Fight Against Bill C-61

kill bill c-61

On Wednesday, Industry Minister Jim Prentice introduced a bill that will totally buried the "Canadian Homebrew Community" six feet deep under the Canadian soil. Why do I say that? just read this

"Michael Geist" in his post:
The digital lock provisions are worse than the DMCA. Yes – worse. The law creates a blanket prohibition on circumvention with very limited exceptions and creates a ban against distributing the tools that can be used to circumvent. While Prentice could have adopted a more balanced approach (as New Zealand and Canada’s Bill C-60 did), the effect of these provisions will be to make Canadians infringers for a host of activities that are common today including watching out-of-region-coded DVDs, copying and pasting materials from a DRM’d book, or even unlocking a cellphone.

While that is the similar to the U.S. law, the exceptions are worse. The Canadian law includes a few limited exceptions for privacy, encryption research, interoperable computer programs, people with sight disabilities, and security, yet Canadians can’t actually use these exceptions since the tools needed to pick the digital lock in order to protect their privacy are banned. In other words, check the fine print again – you can protect your privacy but the tools to do so are now illegal. Dig deeper and it gets worse. Under the U.S. law, there is mandatory review process every three years to identify new exceptions. Under the Canadian law, its up to the government to introduce new exceptions if it thinks it is needed. Overall, these anti-circumvention provisions go far beyond what is needed to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties and represents an astonishing abdication of the principles of copyright balance that have guided Canadian policy for many years.–

It was now illegal to circumvent or to bypass any security lock or to use any exploit to run any non-official firmware and homebrew apps at any game console.

In this post I will try to explain it why it was too bad to the bone for every homebrew people in the community this Bill was, this Law is applicable to Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo and even iPhone Homebrewer. I will try to make it in general for you guys to understand it more and to know how evil is this ignorant way of Digital Law created by US and co-creator Industry Minister Jim Prentice and the Harper Minority Government.

What’s hidden inside the box:

1. It will be illegal to make a back-up copy of your legally bought games, music and movies and any other types of digital stuff with DRM, even rootkits or virus as long it was created with DRM.
2. It was also illegal to transfer your CD or any music you download from iTunes which using a proprietary media format even it was a DRM free, because under Bill C-61, under digital lock to convert it to MP3 or Atrac3 or any encoding format is prohibited.
3. And of course to make most out of your game console is to run a custom firmware will is now cost you $20,000 or more if Sony or Microsoft will sue you after they will find out your using an M33-CFW or any exploit that you are using to circumvent the digital lock of the game consoles you are playing. Since cyber police must be legal to check inside your game console while you enjoying free online games as bait.
4. Since most of the homebrew application is running in a manner that will bypass the digital lock of any game console so it will now prohibit you to test, run your creative homebrew application unless you can make it run in any official game console firmware without using any exploit or alike.
5. It will also stop you to use a cheat code, if the game you are playing is not design to naturally work on the way you want it to be, because you already bypassing the original game play design of the games.

All this is under what they called-"anti-circumvent law" This law essentially makes it illegal to bypass electronic locks, or "DRM", on content they own. Such a law gives unlimited power to content owners, and strips any and all rights from consumers, even rights explicitly laid out in law.

DRM has extremely dire side effects. DRM stands for "Digital Rights Management", and that’s exactly what it does; it controls what rights a consumer does and does not have over the media the consumer has purchased. But these are rights determined by the content provider, not by law, and the revocation of these rights becomes the province of private industry, which has already demonstrated a total disregard for consumer rights.

Other stuff may concern you:

1. This bill makes watching legally purchased DVDs on your home built personal video recorder running Linux illegal and probably the same applies to TV shows.
2. The Conservatives’ bill, however, also contains an anti-circumvention clause that will make it illegal to break digital locks on copyrighted material, which critics say could trump all of the new allowances. CD and DVD makers could put copy protections on their discs, or television networks could attach technological flags to programs that would prevent them from being recorded onto TiVos and other personal video recorders.
3. Cellphones would also be locked down, so when consumers buy a device from one carrier, they would be unable to use it with another. Breaking any of these locks could result in lawsuits seeking up to $20,000 in damages.
4. People caught downloading music or video files illegally could also be sued for a maximum of $500, but uploading a file to a peer-to-peer network or even YouTube could result in lawsuits of $20,000 per file. Remember the mother uploading her baby video dancing in not so famous artist "Prince" music get sue by the artist? That will also may happen to you if this bill passes the congress.
5. Critics feared the bill will mirror the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which similarly brought in restrictive measures and opened the door for copyright owners to enact huge lawsuits against violators.
6. The chorus of opposition was joined last week by a coalition of consumer groups — including Option consommateurs, Consumers Council of Canada, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), and Online Rights Canada (OnlineRights.ca) — that wrote a letter to the government. The consumer groups expressed dismay they had not been consulted on the legislation.
7. Cory Doctorow, co-editor of the influential Boing Boing blog, said the anti-circumvention clause will lead to a revival of digital rights management, or the software that prevents media from being copied. The entertainment industry has for the past few years been moving away from protecting its content with DRM because consumers have shied away from buying restricted media.
8. The NDP is strongly opposed to this bill and we are calling on MPs from other parties to listen to their constituents and join us in the growing chorus against it. Rather, we are pushing for legislation that will ensure that artists and creators are compensated for their work but that also ensures consumers are able to enjoy reasonable rights of access.
9. If Industry Minister Jim Prentice’s Bill C-61 becomes law, all of these copying activities arguably violate the law.
Bill C-61 gives Canadians the right to record television shows with their PVR. However, the recordings may only be kept long enough to allow for the program to be viewed at a more convenient time. By retaining copies of earlier programs is likely violating the law. (Section 29.23 (1)(d)). Recording of an Internet broadcast also violates the law. Bill C-61 explicitly prohibits recording Internet-only broadcasts (Section 29.23 (3)). The copying of the music files also violates the law. The act of circumventing the copy-controls on the CD violates Bill C-61 (Section 41.1). Moreover, the much-promoted provision to allow users to transfer their music onto their device of choice doesn’t apply either, since one of the conditions is that users cannot circumvent a digital lock as part of the music transfer process (Section 20.22(1)(c).
10. Canada’s campus bookstores lamented that amendments proposed to the Copyright Act will continue to financially and academically hurt Canadian university students.

