Look, I’m not naive, I know special interest groups try to buy local politicians all the time. So why should Movie companies in Canada be any different? It’s not… but still… hearing stories like this one REALLY depresses me. The media companies already own the courts (by always having more money than the next guy to hire the biggest and most expensive lawyers), and now they want to own the government too.
My friend Jordon’s blog pointed me to this post by Michael Geist about Conservative politicians taking big money from various copyright lobby groups including the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association:
A couple of weeks I blogged about Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda’s fundraising during the last federal election. Days before the vote, as the Conservative momentum made her a likely Cabinet minister, Oda accepted contributions from many in the copyright lobby including Universal Music (tied for her third largest external contributor), the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association, the Entertainment Software Alliance, the Canadian Music Publishers Association, and CRIA’s own Graham Henderson.
Oda’s riding association has now released data for the full 2005 calendar year and her support from the copyright lobby is even more extensive than this initial list. While there is a similar list of individual donors, the corporate list is even more telling, particularly since those donations will no longer be permitted once the Federal Accountability Act becomes law. Financial supporters of Oda’s Durham riding association last year included:
* copyright lobby groups – CRIA, CFTA, CMPDA, CMMRA, Director’s Guild, Entertainment Software Association, SOCAN, Writer’s Guild
* record labels – BMG Canada, EMI Canada, Sony Music Canada, Warner Music Canada, Universal Music Canada
* broadcasters – Corus, Vision TV
* cable companies – CCTA, Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw
* lobby firms – Temple Scott Associates, Capitol Hill Group
Oh gee whiz… when a vote comes up in Parliament about new copyright laws… I wonder which way she’s going to vote? For the rights of the people? Or for the power of these media companies? Hmmmm. Like I said, I know stuff like this goes on all the time with every single political party… but that doesn’t make it easy to hear. Pretty soon the damn movie companies are going to want a tax on every time you even TALK about a movie with your friends… since your discussion involves “copywriten material”. Idiots.
