Archive for December 15th, 2017

One year of Free Pictures by Carlos ZGZ (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/NBbGxm

Framing the Copyright Review: Bains and Joly Reference the Public Domain, Flexibility, Open Access and Limits of the Law

The government launched its copyright review earlier this week with a Parliamentary motion to send the review to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. I wrote a preview of some of the likely issues, noting the efforts of lobby groups to restrict fair dealing, extend the term of copyright, and target intermediary liability. Yet the letter from Ministers Navdeep Bains and Melanie Joly to committee chair Dan Ruimy, which should be posted online shortly, confirms that the government appreciates the competing perspectives on copyright and the limits of what the law can (or should) do.

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December 15, 2017 5 comments News
Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam with Hand by Jeff Djevdet speedpropertybuyers.co.uk/ (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/JxUtGa

Industry Committee Calls for CASL Clarification, Rejects Demands for Anti-Spam Law Overhaul

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has released its final report on CASL, Canada’s anti-spam legislation. While some groups pleaded for a legislative overhaul – Scott Smith of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce “urge[d] this committee to take a stand on this legislation and make recommendations for a significant overhaul” – the committee adopted a far more cautious tone, limiting the recommendations on substantive provisions to “clarifications” of the law. The emphasis on clarification (it even appears in the study title) is clearly intentional, stopping short of specifying any precise legislative amendments. I appeared before the committee, arguing that spam and spyware pose real risks and that there is evidence that the law has been effective in reducing spam and improving the effectiveness of electronic marketing.

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December 15, 2017 2 comments News