Archive for May 16th, 2007

Oda To Face Tough Questions

Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda will face hours of questioning this evening, with the Liberals claiming that they will ask some tough questions, including discussion of campaign donations. Update: Full transcript here.  No questions about copyright. Some discussion about expenses at the Juno awards and the lack of timely disclosure. 

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May 16, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

Olympic Marks Bill Back in the House

Bill C-47, the Olympics marks bill demanded by the IOC, was back in the House of Commons yesterday as the Government moved that the bill be read a second time and be referred to committee.  James Moore, the MP who spoke on behalf of the government, ran on too long, […]

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May 16, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

The CACN’s Roadmap for Change

Over the next two days, two House of Commons committees will move toward finalizing their recommendations to address Canadian counterfeiting concerns – the Industry Committee will review its recommendations on the counterfeiting issue today, while tomorrow the National Security and Public Safety Committee will review its draft report on counterfeiting.  While I am sure that all the witness comments and submissions will be considered, the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network's Roadmap for Change [pdf] will unquestionably play a key role.  During its appearances before the committees, the CACN representatives touted the document as the prescription to address the counterfeiting issue. 

The Roadmap for Change was not translated at the time of the committee appearance, however, that has presumably now happened and the document has been posted online.  It is generally consistent with the committee appearances – many of the anecdotes and recommendations that were raised before the committees are mentioned here too.  The CACN is seeking a far larger IP enforcement framework with more resources, an IP crime task force, and an IP Coordination Council.  It is also seeking stronger border measures, changes to the proceeds of crime legislation, and the creation of a criminal provisions for trademark counterfeiting as well as for camcording in a movie theatre.

While there is much to take issue with (just about every media release from the past couple of years is crammed into the report), it is the recommendations and omissions that really matter.  I am skeptical about the likely effectiveness of some recommendations (for example, the reliance on stronger border measures is undermined by the GAO study on U.S. border effectiveness), yet several have little downside and will likely make their way into the Committees' reports. There are, however, several recommendations that should be rejected. 

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May 16, 2007 1 comment News

TJX Security Breach Costs Millions

TJX has taken a $12 million charge related to the data security breach that affected Winners and HomeSense in Canada.

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May 16, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

The Long Memory of the Internet

The CBC's The Current spent thirty minutes yesterday talking about the long memory of the Internet.  A podcast version is available here (thanks Jeremy!).

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May 16, 2007 Comments are Disabled News