp/storyview.asp?viewtype=browse&tpl=browse_frame&vpath=/2002/04/15/column/45225.html
By the prickling of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes! If you're reading this, and you live in Canada, this will put you in a bad mood. In a nutshell, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) has decided that Canadians are bad people doing illegal things with their music. Thus, they've taken it upon themselves to "save" the poor music studios whom we're so obviously forcing out of business. Right. They want us to pay 100% tax on CD's - 59 cents per CD! Also on their hit list are DVD-R discs, CompactFlash cards, SD cards, Minidiscs, and even the iPod is getting nailed for $21 in taxes PER GIGABYTE. This is insane! Canadians are already among the most taxed people in the world, and now they want us to pay even more! Here's some text from the article - I'd encourage you to go read it.
"CPCC spokesperson David Basskin insists it�s a matter of practicality. �If people would allow our inspectors into their homes to monitor how they use each and every CD-R, I�d be perfectly happy to take nothing on a CD-R not used for music and a full rate on one that is used for music,� he says. �How are we to determine?� Instead, the CPCC makes adjustments based on the medium. MiniDiscs, which have no real use other than copying music, get nailed with a 77� markup. The levy is smaller on blank CDs, says Basskin, since �not all CD-Rs are used to copy music.�
"Actually, relatively few of them are. When the CPCC last went before the Canadian Copyright Board in 1999, it argued that roughly half of CD-Rs were used for music. The Board estimated that half of those were for private copying. Today, with CD burners standard in virtually every PC sold, consumers have all kinds of uses for their CD-Rs. So with private copying likely counting for less and less of CD-R use, you might assume the CPCC would be seeking lower tariffs, right? �That�s a good one,� says Majeau, with a chuckle. In fact, the CPCC says it now wants even more for CD-Rs: 59� per unit, nearly triple the current levy. �That works out to more than 100% tax,� says David Paterson, executive director of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), whose members include organizations ranging from universities to industrial manufacturers, many of whom buy truckloads of CD-Rs for matters unrelated to copying music. The proposed increase will cost them millions."
Those of you who wish to share your thoughts with the CPCC can do so by emailing David Basskin. Perhaps you have a suggestion on what he can with some spare blank media? I'd also encourage you to contact your Member of Parliament, your local MLA, and the media in your area.
To all my readers outside Canada, I apologize for the interruption - we now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast...thanks to Karen Lopez from CIPS for bringing this to my attention.
UPDATE: I received a response from one of the offices of a member of parliment, and this is what he had to say: "The bureaucrat in charge of this Tax grab is Claude Majeau, of the Canadian Copyright Board. They are taking submissions and you and everyone you know should e-mail Claude Majeau to complain about this misguided and unwattanted tax."
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04-18-2002, 09:26 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 12
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No Problem
Jason,
I don't consider your post an inconvenience at all. If you read Jeff Kirvin's articles, you know that the US has had it's leaders come up with some pretty silly things regaarding copyright protection.
I just wish they'd stop the mentality that everyone who has a cd burner or a broadband connection are going to use those mediums for illegal activities. So much for "Innocent until proven guilty", huh?
~Jason Stare
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04-18-2002, 09:28 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 185
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Jason, I'm totaly with you, but if I'm correct there is already a 20 or 21 cents tax on every CD we buy.
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04-18-2002, 09:31 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by butch
Jason, I'm totaly with you, but if I'm correct there is already a 20 or 21 cents tax on every CD we buy.
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Yes, and that's bad enough - but they're talking about nearly TRIPLING that to 59 cents! And then there's the memory cards, the iPOD, etc. They're going too far - we're not criminals!
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04-18-2002, 09:55 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 185
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We're not criminal, but I think it give us the right to use those medias for anything we want, we paid for it.
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04-18-2002, 10:03 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 12
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No wonder I moved out of there 8O, it's a nice country but I work too hard to give all my money to the goverment. Aren't you guys still paying for the olympic stadium :wink:.
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04-18-2002, 10:06 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 718
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Good to hear this about Canada. I was afraid that only the US has moronic, hypocritical, self righteous, business first-screw the little people leadership. But apparently, idiot leaders are an international problem 
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04-18-2002, 10:16 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 100
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by DaleReeck
Good to hear this about Canada. I was afraid that only the US has moronic, hypocritical, self righteous, business first-screw the little people leadership. But apparently, idiot leaders are an international problem |
While that may be true (ghod knows, there's enough stupidity to go around!), in this particular case, it's the Recording industry (the Canadian version of the RIAA) that's pushing this particular tax through on the grounds that 50% of recordable media usage is illegal.
Since the bill also includes portable harddrives (like ones in the IPod and Archaeos type jukebox mp3 players), I think it's a small stretch for them to start coming after laptop hardrives in the near future.
In fact, any media is at risk in this "war". Once this bill passes, it's just a matter of time until ALL media is levied (it's happening already, due to the original bill being passed).
Aceze
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04-18-2002, 10:23 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 384
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Poor silly stupid record executives ...
They foolishly assume that the only use for recording material is to copy THEIR interests.
Little do they know that every insult visited upon their customers will ad impetus to the liberation of artists from their monopoly on music distribution.
The only true way to defeat piracy is to make legitamite commerce easy and more affordable. The recording industry is doing the OPPOSITE. They are throwing water on a grease fire.
I have personally avowed to stop buying music from studios altogether. $15 for that silly little disc is WAAAAYYY too much to ask. I suggest everyone else do the same as well. When artists offer their material direct to consumers over the web, thats when I'll buy music again.
I believe in art, not the exploitation of art.
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04-18-2002, 10:28 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 384
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BTW
I don't think that these taxes can stand under the weight of a real legal challenge. The recordable media had no real interest in fighting a tax as it doesn't cut into their revenue's.
However, I see merits in a massive class action lawsuit against these taxes. The primary plantiffs are folks who use CD-Rs and MiniDiscs to perform personal backups AND record their OWN personal works of music and art.
This taxation is a presumtion of theft. I personally resent that. Especially considering fair use and archival data statutes that are well established in law. If I bought it, I have a right to back it up ... OR to convert it into a portable format for personal use.
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