Archive for July 30th, 2009

Montreal Copyright Town Hall: Summary Review

The first of two town hall meetings as part of the copyright consultation was held in Montreal this afternoon.  The discussion featured a wide range of views with several music representatives calling for tougher laws and other participants voicing support for greater flexibility.  In many ways, the town hall demonstrated that the Quebec perspective on copyright reform is very similar to the rest of the country.

Video of the town hall has already been posted online by a third party.  There was also active live tweeting under the #copycon tag.  Below is a summary from University of Ottawa student Frances Munn.

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July 30, 2009 17 comments News

The Gatineau Copyright Roundtable: Brief Summary

Having already posted the participant list and my opening remarks, I'll provide a brief summary of the copyright consultation roundtable in Gatineau last night.  A fuller report will be available when the government posts the transcript and audio of the event. 

While there were some big names from the rights holder community (CRIA, Access Copyright), the user perspective was well represented.  Indeed, there was a large consumer and education contingent that continually emphasized the need for more flexible fair dealing and the dangers of anti-circumvention legislation that is not linked to copyright infringement.  A quick synopsis of the various positions:

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July 30, 2009 2 comments News

Shaw Drops “Price Bomb” on Fibre Competitor

Shaw has dropped a "price bomb" on Novus Entertainment, a small cable operator in Vancouver, BC.  Novus is offering fibre-to-the-home is some residential buildings in the city.  In response, Shaw is offering those customers 15Mbps service with a 100GB cap for $9.95, 200 channels of TV service (with 25 high-definition […]

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July 30, 2009 14 comments News

Media Awareness Network on Copyright in the Media Age

The Media Awareness Network has posted a great piece demonstrating how restrictive copyright laws can harm media awareness education.

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July 30, 2009 1 comment News

Survey Shows Wide Opposition to Two-Tier OTA Television

The Canadian Media Guild has published the results of a survey that show 84% of respondents opposed to a plan that will create a two-tier system for over-the-air television signals (some will have it, others won't). The survey was conducted in Kamloops, which stands to lose its OTA signal in […]

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July 30, 2009 1 comment News