Bell Media has been using CFRB this week to complain about online piracy it says is costing the firm a fortune. Company honcho Randy Lennox came on Jerry Agar’s show Wednesday to harangue about how unfair it is that consumers are ripping off programming from torrent and streaming sites, watching shows for which Bell pays rights fees.
 
On Thursday, Agar did a whole half hour taking calls from listeners about why they steal content online and how they justify it. It was fascinating, as caller after caller dumped on how much they hate Bell and Rogers and didn’t feel even the least bit of guilt about what they were doing. Most expressed the opinion that those two companies, in particular, have been ripping off the public for decades and this is a small revenge.  
 
Now no matter how you feel about Bell or Rogers (and everyone here knows I’m not a fan!) I would agree that stealing is wrong, whatever form it takes.
 
But I do find it interesting that in all the coverage CFRB gave this story over a 48-hour period, never once was it mentioned that all the telcos – led by Bell – have been demanding that the federal government create rules that would force ISPs to block certain websites in Canada if it’s found they facilitate piracy. (Why is it that the big guys always “demand” and never ask?)
 
You can see the problem. Who’s going to decide which websites Canadians can no longer visit? How long before it goes from piracy websites to sites that these companies simply don’t like? And why should anyone, especially the government, have the power to censor the Internet and decide what’s allowed here and what isn’t?
 
It’s a shame Jerry Agar didn’t address this issue, which in my mind, is as important as protecting a company’s bottom line. Maybe even more important. Because this would affect all our rights. And in the end, I think it would add up to a lot of wrongs.
 
Media Giants Want A Blacklist Of Websites With Stolen Content