Archive for December, 2013

What Will Canada’s Anti-Spam Law Mean for Users and Businesses?

Long before sites such as Youtube and Twitter were even created, the Canadian government established a national task force to examine concerns associated with spam and spyware. The task force completed its work in May 2005, unanimously recommending that the government introduce anti-spam legislation (I was a member of the task force). Four years later, then-Industry Minister Tony Clement tabled an anti-spam law, which underwent extensive committee review before receiving royal assent in December 2010.

My technology law column last week (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that while most expected the government to quickly bring the new law into force, the regulation-making process became bogged down by an intense lobbying effort designed to sow fear, doubt, and uncertainty about the legislation. Business groups relied upon implausible scenarios to argue that Canada would be placed at an economic disadvantage, despite the fact that government officials were able to identify over 100 other countries that have similar anti-spam regimes. The lobbying was a partial success, however, as the regulations went through two drafts and three more years of delay.

Almost a decade after Canada started down the path toward anti-spam legislation, Industry Minister James Moore announced earlier this month that the regulations are now final and the law will begin to take effect next year. There will be still yet more implementation delays – the anti-spam rules start on July 1, 2014, safeguards on software installations begin on January 15, 2015, and a private right of action that facilitates lawsuits to combat spam will be delayed until July 1, 2017 – but it appears that Canada will finally get an operational anti-spam law.

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December 16, 2013 6 comments Columns

What Will Canada’s Anti-Spam Law Mean for Users?

Appeared in the Toronto Star on December 7, 2013 as What Will Canada’s Anti-Spam Law Mean for Internet Users Long before sites such as Youtube and Twitter were even created, the Canadian government established a national task force to examine concerns associated with spam and spyware. The task force completed […]

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December 16, 2013 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive
Video, Closing Keynote: Inside the Fight for Digital Rights in Canada – Michael Geist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-F3cgongH4&ab_channel=ParklandInstitute

Parkland Institute: Closing Keynote – Inside the Fight for Digital Rights in Canada – Michael Geist 

At the Parkland Institute 2013 Conference, I provided a summary of the digital rights issues that emerged in Canada including privacy, copyright, surveillance and fair access.  

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December 13, 2013 Comments are Disabled Video

Proposed U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pledges More Pressure on Intellectual Property

During the years of debate over Canadian copyright reform, I frequently argued that caving to U.S. demands on issues such as digital locks would not relieve the pressure but rather invite more of the same. While Canada has done much of what the U.S. has asked – digital locks, anti-counterfeiting […]

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December 12, 2013 7 comments News

Taking User Rights Seriously: Two Weeks That Changed Canadian Copyright Law

I delivered a keynote speech titled Taking User Rights Seriously: The Two Weeks That Changed Canadian Copyright as part of the 3rd Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest at the University of Cape Town.

Two weeks changed Canadian copyright for the foreseeable future. In a single day, the Supreme Court of Canada’ ruled on five copyright cases. This was  just weeks after the Canadian government passed long-awaited copyright reform legislation. This talk examines the decade-long process that resulted in a seismic shift in Canadian copyright law toward user rights.

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December 11, 2013 Comments are Disabled Conferences, Keynote Speaking, Video