To quote Wikipedia, ‘Extremism is a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards.[citation needed] In democratic societies, individuals or groups that advocate the replacement of democracy with a authoritarian regime are usually branded extremists, in authoritarian societies the opposite applies.’
The perceived political center of Canadian Society, was determined during the Canadian Copyright Consultation. The consensus was that ‘Digital Locks’ weren’t wanted or needed. This consultation was considered one of the most successful of all time. Curiously certain people didn’t like the results. Barry Sookman, who Michael Geist claims is working for the CRIA (I have asked Barry several times to indicate his allegiance – he has so far refused to do so to me, so I don’t know if Michael is right or not) didn’t like the results. Nor did James Gannon, nor did Richard Owens. Lawyers, and members of the Recording Industry Association of America, members of the Motion Picture Association of America, and a couple of other American industries. Lawyers, and American companies.
So why did James Moore introduce Bill C-32? When I heard that Richard Fadden, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had stated that certain Canadian politicians were under the control of foreign interests, I jumped to the conclusion that he was talking about James Moore… Which proves that my ability to jump to conclusions has reached Olympic levels! But who does benefit? Not the Canadian public. Not the Canadian ‘cultural’ industries.
For that matter the revised report (which replaced the report that had been cribbed from an RIAA document) issued by the Conference Board of Canada was against introducing American styled copyright laws. So what do we get? American styled copyright laws.
Extremists by definition are those who oppose the center of society. James Moore has called those who oppose Bill C-32 extremists. He’s lying.
James Moore is the copyright extremist.
Regards
Wayne Borean
Monday July 12, 2010
Through the Looking Glass 
Here are the references you might like to have to confirm one of Barry Sookman’s clients.
CRIA registered lobbiest from 2009-06-23 to 2010-06-11
CRIA registered lobbiest from 2010-06-11 to present
Mr Sookman is also listed as a lobbiest for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which is one of the reasons why the views from that organisation on Copyright have been so extreme and mirror those of the outgoing recording industry.
Russell,
So Barry is a registered CRIA lobbyist, but when asked directly he will not admit this. Curious, isn’t it?
Wayne
I’ve met Barry in person more than once, and he’s a likeable person if not for some of his political views. He likely feels that his client base isn’t relevant to those views: that he chose his clients because of his views, not that he chose his views because of his clients.
In my case I don’t think it matters which of the chicken or egg came first. I do my own analysis of the music industry based on interviewing many people in that industry. Most composers/performers consider possible infringement to be one of the smallest changes that are happening in the industry in the last few decades. They consider attempts by the labels and technological intermediaries (IE: technology platforms, AKA DRM vendors) to continue or gain more control over the music industry to be a far greater threat. They see a change from a recent historical recording label dominated industry to a composer/performance dominated industry to be a wonderful possibility, but one that is greatly threatened by government policies that prop up labels at the expense of musicians.
Barry believes that what is good for the recording industry is good for the music industry, and I I(and the musicians I’ve discussed this with) believe that what is good for the recording industry is bad for music industry.
He is a lawyer, and I’m a software author — both outsiders to the music industry, but both with very strong (and opposing) views about what policies would help vs. hinder that industry.
The fact that C-32 impacts software authors (my industry, and for the worse) far more than it impacts the music industry (for better or for worse) just makes the situation all that more frustrating.
Russell,
I have no doubt that Barry is a nice guy. I do doubt his intelligence based on his writing. Quite frankly he has made so many mistakes in his blog, that he comes across as extremely careless. When errors are pointed out to him he sometimes fixes them, but doesn’t give credit to anyone for spotting the errors, and doesn’t even admit that he’s modified the post. I have documentary proof of this – I keep copies 🙂
As a programmer, writer, singer/songwriter, musician, poet, etc. damned near everything in bill C-32 has a affect on me. While it’s not the worst bill that they could have come up with, it’s still a bad bill. James Moore told me that if an artist didn’t like the DRM a music label was using, he/she could go elsewhere. The problem with this is that there is no elsewhere, as the major labels have an effective monopoly. The same is true in the motion picture/television industries, and the software industries. Since Canada doesn’t seem to be able to control monopolies, we have a real problem.
Wayne
But the Founding Fathers of the United States wanted copyright to be short and simple, not long and complex. Disney is trying to kill the public domain with the DMCA, which is anti-constitutional and anti-Founding Fathers.