What can be done? Take action NOW!

Don’t simply let this pass.
• No matter where you live in the world, if you are a copyright holder on any kind of work — song, film, article, computer program — please email the officials below to let them know that you do not want this law and that the people who have been demanding it do not speak for you.
• If you are Canadian, please write to your MP to protest the fast-tracking of this bill.
The Canadian government needs to hear that this law is Defective by Design!
• Write to your MP , and email the Industry Minister, the Canadian Heritage Minister, and the Prime Minister . If you are looking for a sample letter, visit Copyright for Canadians .
• If you send an email, be sure to print it out and drop a copy in the mail (no stamp is needed — c/o House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A0A6).
• Don’t stop with email. Go visit. In his latest post, Doctorow suggests that every Canadian "Take 30 minutes from your summer, to meet directly with your MP" . From late June through much of the summer, your MP will be back in your local community attending local events and making themselves available to meet with constituents. Give them a call and ask for a meeting. Every MP in the country should return to Ottawa in the fall having heard from their constituents on this issue.

The Source and Recommended Site to gain more information about this BILL C-61:

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letter Fight Against Bill C-61

Support FireFox3 Download Day 2008

firefox3 download day 2008

We only have one more day left before the FireFox D-Day 2008, as the Firefox 3, Mozilla’s popular open-source Web browser, will be released on Tuesday, June 17th.

The target of SpreadFirefox.com – the site where potential users can pledge their support to download Firefox 3 and to set a Guinness World Record for highest number of software downloads in a single day.

So if you are enjoying the safety features and coolness of Firefox browser why not show your support by participating in their campaign to set the “Guinness World Record for highest number of software downloads in a single day”. Please do the pledge now, get involved it’s not too late. Let’s spread safety browsing!!!

As of writing, there are over 1.16 million people who have signed up on the site to download the browser the day it is released. The United States is leading the charge with over 191,000 pledges. In something of a surprise, Poland and Brazil are neck and neck for the second most pledge with over 81,000 and over 79,000 pledged respectively. Pinoy (Philippines) pledge is already 8,107.

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Download Day - English

Look of the Year Contest

Do you think you have the looks to be a model? Have you already heard “The Look of the Year.com? If not, better check it now and be recognized and get a chance to win US$10.000 or better yet, make it your way to be spotted by a modeling agency.

Everyone is welcome to join in this very unique online beauty contest and everybody can your be your judges and vote for you. So give your best shot and submit it now at http://www.lookoftheyear.com. You might never know what awaits you, model agents is just around the corner surfing the internet for potential model like you. So you wanna know how to join? If you are one of this: Girls 14-19 Women 19+ Boys 14-19 Men 19+, you are in. LookOfTheYear.com will publicize the 4 winners of 2008 on the 31st of December 2008, There will be one winner in each of these four categories and each month a top 10 list is published for each category. Check it now and be recognized.

 Look of the Year Contest

How-To-Troubleshoot PC Power Failure

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troubleshoot power supply

Yesterday my Old PC suddenly shut-down and for no reason or whatever I can’t even make my PC to reboot either. So my first suspect was the power supply, but the problem might be with the motherboard, cpu, memory or video card instead. Replacing the power supply without even checking the possible reason is not a modder solution, so to declare it a garbage let do the How-To-Troubleshoot a PC Power Failure by Modder Punker:

Checklist:
1. Make sure the power supply is turn-off and unplug.
2. Ground yourself by touching any exposed metal object or wear a static wrist strap.
3. Open your PC Case.

