Liberals Respond To iPod Tax / Bill C-32
It appears that the Liberal Party do not support the so called iPod Tax after all, according to a press release found on their web site.
Like the conservatives they do not see any future for such levies. The Liberals would rather “introduce a new Private Copying Compensation Payment of $35 million to be transferred to Canadian artists each year, through the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC)” according to the press release.
The funds for this compensation, for “uncompensated downloads”, would not come from ISPs or from a levy, the party having recognized that the consumer wants neither.
They also recognized the bill’s digital locks provision restricted the consumer’s ability to make personal copies of material they’ve purchased and would alter this provision to allow copies for personal use.
The other general alterations they propose are the clarification of the definitions of “fair use”, specifically the education use and “mash-up” provisions. They want educational institutions to qualify for the exemption.
Bill C-32 has been referred to a Legislative Committee headed by Gordon Brown, MP for Leeds—Grenville (Ontario).
Please contact your local Member Of Parliament to voice your comments and concerns in regards to the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act.
Thank you.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday in Canada ?
Several Canadian online stores have decided to have Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday sales.
Like their American counterpart Amazon.ca
Computer and electronics retailer Tigerdirect has also decided to follow their American site’s lead and have Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales of their own. And I’m assuming Best Buy’s Canadian operations will offer their version as well shortly.
I guess I’ll be busy looking at sales this weekend. 🙂
Update: Sears Canada has also decided to have a Black Friday Sale: Electronics Extravaganza!. I’m browsing the site as I’m posting this message. And no, their specials are not limited to electronics.
Cineplex Now Offering Online Movie Rentals
Film rentals and purchases are now available to Canadians via the Cineplex store site, some of them discounted, or even free, with Scene point redemption.
But to view this content you will need to install the Cineplex Media Manager, which is not available yet for Mac and Linux machines, and have Windows Media Player 11 installed.
The content downloaded from this web site is therefore limited to Windows machines (Windows XP SP2/newer, Vista or 7), Plays for Sure devices that can sync a 1500K video and the Xbox 360.
The site states they will be expanding their compatibility shortly.
Blockbuster Canada Unaffected
Blockbuster Canada has published a press release re-assuring their customers that the Canadian operations are unaffected by the Chapter 11 Process in the United States.
Apparently the Canadian subsidiary is still profitable, at 440 stores through-out Canada.
Netflix Now In Canada
Netflix is now online in Canada and offering unlimited film and television downloads at $7.99 per month.
Unlike their American counterpart, they are not currently offering rentals by mail. But Canadians can now stream videos to their desktop and laptop computers, Wii, PS3 and mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone.
The company promises to add the XBox 360 and internet compatible Blu-ray players and televisions shortly to their service. And the service will be available on the Apple TV device soon as well in Canada.
BTW, those wishing to try the service can do so for one month, for free. Details can be found on the Canadian Netflix site.
“DVDs are wasteful” says James Cameron
According to an article published by D.I.S.H Information, James Cameron believes DVDs will eventually fade as a consumer product and will be replaced by downloads.
This may be true in the United States, causing Blockbuster to consider bankruptcy in that country. But we’re unfortunately still tied to the medium here in Canada because of the lack of affordable, unlimited internet.
Blaming piracy many of this country’s major internet providers have capped the file transfers their customers can make, even at times reducing these caps without the customer’s knowledge. And this is delaying the implementation and use of legal movie downloads in Canada.
Canadians face the possibility of additional fees when their transfer limits are surpassed, in some cases up to $2 per additional gig. But some of these internet providers apparently think their customers are stupid enough to believe they should pay more for less, when more legal material is being made available to them online.
Even now my internet provider is attempting to have me sign onto their new “deals” which will reduce my transfer limit from 60 to 25 gigs, using the premise that I would have faster downloads and possibly access to IPTV in the future. And of course these are promotional rates, which means I would be subjected to a significantly higher regular rate in a year, if not six months.
No thanks ! I’m going to stick to my DVD rentals.