Cory Doctorow On Tariffs and the DMCA In Canada (pluralistic.net)
- Reference: 0180693996
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/29/230246/cory-doctorow-on-tariffs-and-the-dmca-in-canada
- Source link: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/#ottawa
> In 2012, Canada [2]passed anti-circumvention law [3]Bill C-11 , cut-and-pasted from the U.S. DMCA, in return for access to U.S. markets without tariffs. Trump has tariffed Canada anyway, so Cory Doctorow suggests it sounds like like a good idea to ditch Bill C-11 and [4]turn Canada into a "Disenshittification Nation " and go into the business of "disenshittify[ing] America's defective tech exports."
Some of the specific ways Canada could respond include legalize jailbreaking, allow alternative app stores/clients, force companies to offer repair tools, and open firmware that break monopoly lock-ins. Cory's pitch is equal parts economic strategy (capture the rents Big Tech extracts) and national security (reduce dependence on U.S. tech stacks that can be switched off or weaponized).
[1] https://slashdot.org/~devnulljapan
[2] https://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/18/1314222/the-canadian-dmca-battle-concludes-how-thousands-of-canadians-changed-copyright
[3] https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/charter-charte/c11_2.html
[4] https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/#ottawa
Re: (Score:3)
> More self-promotion from this grifter. The internet's problem isn't "shit" it's "spam" and grifters like Corey are a part of the problem.
Enshittification just doesn't apply to the internet, it applies to all technology. Take cars for example, replacing physical controls for things like heating, windscreen demister and wipers and putting them on the touchscreen.
Re: (Score:1)
> and putting them on the touchscreen.
and putting them behind a paywall FTFY
Nice idea; won't happen (Score:3)
Doctorow's idea is nice, but the government of Canada is just as beholden to Big Tech as the government of the USA.
This sort of thing is marginally more likely to happen in the EU and much more likely to happen in places like China or Russia where they (rightly) don't give a crap about laws that criminalize circumvention of DRM.
What Canada can do (and IMO must do) is stop using US products and services to the greatest extent practical, and then work on eliminating them from places where right now there are no practical alternatives, similar to initiatives like [1]this [slashdot.org].
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/27/1737239/france-to-ditch-us-platforms-microsoft-teams-zoom-for-sovereign-platform-amid-security-concerns
Re: Nice idea; won't happen (Score:5, Insightful)
I think I spotted the pro-billionare shill.
Doctorow is an open source advocate. Something that, famously, DOESNT pay well. If he is a grifter, what is the grift? Spend your career championing FOSS and losing out to big tech for peanuts?
it is right to be skeptical that Canada can wean itself off of the big tech lobbying teat, but calling him a grifter is just a laughably bad take. It shows you donâ(TM)t know what the word Grifter means.
Re:Nice idea; won't happen (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not based on "intellectual property theft". It's based on preventing corporations from abusing customers.
When a farmer can't repair a tractor without paying thousands of dollars to the manufacturer, even if the actual problem is a $20 part, then sorry... fuck the corporation.
Re: (Score:3)
It's all but guaranteed to happen. Canada more and more seems to be aligning itself with the EU, and it's been happening in the EU for over two decades (sideloading, alternative app stores, USB-C connector, GPDR, etc.). It's happening in countries like South Korea and Japan (allowing alternative app stores and payment systems), India (app store billing policies), Vietnam, Nigeria and Brazil (data sovereignty), Australia and France (age restrictions on social media), and so on.
It's almost impossible to overe
Re: Nice idea; won't happen (Score:2)
If youâ(TM)ve read the CBC in the last week, there is talk about concerns that US tech companies will interfere in the secessionist movements. Look at the Brexit example. Much of that voteâ(TM)s mis)information was controlled by foreign interests.
There is already talk about home grown social media and other tech.
Perhaps MAPL shouldnâ(TM)t be just for the feedstock of entertainment, but also the channels for delivering information. Though please no great firewall of Canada. What would you
Re: (Score:2)
> What Canada can do (and IMO must do) is stop using US products and services to the greatest extent practical, and then work on eliminating them from places where right now there are no practical alternatives.
We're working on it. Disentangling our economy from the US takes time. Meanwhile, we're basically trying to quietly make our moves without drawing Trump's attention. The pressures in play right now are bad, but they've been worse and can easily be made worse. If we can drag things out as-is for a while, it only benefits us (and our new partners).
There's a lot of petty-but-good things we could do to piss off Trump, but they'd mostly hurt us in the short and medium term. We gave in on a tax last year t
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I'm Canadian and doing my bit to avoid sending any of my money to the USA.
But our federal government is almost completely dependent on US corporations to function, namely Microsoft and to a much lesser extent, Google. If that's not a national security risk, I don't know what is.
So this probably isn't a good idea (Score:2)
Because you probably don't want to give a bunch of large corporations a reason to encourage Trump to invade and I'm not joking.
Seriously 5 years ago I could say something like that and everybody would have a little chuckle and we'd go about our business. After Greenland everything has changed. The only reason Trump backed down from Greenland is that a handful of Republicans indicated they would work with the Democrats to remove him from office. But it was not guaranteed and they let him go right up to t
Re: (Score:2)
The US invading would hurt the US. Just the threats have opened peoples eyes. Migrations take time and I don't know anyone that ever ran to aÂbully to get abused.
Re: (Score:2)
The USA won't invade Canada. It would be far too costly for the USA to try that.
Instead, it'll do shady things like encouraging separatists (we're already seeing that in Alberta) and trying to undermine Canadian unity and cohesiveness.
And corporations don't need an excuse to behave like dicks. They're already doing that, so we have little to lose.
When quoting a job like this (Score:1)
Always include the fee to have a lawyer look over the contract.
I know he supposedly invented the word, but... (Score:2)
...shouldn't it be de enshittification?
Re: I know he supposedly invented the word, but... (Score:1)
No, that's already a weird german thing, and I'd just like to say, we really wouldn't want to be confused for those guys on a dark street corner, and also - trust me on this part - you do not want to go looking for more info on them without having some type of powerful brain bleach close at hand.
Immigration Problem (Score:2, Funny)
Won't work. Literally everyone except the oligarchs and their sycophants will move to Canada. Then they will complain about immigrants until a populist PM is elected and creates the 51st state.
Re: (Score:2)
Please. We'll take alternative marketplaces any day.
If we're getting politically harangued no matter what we do then it's time to open up the market. Why protect a country's copyright that won't reciprocate?