So an election has been called in Canada. A lot of deja vu for me with this. Twenty years ago, the Canadian and American elections were happening at the same time as well. The free trade agreement was the big issue, and I was leaving the ranks of the Liberal Party to vote for the Progressive Conservatives. Now, I'm a member of the Conservative Party who cannot vote for them in this election due to their support of Bill C-61.

It's actually a pretty crappy feeling. I for the most part have been very pleased with the Conservative Party's government in the last 3 years. I even think Stephen Harper, whom I do not agree with on social issues, has done a great job of instilling a culture of compromise within the Conservative Party ranks. No easy task, I can assure you. He is an effective leader. However, the party's introduction of this legislation is entirely counter to why I joined the party.

I've had some interesting comments made to and about me regarding my decision. Mostly people, some whom I like greatly, are feeling betrayed by me. I regret they feel that way, but I am not a party hack (I am in no way implying that they are). I will not vote for any party simply because I'm a member. I firmly believe that for democracy to work you must Vote Your Interest. Too often I get the feeling that people in North America vote based on fear of the "other guy", which is why negative attack ads work, or from poorly thought out jingoistic ideology. These tendencies motivate citizens to actually vote against their best interests. It's crazy.

An over simplification for clarity:
A forty year-old worker making $50k a year in Texas without healthcare in the USA should be voting for the party offering affordable healthcare plain and simple. Getting healthcare is in his or her self-interest.

A thirty year old entrepreneur should be voting for less taxes and more investment incentives.

An avant-garde artist should be voting for more art grants and endowments.

An out of work uneducated laborer should be voting for more social support and training programs.

Only by voting our interests can democracy truly represent the people. (A big reason the first past the post system needs to be addressed.) Not everyone will get their needs addressed or represented on any given election, but only once we clearly vote for our self-interest will political parties start to address the varied concerns of people by adopting the policies needed to gain their support in the next election. This is different from lobbying special interests post-election, which in my opinion is entirely counter to democratic principles.

If everyone keeps voting for meaningless slogans or out of fear, political parties have no reason or need to address our concerns. If we do not vote our self interest, parties will keep pumping out the same old jingoistic slogans and attack ads and I'm not sure that's the point of democracy.

Ethical reuse of content. People are doing it on the Web, at home, and at work. My wife burns copies of DVDs for the kids, so that they don't ruin the originals. I repost quotes and pictures from other blogs and websites for comment and discussion on this site. My family records TV shows and movies with our PVR. Though in Canada, I am concerned that some of these historical rights will soon disappear.

Don't get me wrong, content creators have a legitimate concern. They need answers to this most important question:
How can I make money (a living) from my content when it is so easy to copy and reuse?

I believe they can make a living in Today's world. I believe that new business models are being developed to embrace the realities of Today's digital media market place. I do not believe we should be creating legislation to maintain old business models and I'm not alone. To that end, a group of interested Web professionals have started an open group to discuss, inform, and promote the work being done on this issue. It's called, PlayTheWeb.org.

[PlayTheWeb.org] is interested in promoting the idea of “Web Play” through the ethical reuse of content on the Web. We want to report, comment, and promote Technologies, Techniques, Applications, and Business models that move this idea forward.
By ethical we mean reusing content while maintaining respect to the original rights of the copyright holder(s). ”Respect” is intentionally an ambiguous word left to interpretation of those engaged in the creative process.

There is a great deal of excellent work being done on proactive licensing for content available for reuse. There are people focused on tools, protocols, and formats to ensure content can be moved among systems, software, and networks. Play the Web is strictly focused on technologies and business models to support content reuse. If this is also of interest to you, please have your say and get involved.

One of the first things PlayTheWeb.org is trying to support is the development of a new open content attribution format in order to help content creators and application developers publish where and from whom reused content is being sourced.

OK. I'm very pleased that Canada won a third Gold Medal in the Olympics last week with Eric Lamaze wining individual show-jumping. Now I won't insult any equestrians out there by asking how this is actually a sport worthy of the olympics lest they shoot back with an attack on the great sport of curling (which is my last hope for Olympic glory)! Anyway, all was cool until I read that Eric had missed out on the 1996 and 2000 games for doping.

