Gordon Duggan of Appropriation Art has put together a free PDF comic, complete with numerous relevant links, which explores the recent (and ongoing) debate over the attempt to bring in some pretty draconian US-style copyright laws in Canada, 51st State. As Cory Doctorow (who actually appears in it) describes it on Boing Boing: “this is just staggeringly great, the perfect primer on the shameful attempt by Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice to smuggle the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act into Canadian law without debate or public input.”
You might think this is a pretty dry subject matter, but it has major implications for the freedom of creative people and their fans, not just in comics but in all sorts of mediums, from video to music (just think of what DRM does to your digital music collection, for example). While supporters say all they are doing is protecting the intellectual rights of creators the (many) critics point out that some aspects of it (and more aspects the support lobbies wish to push through in its wake) shackle what both creators and consumers can do. And other countries, including Britain, are all under pressure to adopt similar rules, so it affects more than just Canadians. Boing Boing (whence comes this link) has been posting a lot on this matter (and the free comic has many informative links embedded too), including shameful revelations that some politicians who have been trying to sneak it into Canadian law without open debate have had significant contributions from the media lobby in the US who are trying to get the laws through (conflict of interest? Surely not!).
Wed, Jun 11, 2008
Comics and cartoons