Let’s begin:
1. Do not expect an ATX power supply to work by simply plugging the power and turning on the switch. ATX power supplies are soft-switched on and off by the motherboard and BIOS. Therefore, you must plug it to a working motherboard with a working microprocessor, memory and video card to work. If your computer does not turn on after you turn on the power switch, it may not necessarily mean a dead power supply. The problem might be with the motherboard, microprocessor, memory or video card instead. You must examine all these components to isolate the problem.

2. The most effective technique to tell if a power supply is causing any problem is to use a different one to see if it solves the problem. If everything works with a different power supply, then the new power supply is most likely the troublemaker. Alternatively, you can plug the new power supply to an existing, working computer to see if it works there.

3. Computer cases are highly modular. If your computer case is still under warranty, you don’t have to send the entire case back if only one part of it is defective. For instance, send only the power supply back for exchange if only power supply is dead. The same is true for the face panel and cover. This would save you quite a bit of shipping and sometimes downtime.

4. More than 70% of all computer problems are related to cabling and connections. Ensure that you all the power plugs are connected firmly, including power connections to your motherboard and all the drives.

5. Make sure the cooling fan inside the power supply is working all the time. Reach out to feel the fan behind your case often. Clean the fan if necessary. If your case feels warmer than room temperature, check the power supply fan first. Most power supply fans are difficult to replace. You are better off to replace the entire power supply since the new one comes with a brand-new warranty.

6. Most cases and power supplies these days are made and tested in China and other Asian countries where 220V electricity is used. Desktop computer power supplies do not switch the power voltage automatically. (Most notebook computers do!) If the factory forgets to turn the manual switch back to 110V for the North American market after testing, the power supply would appear DEAD if you use on a 110V-outlet. Therefore, always check the voltage setting on the back of a new power supply FIRST if it appears dead.

Here you go, if all this thing is all set and done and your PC still won’t able to reboot. I hereby declare that your PC Power supply is nothing but a garbage. :grin:

Please consider checking your local recycle center for proper disposal of your old Power supply and other PC components.

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Bestbuy accepts almost all type of electronics stuff for their disposal and it’s a free service, check your local store for more details.:wink:

Free Flash Games – Start Now

Finally, my Arcade Page is now working with 10 awesome games to start with for you guys to enjoy.Yap, you got it right more games will be added soon. In my plan I will add one more game’s every month, but if the demand will grow more games will be added soon. With your games request by comments I will know what games you like me to add on the list of flash games to be added on every month schedule. Right now here is the list of top 10 flash games that you can play now.

  1. STAR WARS
  2. SPACE HUNTERS
  3. TARGET SHOOT
  4. TOP BANANAS
  5. XMAS BOARDING
  6. SNOW PAUL
  7. SQUID HUNTER
  8. STARFALL
  9. TETRIS
  10. VIDEO POKER

If you think you want to have one of the games or planning to put a flash games in your site, in my upcoming post I will try to put a How-To- Guide putting this flash games in your WordPress site.

To keep updated keep on checking this site or if you enjoy my post I will much appreciated if you subscribe to my feeds to keep you up to date whats going on with ModPinoy. Enjoy the games!!!

Firefox 3 RC – Now Available for Download

Finally, Firefox 3 RC is now available for download, but to remind everybody this is still not release-level code! most Firefox 2 users should continue to wait what will probably be just a few weeks until the release-level Firefox 3 comes out. The release notes make clear that there are still lots of bugs in the program which may or may not be fixed before the program is finalized.

But with version 3 has a number of enhancements and there are also some performance improvements which are obvious after you work with it for a while, especially in terms of memory consumption. My experience with Firefox 2.x often finds it consuming hundreds of megabytes of memory, so I’m hoping on this new one will not consume most of my PC memory
Take note  also with your existing add-ins it may also be disappointing. All of the big ones do seem to work, but every new important version of Firefox has broken at least some add-ins. So don’t install it unless you have time to be Mozilla’s guinea pig.

New features and changes in this milestone:

  • Improvements to the user interface based on user feedback, including changes to the look and feel on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux.
  • Changes and fixes for new features such as the location bar autocomplete, bookmark backup and restore, full page zoom, and others, based on feedback from our community.
  • Fixes and improvements to platform features to improve security, web compatibility and stability.
  • Continued performance improvements: changes to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimization continues to improve performance over previous releases as measured by the popular SunSpider test from Apple, and in the speed of web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office.

Testers can download the Firefox 3 Release Candidate builds here

Canada – Broadcasting BitTorrent

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nextgreatprime-300x118 Canada - Broadcasting BitTorrent

Canada is set to embrace the distribution protocol shunned by its broadcasting neighbors to the south of the border, by providing legal BitTorrents on their popular television programming. As of March 24, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporartion already began mirroring a Norwegian experiment by seeding a DRM-free versions of its program-Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister-the day after the program’s on TV airing.
The move comes after the 15 million euro investments by the european Union to jump-start the development of the upgrade BitTorrents protocol. In conjunction to the 4 million euro donation fron 21 other telecommunications company, the EU wants BitTorrent to become the technology basis for europe’s : next-generation Internet television distribution system”.
Word up to CBC for supporting the DRM – Free media.