http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/ We call upon the Government of Candada to ignore the recommendation of the standing committee on Canadian Heritage to ratify the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT). Doing so would create a notice-and-takedown system which would be a step backward for internet users and ISPs in Candada for the following reasons: <strong>Lack of Expertise in ISPs</strong>. ISPs aren't equipped to evaluate what's infringing and what isn't. Operating a server doesn't qualify you to understand and evaluate copyright law. <strong>No Incentive for Evaluation of Claim</strong> Most ISPs just do the math and decide that sending a single counter-notification letter will cost them more in lawyer-hours than the customer in question will ever make for them. They just invoke the termination clause in nearly every ISP contract and shut down the account. <strong>Censorship by Any Other Name</strong> This creates a situation where organizations use notice-and-takedown as a tool for censorship. The takedown notice is the favourite tool of the crank, the censor, and the bully. <strong>Software Can't Do the Job Right</strong> Big business interests can send out automatically generated takedowns by the thousands, using software that does half-assed pattern-matching on files available on the net and then sending off letters to universities, ISPs and other entites demanding the takedown of book reports about Harry Potter, Linux distributions with the same names as movies, and academic work by professors with the same name as musicians. <strong>Anonymity at Risk</strong> Notice-and-takedown is almost always accompanied by systems for peircing Internet users' anonymity: if you want to find out your stalking victim's new address and number, you need only find the message-board where she's posting about her troubles and write to the ISP as an infringed-upon rightsholder, demanding her info. Note: Most of this text was <a href=http://www.boingboing.net/2004/11/06/save_canadas_interne.html>originally written</a> by Cory Doctorow, licensed under a <a href=http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/>Creative Commons license</a>. He made a great argument and his post inspired this petition. Thanks Cory. Sun, 7 Nov 2004 21:0:41 CST en-us 3 http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig4674304 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I support this petition. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig4252206 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I support this petition. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig4172159 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I write in support of this petition. DMCA is a terrible person. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig4157620 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I support this petition. SAVE OUR INTERNET http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig4017423 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I support this petition. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig4007452 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I support this petition. Amending our copyright law goes beyond the fight against piracy it is a violation of our basic right to freedom. open source and creative commons must be the future if canada is to become once again the great nation it once was. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3974906 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3974112 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST We do not need WCT http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3972836 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3971497 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3970676 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST Stop taking away our freedoms. Stop creating a police state. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3970381 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3970293 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3968241 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST I believe that this proposed Bill for new copyright law in Canada has several flaws and will lead to abuses against privacy. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3961612 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3877876 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3871417 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3834518 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3813132 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/canadawipo/#sig3805068 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:0:00 CST Our courts have already decided what is fair and what is not - I say the bill is a waste of time and money. It is only because of lobby groups that this issues has surfaced again.