Technologies that will change Canada forever

Actually this rant/warning will apply to any country that thinks it can legislate consumer access to things they want.

Here in Canada, they're a friendly lot. The country is an excellent place to do business. You can get a great education, good food, and contrary to popular belief, good medical care.

But the Canadian government, like the governments of most countries not having the initials U.S.A., try very hard to protect the country's culture and home grown content. In Canada, you get TSN (The Sports Network) which is ESPN with a Canadian slip cover on it. TV stations in Canada who buy the rights to a U.S. show, prevent other stations from showing it at all. So, on my cable system I have a buffalo ABC station. But when Boston Legal is on, the cable company is required to switch the feed to the guy who bought it so I can see the Canadian commercials. It can mean The Movie Network (TMN) doesn't have the Six Feet Under or Sex and the City when the U.S. gets it. And the big fun is not getting the Super Bowl commercials.

Well, them thar days are coming to an end and you gubmit folk can't do nuttin about it.

Here are some reasons why:

VOIP
There are a ton of toll free numbers that don't work in Canada back to the U.S. The most annoying one is the toll-free customer service line to Direct-TV. You can't get Direct-TV in Canada. In order to get it, you have to hack it, buy it on the grey market, or go to the U.S. buy and bring it back. Once you bring it back, however, toll-free line doesn't work so you can't call to set the thing up. Pesky detail solved with VOIP. My new 212 phone number works just fine, especially the caller ID that tells the Direct-TV people, heck no, I'm not in Toronto, what gave you that idea.

A Slingbox
Lots of Canadians have nice places in Florida, Arizona, and other warm spots. It can get a bit chilly up here. The Slingbox is simple. Hook this puppy up to your cable input, run it to a PC with a broadband connection and, presto, instant TV to anywhere you are over the internet. Keep in mind people are doing this already, hackers actually. It's not really hard to do. But this is going to make it a mass market product. Of course it is really designed for the guy who wants to watch cable upstairs on his wireless laptop. Uh huh.. Yep, this little device is going to be keeping the lights on at the CRTC.

Internet/Satellite Radio
I bought an XM radio(Delphi MyFi xM2Go) and she works just fine in Toronto. At CES, where I bought it, I asked if it worked in Canada. They answered "we don't sell it in Canada." Bummer, I said. How far north does it work, I said. About 150 miles north of the U.S. border, they said. Visa or American Express was fine.

Pre-paid credit cards
Of course Direct TV and Satellite Radio require a US credit card. Right. There's a problem solved in about, oh 90 seconds by that zillion year old company Western Union. Head on over, cough up some cash and you've got American credit. At least in the eyes of the merchant because when that card is run, no problem it works fine. Western Union is one of about 50 companies that provide this service.

This little lesson in avoiding Canadian rules, is not so much to pick on Canada but to point out the futility in attempting to write laws with which to address this stuff. Instead, two critical things should happen.

In Canada, we should be promoting the heck out of technologies that enable all of this stuff, sell tons of it, and collect tax revenue from people who buy it. Secondly, instead of just sticking our collective heads in the sand, let's use this stuff to send Canadian content, products, and services out to the world. Given the world as a set of consumers, it's not hard to spend the money on great shows, movies, music, etc.

The country needs open digital borders because they are coming anyway. Face this reality now and let's get spending on stuff we can sell to the rest of the world.

They have this show Corner Gas up here that's pretty funny. I'll "sling it to you." Just kidding, put the search warrant down.