Court Orders US Copyright Group To Work With Time Warner, EFF To Craft More Informative Letter To Those Being Sued

Supposed 'Grass Roots' Site Pushing For Canadian DMCA Admits That It's Funded By The Recording Industry

from the well,-look-at-that dept

Thu, Jul 1st 2010 5:54am — Mike Masnick

It didn't take long for people to see through the bogus astroturfing site, BalancedCopyrightForCanada.ca, designed to look like a grass roots site in support of the new Canadian DMCA law, Bill C-32. Pretty quickly, people suggested that the site was obviously a front for the big record labels who have been behind the push for a Canadian DMCA for years. The site started hiding some information, but now Michael Geist points out that the site has finally 'fessed up to the fact that it was funded by the CRIA, which is really just the RIAA in Canadian clothing. How very grassroots. It also seems noteworthy that on the advisory board for the site is Richard Owens, the copyright lawyer who, just before the new bill was introduced, got some media attention for his ridiculous attempt to smear the public for their input during last year's public consultation on copyright reform. Of course, those consultations showed an overwhelming majority of those who took part were against a ridiculous digital locks/anti-circumvention policy, which is found in the law. It seems downright laughable that a group pretending to be a "grassroots" group would put on its board a guy who went out of his way to mock and discount an actual grassroots effort.

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Filed Under: astroturfing, canada, copyright, dmca
Companies: balanced copyright, cria, riaa

40 Comments

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murder, 1 Jul 2010 @ 5:57am

freedom fighter
when do we get to start killing people for destroying our rights and freedoms?

do we have to be starving first?
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:14am
  
  Re: freedom fighter
  Have fun with that. Our corporate overlords also control the army; full of corn-fed drop-outs ready to "kill 'em sum terrists".
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  - loki_racer (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:50am
    
    Re: Re: freedom fighter
    Ya, because it doesn't take any kind of brains to run nuclear aircraft carriers, submarines, fly jets that cruise at supersonic speeds, or any of that stuff.
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    - Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:58am
      
      Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
      Unfortunately it may not be about brains. If the military has perfected a method for indoctrinating it's grunt soldiers to the point of near brainwashed status, there won't be any intelligent resistence.
      
      A buddy of mine was in the marines. He now suffers from several mental afflictions, despite his assuring me that nothing he saw while at war would have caused a mental breakdown....
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      - loki_racer (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 7:13am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Ah, so your one friend is a mirror image of what the Marine Corps is? Makes perfect sense to me.
        
        There is a clear reason for the practices used at USMC basic training. DI's are trained to strip down civilians mentally and physically to the point that they have a fresh starting point and then build them back up to a cookie cutter of a person. The reason? So when the lead is coming down range, the response given by these Marines is generally uniform and can be relied on. These USMC DI's are considered to be the best in the world, by the way.
        
        I'm willing to bet your buddy gainer more than he lost from his time with the Marines.
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        Free Capitalist (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 7:33am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Going to agree with Loki here. In my experience, military basic training effectively creates self-awareness by breaking down calcified self-interest and self-absorption in a regimented, 24 hours a day "in with the company" environment. It is a brutal but effective process that some people (myself included) are poorly prepared for.
        
        It is not pretty, it is not fun. It can truly and sadly damage some people. But this is the venue of the military and the process has been effective.
        
        The American military in particular demands considerable mental prowess from its enlisted ranks. They want sailors, soldiers and marines coordinating and adapting on the spot to the demands of the moment, but not out of self-interest.
        
        And, yes U.S. Marine Corps DI's are still the role model for basic military instructors world-wide.
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        Richard (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 7:36am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Unfortunately it is true that ex-servicemen are over-represented in crime and mental health statistics - so it isn't just DH's friend.
        
        This may be explicable by the fact that in the US and the UK the majority have now seen action in Vietnam, Falklands, N Ireland Iraq 1 (1991), FYR, Iraq 2 (2003-) or Afghanistan all of which conflicts have been quite disturbing - but it may also be the training. The purpose of the training is to prevent them from breaking down under the stress of action, but, just as with drug or vaccination the side effects of the treatment can occasionally be worse than the disease.
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        Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 7:38am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Hm, well, I didn't say that my buddy was a microcosm of all Marines, and hearing him relay his experience with his DI's in boot, I don't have any problem with any of it. Nor do I have any problem with or lack of respect for the men and women in our armed forces.
        
        Having said all of that, to suggest that the DOD and US military hasn't spent billions of dollars on mind control and behavior modification experimentation is silly. After all, they've already admitted that they did it (http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/02-A-0846RELEASE.pdf). And they've partially declassified documents on MKULTRA. But this goes on throughout history:
        
        1931 - Dr. Cornelius Rhoads establishes the US Army Biological Warfare facility in Maryland and Utah. This was after he worked for the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations injecting cancer cells into human test subjects, most of them either US military soldiers or homeless.
        
