[sdiy] *DMCA* The R in RSA on the SSSCA aka CBDTPA (fwd)

[Peter Snow]

Hi all,

<rant mode on>
We have a similar nonsense going on in Canada right now but more to do with blank recording media.
Some organisation called the Canadian Private Copying Collective (no doubt affiliated with the music
industry) backed by the Copyright Board (Fed. Govt.) is trying to bring in legislation to tax not
only blank CD's, cassette tapes & DAT's, which all currently have a levy imposed on them, but also
raw memory (RAM, memory sticks etc), blank DVDs, MP3 and other music players and, get this, $20 per
Gigabyte levy on hard disk space - that's $1,200 tax on a 60gig hard drive! Outrageous!! Not clear
if this applies to computers or just music devices.  

The "fines" would go to Canadian artistes who are "...ostensibly harmed by piracy and who hold
copyrights on music in Canada...",  Yea, like the Tragically Hip, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Alanis
Morisette, Bare Naked Ladies, etc, all need more money!

And all because we are assumed to be criminals because we have purchased one of these items.
Last time I looked, we are all assumed to be innocent until proven guilty - this kinda nonsense has
to stop!
<rant mode off>

Regards,

Peter  

KA4HJH wrote:
> 
> >Maybe its time for the industry to price products more in line with what
> >their costs are...  Most people will PAY for a legitimate copy if the price
> >is not VIOLENT RAPE...
> 
> In case any of you weren't aware last year was the worst year the music
> industry has had in a decade, profit-wise. What was the excuse last time
> this happened? Was it "home taping?" or something like "disco sucks?"
> Whatever the case the difference this time around is that they actually
> have something to blame besides fickle audiences and their own stupidity.
> Want to curb piracy? Drop the retail prices--drastically. Get the price of
> Twitch & The Widgets down to $9.99--or less.
> 
> How many industries can you think of that derive their income from the sale
> of a product whose price is not tied to the value of some raw material in
> limited supply (like gold, tantalum or cocaine) and who RAISE retail prices
> when they have a bad year? I can't except for one, and that's exactly what
> the music industry has done! Common wisdom in retail is that when sales are
> bad you have a SALE. In the music industry "sale" is a four letter word so
> they've done exactly the opposite! The only time the price of a CD ever
> drops is when it gets moved to the "golden oldies" list.
> 
> Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see is how they're going to break the $20 price
> barrier for a CD in the US. DVD's of much-more-expensive-to-produce films
> are going for $25-30 with the retail price of most new CD's now up to
> $19.99. Jack Valenti is happy to report (after repeatedly complaining about
> the specter of film piracy) that the film industry had a blockbuster take
> last year--is that why DVD's are so cheap compared to audio CD's and vice
> versa??
> 
> Remember a few years back when they discovered that there was a thriving
> market for used CD's and someone seriously suggested that we should all
> have to pay royalties on USED CD'S?? At least that idea didn't get
> anywhere...
> 
> >The big record companies are going broke because they can no longer tell
> >everyone what they WANT to hear...
> 
> It's almost as if there are some stone tablets somewhere written in the
> hand of the Almighty Himself that say "thou shalt realize a profit of at
> least <X> billion dollars a year in music sales or Congress must act", and
> they're keeping the faith most religiously. That and the fact that they're
> clinging to the long-dead "sell them expensive albums" marketing strategy
> when what most people really want is the hit single without all the filler.
> 
> >(I'm getting the best stuff from listmembers anyway... )
> 
> I'm sure nobody here is putting out hit singles padded with filler...
> 
> ---
> 
> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
> "The Mac Doctor"
> 
> "You'd PAY to know what you REALLY think"--Dobbs