Yarrr Hargh! We're Number One!

According to a post on SoulShine, an OECD study from 2004 shows that Canadians are, per capita, the world's biggest downloaders of illegal files (here is the study, see p. 75). According to the article, for every one legal download there are 14 illegal ones. This information, naturally, makes the record companies very unhappy. They want to toughen up Canadian copyright law (see my post on Bill C-60, which died on the order paper when the election was called, here) and, in order to see that the law is changed to their liking, they (along with other vested parties, such as videogame manufacturers, book publishers, and film execs) are courting the possible future Minister of Heritage, Liberal MP Sarmite Bulte, by throwing her a $250/plate fundraiser at the Drake, which has been called worrying and inapropriate (and I am inclined to agree). While all sorts of groups throw money at political parties and candidates, Michael Geist makes the very interesting point that, as far as he can see, the Copyright lobby is only supporting this one candidate. As I said before, changes and reforms to Canadian copyright laws do need to be made. However, this doesn't mean that the companies should get all they want and that average Canadians get screwed. Somehow I don't think Canada will follow France's lead to allow free sharing of music and movies on the internet (the French probably will not see the amendment proposing this become law, either, unfortunately, as it can be reintroduced into Parliament and still has to pass through the Senate) but it would be nice to see the interests of the people and not just the executives being served. I have more to say on the issue of copyright - particularly on the levy charged on blank media - and on what some of these statistics about downloading might mean, but that will have to wait for another day as I spent ages figuring out how to PhotoShop my pirate picture...I think the maple leaf is a nice touch and those are some pretty badass headphones, eh?
rgsc