        1932 - The Tuskeegee Syphilis experiment
        
        1940 - 400 prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria for study. Nazi scientists cited this as a defense of their actions at the Nuremberg Trials.
        
        1944 - U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.
        
        1947 - The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.
        
        1953 - CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings.
        
        1958 - LSD is tested on 95 volunteers at the Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories for its effect on intelligence.
        
        1965 - CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.
        
        1970 - United States intensifies its development of "ethnic weapons" (Military Review, Nov., 1970), designed to selectively target and eliminate specific ethnic groups who are susceptible due to genetic differences and variations in DNA.
        
        1994 - Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War .
        
        I mean....this isn't conspiracy theory stuff, which I know is a four letter word around here. This happened, most of it has been admitted to. The problem is no one reports it....
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        loki_racer (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:29am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        What's silly is that you are saying I said "Having said all of that, to suggest that the DOD and US military hasn't spent billions of dollars on mind control and behavior modification experimentation is silly" when I never said that.
        
        When constructing an argument, try to use statements that are true.
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        Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:53am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        I understand you didn't explicitly say that. I brought up the possibility of military mind control over its soldiers, and you started talking about DI's and their methods. I took that to mean that Basic was the only method of mind control the military took part in.
        
        If that was a poor assumption, my bad, but that's how it came across....
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        loki_racer (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 9:06am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Brainwashing and mind control are two different things in my book.
        
        Brainwashing is making someone thing something is one way when it isn't. Mind control is a dude at a computer turning a knob to get patient x to jump rope.
        
        I'll agree the military brainwashes recruits. I think it's the only way they are going to get the results they need/want. But they are far from mind control (see General McChrystal for a reference).
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        Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 9:16am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        "Brainwashing is making someone thing something is one way when it isn't. Mind control is a dude at a computer turning a knob to get patient x to jump rope."
        
        Probably a fair distinction in principal, though mind control experiments in the military have had far more to do with psychotropic drugs combined with suggestive persuasion rather than any sci/fi style computer knob.
        
        "But they are far from mind control (see General McChrystal for a reference)."
        
        Poor example, my friend. McChrystal would be the controller, not the controllee.
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        loki_racer (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 9:43am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Ha, I was referencing McChrystal as an example of how the military hasn't perfected mind control. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in the news. It was a poor joke.
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        Hephaestus (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:50am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        You forgot the Gay bomb, think that ended in 1997 ... using aphrodisiacs ...
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        Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:55am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        ....and denim. Lots and lots of denim....
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        Hephaestus (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 9:16am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        DMCA I love that song ...
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        Yogi, 1 Jul 2010 @ 1:11pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Hey DH,
        
        You're really knee deep into this conspiracy thing aren't you?
        
        I'll say one thing in favor of conspiracy theories: true or not,they sure make for a great story.
        
        Yep - I downloaded your book and I'm reading it know, rather breathlessly.
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        Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 1:13pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        "Yep - I downloaded your book and I'm reading it know, rather breathlessly."
        
        Hopefully that's a good thing ;)
        
        Be kind...
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        Yogi, 1 Jul 2010 @ 2:10pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Of course it's good - this is the first book I downloaded and also am actually reading.
        I don't understand though, why you don't put up a donation thingy on your site or even sell the book independently.
        
        And also - there is no way to contact you - no contact page or email. Even Chuck had a way to contact him. I hope you feel slightly less besieged than your characters...
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        Yogi, 1 Jul 2010 @ 2:33pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Of course it's good - this is the first book I downloaded and also am actually reading.
        I don't understand though, why you don't put up a donation thingy on your site or even sell the book independently.
        
        And also - there is no way to contact you - no contact page or email. Even Chuck had a way to contact him. I hope you feel slightly less besieged than your characters...
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 2:59pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        "And also - there is no way to contact you - no contact page or email. Even Chuck had a way to contact him. I hope you feel slightly less besieged than your characters..."
        
        ....You might want to take another peek at the title page, my friend....
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        Yogi, 1 Jul 2010 @ 3:18pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: freedom fighter
        Ooooops. Missed that one. I guess I wasn't expecting an email on a book...
        