Doping?!?! Riding a horse?

Uhhh... what does being on the juice (do they still call it that?) when riding a horse give you? A big muscular butt to cushion yourself? Did he do it so that he could feel like an olympic athlete? I mean I understand if people think that show-jumping can't be a true olympic sport unless someone is trying to cheat by doping right?

Now to go work out for my attack on Olympic curling glory!

UPDATE (August 25, 2008):
Ok so I have since learned that Lamaze was banned for coke. Not the kind you drink but the kind you snort/shoot. So, how does that help the rider? I mean is it to stay alert? Wouldn't a triple espresso do the same?

I'm am presently a member of the Conservative Party of Canada though my membership will soon expire and not be renewed. I've been a supporter of the Party since I voted for Brian Mulroney during the Free Trade election. I was a member of the Liberal Party when I voted for Brian Mulroney. However, I could not vote for the Liberal Party that year. They were against Free Trade and I was for Free Trade. Despite the scare tactics of the Liberal Party campaign, I had no fear that Canada was about to be absorbed by the US, either culturally or economically. I believed that Canadians knew who we were as a people, and that we could compete in the market place. I believed that competition spurs innovation. I believed Canadians should have access to the best products and services wether they are sourced in Canada or the US, or the World for that matter. The Liberal Party under John Turner did not believe Canadians were confident in their identity or that Canadian companies could adapt to market forces and compete. We needed to be protected from 'the world' out there.

Although there were other issues and policies offered by both parties, I felt each party's position on the Free Trade Agreement reflected their macro-view on how they would govern on other issues. Would they govern from a fearful and protectionist position, keeping Canadians from competition or would they govern with strength, confident in our ability to adapt, compete, and excel. I voted for Free Trade and let my Liberal Party membership expire and eventually became a member of the Conservative Party.

Now with the pending introduction of Bill C-61 (or Canada's Digital Millennium Copyright Act), I will be letting my membership to the Conservative Party of Canada expire. I'm not likely to re-join the Liberal Party (I'm more than a little fed up with both these parties), but I will do my part to help defeat any party that wants to introduce a bill like this to the Canadian people.

Like Free Trade, BC-61 is a Bellwether issue for me. The Conservative Party's support for this bill goes completely counter to why I supported them 20 years ago. The bill is supposed to protect copyright holders, but in reality its purpose is to protect the 20th Century business models of traditional media. They need to be protected from the "world out there". It's a fearful bill. It does not show confidence in Canadian companies to adapt to new realities of the digital world. It puts us at a long term competitive disadvantage vis a vis the rest of the world. Most importantly, it will make criminals out of regular Canadians who copy and reuse content ethically.

Sources:
Business faces challenges under copyright legislation
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 39: TPMs - No DRM Labelling Requirement
Legislation is severely flawed Bill C-61 has some unforeseen implications
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 40: TPMs - No Regular Review Process
Bill C-61 Flawed
Fair dealing missing under rules of new copyright law
Copyright shifts format
Copyright Lobbying Behind Closed Doors

I might be missing something, but it seems there is no way to share contacts reciprocally on LinkedIn.

One of my pet peeves on LinkedIn is when people ask to connect with me and then don't actually share their connections. I'm on linked in to share my connections and hopefully vice versa. Often, I'm just curious to see who is connected to who. However, viewing a person's contacts actually gives me a lot of context to their bios and profiles. It's invaluable to get a better understanding of who my contact is- especially when we're not close friends or colleagues. It aids me in building a valuable network of loose connections, which is really why I use LinkedIn.

I don't really understand why someone would use LinkedIn and not want to share connections. If it's just for the address book, there are better alternatives. Since they already had my e-mail to make the connection in the first place, why bother with LinkedIn? I guess I wouldn't mind people adding me to their LinkedIn address book if there was a "share contacts reciprocally" setting. If there is, I can't find one.

Maybe my use and view of LinkedIn is too simplistic?
Do you share contacts? If not why not?