Thursday, April 18, 2002
Canadians, wake up and start emailing
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 01:13 PM
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/xta-asp/storyview.asp?viewtype=browse&tpl=browse_frame&vpath=/2002/04/15/column/45225.html
By the prickling of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes! If you're reading this, and you live in Canada, this will put you in a bad mood. In a nutshell, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) has decided that Canadians are bad people doing illegal things with their music. Thus, they've taken it upon themselves to "save" the poor music studios whom we're so obviously forcing out of business. Right. They want us to pay 100% tax on CD's - 59 cents per CD! Also on their hit list are DVD-R discs, CompactFlash cards, SD cards, Minidiscs, and even the iPod is getting nailed for $21 in taxes PER GIGABYTE. This is insane! Canadians are already among the most taxed people in the world, and now they want us to pay even more! Here's some text from the article - I'd encourage you to go read it.
"CPCC spokesperson David Basskin insists it’s a matter of practicality. “If people would allow our inspectors into their homes to monitor how they use each and every CD-R, I’d be perfectly happy to take nothing on a CD-R not used for music and a full rate on one that is used for music,” he says. “How are we to determine?” Instead, the CPCC makes adjustments based on the medium. MiniDiscs, which have no real use other than copying music, get nailed with a 77¢ markup. The levy is smaller on blank CDs, says Basskin, since “not all CD-Rs are used to copy music.”
"Actually, relatively few of them are. When the CPCC last went before the Canadian Copyright Board in 1999, it argued that roughly half of CD-Rs were used for music. The Board estimated that half of those were for private copying. Today, with CD burners standard in virtually every PC sold, consumers have all kinds of uses for their CD-Rs. So with private copying likely counting for less and less of CD-R use, you might assume the CPCC would be seeking lower tariffs, right? “That’s a good one,” says Majeau, with a chuckle. In fact, the CPCC says it now wants even more for CD-Rs: 59¢ per unit, nearly triple the current levy. “That works out to more than 100% tax,” says David Paterson, executive director of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), whose members include organizations ranging from universities to industrial manufacturers, many of whom buy truckloads of CD-Rs for matters unrelated to copying music. The proposed increase will cost them millions."
Those of you who wish to share your thoughts with the CPCC can do so by [email="[email protected]"]emailing David Basskin[/email]. Perhaps you have a suggestion on what he can with some spare blank media? I'd also encourage you to contact your Member of Parliament, your local MLA, and the media in your area.
To all my readers outside Canada, I apologize for the interruption - we now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast...thanks to Karen Lopez from CIPS for bringing this to my attention.
UPDATE: I received a response from one of the offices of a member of parliment, and this is what he had to say: "The bureaucrat in charge of this Tax grab is Claude Majeau, of the Canadian Copyright Board. They are taking submissions and you and everyone you know should e-mail [email="[email protected]"]Claude Majeau to complain[/email] about this misguided and unwattanted tax."
By the prickling of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes! If you're reading this, and you live in Canada, this will put you in a bad mood. In a nutshell, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) has decided that Canadians are bad people doing illegal things with their music. Thus, they've taken it upon themselves to "save" the poor music studios whom we're so obviously forcing out of business. Right. They want us to pay 100% tax on CD's - 59 cents per CD! Also on their hit list are DVD-R discs, CompactFlash cards, SD cards, Minidiscs, and even the iPod is getting nailed for $21 in taxes PER GIGABYTE. This is insane! Canadians are already among the most taxed people in the world, and now they want us to pay even more! Here's some text from the article - I'd encourage you to go read it.
"CPCC spokesperson David Basskin insists it’s a matter of practicality. “If people would allow our inspectors into their homes to monitor how they use each and every CD-R, I’d be perfectly happy to take nothing on a CD-R not used for music and a full rate on one that is used for music,” he says. “How are we to determine?” Instead, the CPCC makes adjustments based on the medium. MiniDiscs, which have no real use other than copying music, get nailed with a 77¢ markup. The levy is smaller on blank CDs, says Basskin, since “not all CD-Rs are used to copy music.”
"Actually, relatively few of them are. When the CPCC last went before the Canadian Copyright Board in 1999, it argued that roughly half of CD-Rs were used for music. The Board estimated that half of those were for private copying. Today, with CD burners standard in virtually every PC sold, consumers have all kinds of uses for their CD-Rs. So with private copying likely counting for less and less of CD-R use, you might assume the CPCC would be seeking lower tariffs, right? “That’s a good one,” says Majeau, with a chuckle. In fact, the CPCC says it now wants even more for CD-Rs: 59¢ per unit, nearly triple the current levy. “That works out to more than 100% tax,” says David Paterson, executive director of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), whose members include organizations ranging from universities to industrial manufacturers, many of whom buy truckloads of CD-Rs for matters unrelated to copying music. The proposed increase will cost them millions."
Those of you who wish to share your thoughts with the CPCC can do so by [email="[email protected]"]emailing David Basskin[/email]. Perhaps you have a suggestion on what he can with some spare blank media? I'd also encourage you to contact your Member of Parliament, your local MLA, and the media in your area.
To all my readers outside Canada, I apologize for the interruption - we now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast...thanks to Karen Lopez from CIPS for bringing this to my attention.
UPDATE: I received a response from one of the offices of a member of parliment, and this is what he had to say: "The bureaucrat in charge of this Tax grab is Claude Majeau, of the Canadian Copyright Board. They are taking submissions and you and everyone you know should e-mail [email="[email protected]"]Claude Majeau to complain[/email] about this misguided and unwattanted tax."
