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Toronto Fair Copyright Meetup

February 27, 2008 at 06:36 | Print This Post Print This Post

I spent yesterday evening at a meetup at the Gladstone’s Melody Bar for members of the Facebook group for the Toronto chapter of Fair Copyright. We had a nice turnout, and the evening was a great opportunity to engage with people who are concerned about copyright law and eager to learn more and connect with people of like mind.

My main takeaway from the evening was much more than I’d expected - I met several young people who are deeply interested in this issue and startlingly well-informed. Honestly, if you’d told me 20 years ago that a day would come when copyright reform would figure prominently as a public policy issue for young Canadians I’d have scoffed. But here we are, and here they are, and they’re bright, focused, well-informed - and they care. I left the event with a spring in my step, convinced that tomorrow is going to be a better day. The best idea I heard last night: a campaign to inform Canadians that the “Canadian Recording Industry Association” is more or less ironically named.

Next takeaway? It’s been said before, but if your business involves selling media to young people, chances are you need to rethink your business model much faster than you think. There’s a Thelma and Louise moment approaching. Oh, and while you’re at it, hands off their internet. They are going to have no patience at all for games. It’s not merely a source of media, or entertainment - it’s becoming the intermediary for every important relationship in their lives. They are simply not going to tolerate any gamesmanship with something so important.

Thanks to my group co-admins Jason Crocker, Ren Bucholz and Mike Craigen for the effort in making last night happen.


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7 Responses to “Toronto Fair Copyright Meetup”


  1. Steven Hodson (3 comments.)
    February 27th, 2008 at 12:53

    Interesting.

    I too would have been surprised at a “youthful” turn out.


  2. February 27th, 2008 at 15:07

    Should it really be so surprising? After all, copyright in the 21st century isn’t about promoting expression and thought to create an abundance of knowledge, but rather to limit them and create an artificial scarcity. These are the folks who were born in 1984, they know what time it is.


  3. Blaise Alleyne (4 comments.)
    February 27th, 2008 at 18:13

    Well said, wish I could have been there.

    - another Toronto youth concerned about copyright


  4. John
    February 27th, 2008 at 21:02

    Is this organized anywhere else other than Facebook? I refuse to dump my personal life into their hands.


  5. Sara Janes
    February 27th, 2008 at 23:19

    I’m glad to have seen this post — it was great meeting you at the event last night.

    I think you’re entirely right about the internet not just being a “source of entertainment”. So many aspects of everyday life — and the important stuff — are being conducted online in some format, so any loss of (perceived) ownership or control over things is frustrating to say the least.
    [And then, as above, yes, we do it all through Facebook. Hurrah :) ]


  6. Joe Clark (1 comments.)
    February 28th, 2008 at 14:29

    And perhaps the next one might not be held in the middle of nowhere.


  7. Blaise Alleyne (4 comments.)
    February 28th, 2008 at 18:13

    The Gladstone is the middle of nowhere? Hardly!