Good Data Doesn't Support Your View? Use the Bad!

This is just awesome. Ars reports that a Parliamentary committee in Canada may be supporting the industry to create a Canadian version of the DMCA. What's so great about it, is that rather than use up to date, legitimate data, the industry lobbyist used a ten year old report with figures that are noted as being not based on hard facts. The OECD, which is the source they cited, says that it regrets having the figures constantly attributed to it. OECD actually got the figure form another industry source, which stated it was shaky as well. So one group came up with a number from thin air, another group says that this figure was given, but wasn't based on anything, and then lobbyists come along and cite it as truth. Good going guys. The best part is that it seems like the Canucks bought it. You know, if the Canadians want to create horrible laws, they should at least be trying to do it based on real information. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the OECD has put out another report (PDF) with recent, more accurate data. This report puts the number significantly lower than the one being presented.