Monday, March 07, 2011

McTeague: the sword of copyright protection is great for cut-and-pasting

Dan Teague, Canadian MP, is a desperate believer that more needs to be done to protect Canadian copyright holders. He says so in Parliament; he says so online:

I make no apologies for standing with Canada’s creators and creative industries when it comes to websites whose business model is built on “massive” infringement of the works that form their livelihood. And contrary to Mr. Geist’s derogatory characterization – that’s pro-consumer too!.

Only by building a legitimate digital marketplace with clear and balanced rules can Canadians have the sorts of consumer choices that have long been available to residents of countries that have modernized their copyright laws and clearly declared the pirate services illegal.
Brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it?

Perhaps McTeague might like to bring the man caught by Michael Geist lifting entire articles from newspaper websites:
Since the introduction of Bill C-32, [he] has posted dozens of full-text articles from mainstream media organizations on his website, at times without attribution. In addition to the articles, [he] has also reposted many photographs associated with the articles. While it is possible that [he] has fully licensed the reproduction and posting of each article and photograph, this seems unlikely since the licences offered by many organizations do not even permit this form of reproduction.
The man who is building his website on infringement of journalists and media organisations' intellectual property?

Of course: Dan McTeague.

[via @doctorow]


1 comment:

James said...

"I make no apologies for standing with Canada’s creators and creative industries"

Why is it that people only ever say "I make no apologies" as a precursor to something that nobody would ever apologise for anyway? It's always "I make no apologies for believing we should all give money to charity", or "I make no apologies for my staunch anti-kitten-strangling views". And it's only ever used as 'I'm not racist but'-style stake-inoculation too, softening the audience up by suggesting that the subsequent sub-Littlejohn drivel comes from a perfectly reasonable mind.

Just once, I'd like someone to use it in its proper sense. You know, "I make no apologies for shitting in your toaster" or something.

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