Comments

• • Merdan Hojanepesov@merdanho

  

  Merdan Hojanepesov December 7, 2015 - 2:00pm

  Hi Nadir,

  Thank you for sharing your presentation with the group, and while watching your presentation I was realizing that this raises the good questions regarding how the laws of each countries applied within TPP and to what level sacrifice they have to go. I then went and read a bit more about TPP on Government of Canada’s web page in Global Affairs Canada department, and noted one interesting statement regarding the internet, it is quoted below:

  “The TPP is an opportunity to set the future terms of trade across the Asia-Pacific region, and Canada and our allies in TPP share a vital common interest in ensuring the internet remains free and open, and have taken obligations to help ensure that restrictions cannot be imposed on the free flow of information online”

  There is a statement about ensuring the free and open internet within TPP, but is the understanding of free and open is the same for all members of TPP, and if not whose laws prevail? Indeed TPP brings forward many controversial topics to be discussed and debated over, and the biggest question is whether Canada joining TPP because it is right thing to do for the country or for politicians.

   

  Resources:

  Opening markets for services and financial services. (2015, 10 07). Retrieved from Global Affairs Canada: http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/tpp-ptp/benefits-avantages/sectors-secteurs/04-FinancialSector.aspx?lang=eng

• • nmas@nadirma

  

  nmas December 8, 2015 - 12:02pm

  Thank you for your comment Merdan. A couple of things need to be noted.

  
  1) The website you linked was created under the previous government of Canada. The last modified date is 07 Oct 2015. The federal elections were held on the 19th of October.

  2) The waybackmachine archive has stored one instance of this website from the 5th of October. Not much change between the two versions - and both, of course, are blurbs from the Conservative led govt of Canada. So, I suspect some bias exists in the text and the new government hasn't had any chance to update this site yet.

  Watching Question period in the House of Commons yesterday, Minister Freeland had this to say about the TPP (from the Edited Hansard from the 1st session of the 42nd Parliament of Canada)

   

  Hon. Gerry Ritz (Battlefords—Lloydminster, CPC):  

      Mr. Speaker, the newly minted Minister of International Trade continues to confuse Canadians with statements like: it is not her job to promote trade.

  
      Of course, she is not ratifying the TPP until the Americans do. This deal has been years in discussion and is now the gold standard on environmental and labour chapters.

       She claims to be pro trade, so when will she stop stalling and sign this dea

  Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Minister of International Trade, Lib.):  

      Mr. Speaker, our government supports free trade so strongly, I could not wait to answer that question. We understand how important it is for middle-class prosperity. We also understand that on a deal this big, it is essential to consult Canadians and have a full parliamentary debate.
  

      I must say to my hon. colleague that he is a little mistaken on the facts when he suggests that we could be signing the deal now. The deal is not yet open for either signature or ratification. The member might want to have a coffee with the hon. member for Abbotsford who is well versed in the details of how trade deals work.

   

  The new govt is still interested in consultations and have a parliamentary debate on ratification - and so, I am not sure if the link you had posted truly reflects the new government's stance.

  
  All this to say that the wording on the site is a bit flowery (as it was posted during an election campaign) and the "free and open internet" mentioned here is not what most people think of as net neutrality. I feel it is simply sugarcoating the stipulation that national data can be stored in foreign locations. I honestly do not feel that a socially conservative nation like Brunei would be supportive of a free and open internet.

   

  Reference:

  42nd Parliament of Canada, Edited Hansard No. 003 (7 Dec 2015): http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Pub=hansard

   

• • Louis Lemaire@louisle3

  

  Louis Lemaire December 9, 2015 - 6:37pm

  Thanks Nadir for summarizing the TPP in a slick 10 slides!

  I have been paying attention to the TPP as well, the EFF has had great commentary, especially on the patent and copyright side. I'm not super happy with what I've read. One troubling thing that doesn't get discussed enough is the copyright extensions, which keeps art and music and other things out of the public domain. This is really troublesome when something like a song, movie, or piece of art is part of the "culture". 

  Anyway, thanks again for posting and highlighting the TPP - it's one of the issues of our time, I think.

• • nmas@nadirma

  

  nmas December 9, 2015 - 9:56pm

  Thanks for the comments Louis. 

• 

  Bozena Tkaczyk December 12, 2015 - 11:28am

  Thank-you Nadir for sharing your presentation. Great comments Louis and Merdan! There is my three cents:)

  The industry has shifted dramatically to cloud based delivery platforms for everything from music to software applications. In large part this, combined with other significant advances in technology capabilities (network, application design, mobile, etc) is serving to mitigate some of the very reasons why piracy exists in the first place.

  For example, in the music industry it is now so convenient to legally purchase a single song and have it immediately rendered to every device owned with accompanying artwork and other artifacts, that it has created sufficient value for most consumers so as to make piracy inconvenient by comparison. Indeed we can see that in this example, although music piracy still exists, if anything it has become a supporting component of the music ecosystem - people may still illegally download songs, but there is sufficient value for ‘99 cents’ that they will still go to a legitimate music service and download it. In addition, the shift towards small, consumable, incremental pricing - purchasing individual songs for 99 cents, vs being required to purchase an entire album for $14.99 has again reduced the incentives and benefits of downloading the music illegally. It is important also to note the market now shifting significantly to an on-demand ‘radio’ model where curated playlists (Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music) are again of a value that cannot be realised through piracy. Lastly, cloud storage services are rendering the use of ‘blank cds’ obsolete. Many computers are no longer available with CD drives. In short, there is no action that needs to be taken; technology has completely overtaken the existing legislation, policy and approaches undertaken by government and rendered it largely irrelevant.

   Have a great Holidays!

  Bozena

• • nmas@nadirma

  

  nmas December 12, 2015 - 11:43am

  I am curious which service allows the purchase of a song and permits its use on any device DRM free. Spotify does offer something similar, but you are only renting the song. Once your membership expires, the song cannot be played on any device.

• 

  Bozena Tkaczyk December 12, 2015 - 12:03pm

  I am not an expert in this domain:( but I've found this reading interesting:)

  Happy reading! 

  10 Best (and DRM-free) Online Music Stores

  http://www.techhive.com/article/155512/online_music_drm.html