Canadian telecom giants push for country wide blacklist of sites

[Spartaton]

sumofus.org is saying that Bell, Cineplex, Rogers, and Shaw  "are pushing to create an internet "blacklist" of certain websites that all internet service providers in Canada would legally have to block.", called the "Internet Piracy Review Agency" (IPRA), with no court oversight. According to sumofus.org the vote is happening tomorrow.  Currently there is a petition on sumofus.org to "stop the corporate control over our internet". In the article on huffingtonpost.ca, comments from the companies behind this push seem to unanimously say that this is to fight against piracy. Rob Malcolmson (senior VP at Bell) said "Many of the most prominent global players in the piracy ecosystem operate out of Canada as a relative safe harbour, and Canadians made 1.88 billion visits to piracy sites last year.". 

 

I think it's pretty obvious that this is a bad thing for us consumers and should be stopped. This is a very slippery slope leading towards the banning of any site, not just those meant for pirating. Since there is no court oversight to this blacklist it probably wouldn't be that hard, or take them that long, to start using this blacklist to their advantage. Imagine if Shaw and Rogers (owners of Canadian streaming service Shomi) used their influence to put any competitor (such as Netflix) on this blacklist.

 

Other sites covering this topic include michaelgeist.ca, and iphoneincanada.ca.

[captain_to_fire]

 

[Spartaton]

29 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

 

I think I've solved most of the issues with the original post. I can fix any existing problems when I get home tomorrow evening.

[Arika]

it's like Australia all over again...

[mr moose]

33 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

it's like Australia all over again...

I think the Australian one was not at the bequest of the ISP's.  

[Trik'Stari]

Pretty sure an encrypted VPN will get around that fairly easily.

 

Can't block what they can't see.

[Dabombinable]

36 minutes ago, mr moose said:

I think the Australian one was not at the bequest of the ISP's.  

It was just our government showing how out of touch with reality they are (seriously, they have no idea how the internet works).

[Matu20]

Did they list the to be blacklisted sites?

[samcool55]

Depending how it's blocked you can just use a different DNS and bypass the issue

 

[mr moose]

9 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

It was just our government showing how out of touch with reality they are (seriously, they have no idea how the internet works).

I beg to differ, they do know how the internet works, they also know that nothing they try to do will be 100% effective. The thing is they are not aiming for 100%, if they can get ISP's to block websites like TPB and other know pirate sites then they effectively stop casual pirates.    I read an interesting article the other day about the data they want ISP's to collect,  so far it seems they just want the IP address, when your internet session started and finished.    

 

Anyway, that is a topic for a different thread. I might start one later if I find the article again.

[AshleyAshes]

7 hours ago, mr moose said:

I beg to differ, they do know how the internet works, they also know that nothing they try to do will be 100% effective. The thing is they are not aiming for 100%, if they can get ISP's to block websites like TPB and other know pirate sites then they effectively stop casual pirates.    I read an interesting article the other day about the data they want ISP's to collect,  so far it seems they just want the IP address, when your internet session started and finished.    

 

Anyway, that is a topic for a different thread. I might start one later if I find the article again.

I'm often baffled as to why people will point out that attempts to prevent piracy would not be 100% effective and thusly there's no point.  Obviously SOME people will always be able to pirate but the objective is to raise the barrier to entry.  Right now any idiot can buy a 'fully loaded' android box and bam 'Free TV' ditto with a range of streaming sites that are as no harder to use than YouTube.

 

I'm not saying that I AGREE with their goal but at least I can comprehend it and it is rational.  Make piracy less idiot proof so that the majority of users, who are not particularly technically inclined, will be more likely to use paid services.

 

I mean geez, you might as well argue that seat belts or vaccinations are pointless because they aren't '100% effective'.

[ARikozuM]

9 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

I mean geez, you might as well argue that seat belts ... are pointless because they aren't '100% effective'.

I think the neck belt is definitely a product I would ban since it isn't 100% effective. 