        Ok - I'll mail you after I finish reading it.
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  - murder, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:56am
    
    Re: Re: freedom fighter
    I was thinking more along the lines of civil disobedience.
    
    you know, the type of stuff a radical extremist would do.
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- Stuart, 1 Jul 2010 @ 7:49am
  
  Re: freedom fighter
  You get to do that as soon as prison looks better than letting those fuckers get away with it.
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John Smith, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:01am

Next actors for hire.
I think they will try the Chinese approach next and hire some actors to act like grass-roots and film them LoL
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:12am

"CRIA, which is really just the RIAA in Canadian clothing"

I'm picturing old, fat men with briefcases dressed as the McKenzie brothers.
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- btrussell (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:52am
  
  Re:
  Take-off, eh!
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John Smith, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:12am

They will delve to deep some day.

http://xkcd.com/760/
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Ashamed User, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:55am

The RIAA fails to see that they are their worst enemy. I have only bought 2 CD's in the last 5 years, just because I despise them. Most of my friends also feel the same way.
But now, they want to tax the radio a performance tax, to get the money from people like me, that are blocking them.
They are the mafia...
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NAMELESS ONE, 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:16am

C.S.I.S.....
reported last week certain politicians were under foreign influence......

TIME TO PONY UP and REIGN IN TREASON IN CANADA.
WE don't need communism from hollywood thank you, nor unionist bullshit form them either.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:19am

The problem is no one reports it....

Yes, all of that information was from your first hand discussions and independent interviews...cmon now. Nobody has ever heard of the Tuskegee experiments or watched the LSD videos, ever.

...and your 1970 experiments caused HIV/AIDS, right?
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 8:45am
  
  Re:
  Caused AIDS? No, that's a silly contention that no serious scientist I've ever read believes. Having said that, there have been some speculation by some in the scientific community at the odd correlation between the genetic structure of the AIDS virus and the VISNA virus in sheep. The overwhelming evidence suggests that AIDS is not in any way manmade or an altered form of VISNA, however.
  
  And most of the HIV manmade conspiracies stem from a junk form of correlation hypothesis between the CDC doing HEP-B experiments in California in which their test subject advert specifically requested promiscuous gay men three years before AIDS hit the homosexual community there. It's blatant nonsense.
  
  I say all this because I'm really not a conspiracy crackpot, believing every cryptic thing I read. I'm just not closed off to the possibilities when there is at least SOME evidence to support it, and military testing for mind control on its own soldiers is simply fact, not theory....
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  - jjmsan (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 9:20am
    
    Re: Re:
    There is also one book called "The River" which links it to oral polio tests in the Congo. The Video made on the book is supposed to have been suppresed. It was made in the Quebec Provence.
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Gee, 1 Jul 2010 @ 10:12am

that flash graphical thing below the article is the most confusing thing ive ever seen - what IS that?
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Craig (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 10:59am

TD's most hijacked comments?
I think part of the issue is that the ivory tower idiots running organizations like this REALLY think that the public are stupid. They really believe we are sheep and can easily be fooled by a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Maybe we deserve to be thought of that way, because we do indeed exhibit those characteristics at times. That said, The Man will underestimate Joe and Jane Public to his peril.
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TtfnJohn (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 1:00pm

Nice Canada Day Story, Mike!
I had had a look at that site and it was, and still is, far to cute and self conscious about being cute for me to believe it's grassroots at all.

Still, nice to see them fess up as being the RIAA in "Canadian" clothing. Though to be truthful the Advisory Board seems quite as Toronto centric as the industry it claims to represent. Funny there's not a French name to be found there or a single name from Quebec. Or from outside Toronto as near as I could see. (Mississauga doesn't count.)

Pan-Canadian grassroots, eh?

(Funny too that such a group would use open source software to run their site off. I'd first thought it was Drupal because of they cutey pie look and then saw it's Wordpress, also guilty of cutey pie artwork.)
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- Vincent Clement, 1 Jul 2010 @ 5:00pm
  
  Re: Nice Canada Day Story, Mike!
  It is Toronto centric because the CRIA represents US record companies in Canada. Guess where the US record labels have their offices in Canada?
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The Devil's Coachman (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 2:17pm

Somebody needs to tell them off.
As in "Take off, you hosers!"
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Eddie Swane, 5 Jul 2010 @ 5:17am

Reforming Canada's Copyright Laws are an important part of moving forward for Canada's economy. The simple fact that people still think its ok to download illegal copyrighted materials is simply wrong. I find it disgusting that Canada is a safe haven for pirating sites.

This is a beginning of moving Canada forward and on to the same level as many other countries.
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Darlene, 7 Oct 2010 @ 7:44am

For real?
If there are two sides to an issue, they both deserve to be presented. Providing a forum in which the people in support of intellectual property protection for creators is something that is LONG overdue, and provides a necessary counterpoint in this discussion. Who starts it is irrelevant, as long as the people coalescing in that forum share a genuine interest in the issue, which of course people employed by the industry do.
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