The Hill reports that U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe and Mark Warner introduced legislation on Friday that would require all public federal buildings to install WiFi base stations in order to free up cell phone networks.
Archive for December, 2010
Mobilizing User Generated Content Study
University of Western Ontario’s Sam Trosow has posted the results of SSHRC funded research on mobilizing user generated content in Canada.
Final Version of ACTA Posted
The final ACTA text [PDF] – now incorporating changes for a technical, legal drafting meeting last week in Australia – has been posted.
NZ Govt Copyright Leak: Doubts Value of WIPO Internet Treaties, Supports Flexible Digital Lock Rules
Putting Copyright Statutory Damages In Perspective
Liberal MP Dan McTeague questioned the change, suggesting that it could send the wrong message about infringement and be viewed as a licence to steal. I disagreed with his position, pointing out that $5,000 was still enormous cost for most Canadians and that it is potential multi-million dollar liability for non-commercial file sharing that sends a bad message about Canadian justice.
I also made the point that statutory damages are relatively rare on the international scene, a point that I think is worth expanding upon. Perhaps because both Canada and the U.S. have statutory damages, many MPs might be under the mistaken impression that most countries have them. In fact, the opposite is the case.