Mike Bleskie
English PR Director
PPCA Representative
Wiara i wolność.
 Offline
Location: Ottawa (formerly Greater Sudbury)
Posts: 167
Karma: 4
|
 |
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2010, 07:10:17 PM » |
|
As of this meeting, several issues have been discussed by the Select Committee on Platform Information, some of which did not take off, some were discussed heavily. Overall, progress has been made on creating official stances on issues surrounding the party's goals, but there is still work to be done before the party can have a completed platform.
Copyright is the first issue under discussion. There appears to be a conclusion that no matter what, copyright should not last more than 15 years. However, there are two points of contention. The first is whether there should be a system of registering copyright, with several against this idea, and others in favour. Those who are in favour mostly prefer that the term of length for copyright should be 5 years without registration, 10 years with registration, although Jake Daynes preferred 5 years with manditory registration, and an added renewal, totalling 10 years. Those against registration tend to favour a term of copyright ranging from 10-15 years. The second point is that of a levy, with there being the option of having no levy, or a levy on residential access, to go to arts programs in some way. DRM appears to be something all is against, but for the other two areas, a vote will likely be required after a little more discussion.
Next is Open Access and Transparent Government. Crown Copyright was the first issue to get attention, with most feeling that its existence is still needed in order to maintain some limited operations, such as examinations, though for many other general uses, Crown Copyright was seen as something that wasn't really needed. Secondly, it was mostly agreed that reforms to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests is needed, though in moderation. Presley Perswain noted the current government's strict information control, with Jake Daynes adding that completely free FOI requestss could lead to such situations as in Ontario, when expelled member Joe Baptista spammed such requests to the office of the Attorney General of Ontario. The remaining point of contention was that of proactive disclosure through some sort of agency, with Mikkel Paulson suggesting an independant group handling FOI requests, with Jake Daynes saying that such an organization already exists, and that a "plan B" is required.
-For patents, the general term agreed to is five years. Software patents are seen as of little value, and it has been pretty much been consensus to scrap incidental patent infringement, gene patents and patents on living things, though there is still a little bit of debate on that. Only smaller details remain to smooth out.
Other items included so far:
- There is little to no opposition over Net Neutrality, but it is my opinion that when we inevitably add it to the platform, that we expand on the belief.
-Most people are for the idea of including digital sovereignty into the platform, as long as it's well explained.
-There is a split of opinion over electoral reform and the discussion of mixed-member proportional elections. There are three possibilities open, one is to have a change to a new method of election as an election point, one is to have it as a 'sleeper issue' and not publicly advocate it while still supporting it, and the last is to not support it. More discussion and possibly a vote is needed to resolve this.
-Nationalization of telecom may possibly be scrapped if there is no real cosensus on the issue, more discussion is still needed.
Minor issues that recieved little attention from platform discussion included:
-Geographic Indication (trademarking of product names based on location produced)
-End-User Liscence Agreements
-Privacy (though comments were made on asking what we need to share and not on what we can hide, and locking up the right to personal information against websites, etc.)
-Trademarks (mostly status quo, though some gripes over the Olympic Games' uses).
|