Spoiler

Also, this video is a parody/satire.

 

[straight_stewie]

Lol. Canada gets mad at America for getting government out of internet, Canada gets mad that their government wants into internet. How rich is this?

But seriously, I don't think that there should be any governing agency, private or with government oversight, that regulates internet in any form or in any place. 

[divito]

24 minutes ago, straight_stewie said:

Lol. Canada gets mad at America for getting government out of internet, Canada gets mad that their government wants into internet. How rich is this?

It's the ISPs tabling this, not the government. The US has the problem in that they're losing government oversight and letting the ISPs run the show. The people, and by extension, the government, should be running things; not corporations.

[AshleyAshes]

27 minutes ago, straight_stewie said:

Lol. Canada gets mad at America for getting government out of internet, Canada gets mad that their government wants into internet. How rich is this?

You seem to be having reading comprehension issues.  This is a collection of private corporations lobbying the government to grant them authority for a extra-judicial, government backed, internet black list.  This initiative is in no way backed or initiated by the government or as you put it so eloquently 'Government wants into internet'. (American school systems, I swear to God...)  As of now, this is private corporations saying 'Pwetty Pwease?' to the government and the government is set to make a decision on that.

 

Spoiler Alert: The CRTC isn't going to listen to them.

[straight_stewie]

27 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

You seem to be having reading comprehension issues

You seem to be having issues reading more than one sentence per post.

 

 

54 minutes ago, straight_stewie said:

But seriously, I don't think that there should be any governing agency, private or with government oversight, that regulates internet in any form or in any place. 

And yes, in order for the IPRA to do what they are trying to do, they have to get government permission, so there would be some level of government involvement, oversight, or regulation involved.

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, straight_stewie said:

You seem to be having issues reading more than one sentence per post.

Yeah, that doesn't help you dodge being caught for your inability to differentiate between government and private corporations.

[straight_stewie]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Yeah, that doesn't help you dodge being caught for your inability to differentiate between government and private corporations.

Yes it does, because the first time I said what I said I specifically included private corporations. It seems as if your comments about reading comprehension were slightly misdirected. 

Now if you can't understand that the IPRA needs government permission to do that, and if they get such it necessarily means that the government is meddling in the internet, then that's your problem, not mine.

[AshleyAshes]

3 minutes ago, straight_stewie said:

Now if you can't understand that the IPRA needs government permission to do that, and if they get such it necessarily means that the government is meddling in the internet, then that's your problem, not mine.

I can lobby that the government give free Taco's to every Canadian.  It's not a government meddling in national taco supply until the government says goes 'Sounds good.  We'll start the National Taco Distribution Board right away, Ashley!'

 

However I do find it kind of adorable that you think that might very request might count as government meddling.

[straight_stewie]

Just now, AshleyAshes said:

However I do find it kind of adorable that you think that might very request might count as government meddling.

Again, you're comments about reading comprehension may have been misplaced.

 

7 minutes ago, straight_stewie said:

the IPRA needs government permission to do that, and if they get such it necessarily means that the government is meddling in the internet

 

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, straight_stewie said:

Again, you're comments about reading comprehension may have been misplaced.

Please stop.  It's gone from adorable to sad.  You literally said 'Canada gets mad that their government wants into internet.' but there's been no expression of interest by this by the government and there are no government initiatives or proposals.  You failed to comprehend the article and now you're trying to skirt around.

[straight_stewie]

Just now, AshleyAshes said:

You failed to comprehend the article and now you're trying to skirt around.

No, you're failing to smell what I'm stepping in and you're blaming my nose for it.

[AshleyAshes]

4 minutes ago, straight_stewie said:

No, you're failing to smell what I'm stepping in and you're blaming my nose for it.

... Wow...  Just... Wow.

[Dabombinable]

[straight_stewie]

14 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

... Wow...  Just... Wow.

I'd like to reply something like "Complains about others reading comprehension but doesn't understand metaphors", but that's too far removed from the topic being discussed here.