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Transport Canada has reportedly
issued a DMCA takedown notice to Scribd over an on-the-record response
it provided to a journalist. The move is particularly odd (though not
unprecedented, see here and here) given the document was issued to
a journalist and the government changed its crown
copyright licence last year to allow for private and non-commercial
public use without the need for further permission.
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The reports
that the music industry lobby (along with the Entertainment Software
Association of Canada and the movie lobby) is seeking the inclusion of
SOPA-style provisions into Bill C-11 has generated considerable
discussion online and in the mainstream media (CBC,
Financial
Post).
Yesterday, Balanced Copyright for Canada, the group backed by the music
industry, fired back with several tweets claiming that opposing their
reforms would benefit "illegal
BitTorrent sites"and "illegal
hosting sites."
Leaving aside the fact that if these sites are illegal, they are
by-definition already in violation of current law, the claims point to
what seems likely to become a SOPA-like scare campaign that seeks to
paint skeptics of CRIA demands as supporters of piracy.
These claims involve two different issues with Bill C-11. The first are
the digital lock provisions, which dozens of
organizations
(including businesses, the Retail Council of Canada, creator groups,
consumer groups, and education associations) have argued are overly
restrictive. The proposed solution is to link circumvention of a
digital lock with actual copyright infringement, an approach that is
consistent with the WIPO Internet treaties and has been adopted by
trading partners such as New Zealand and Switzerland (Canada even
proposed the approach in Bill C-60). These amendments would not
legalize hacking businesses, but rather ensure that the same balance
that exists offline is retained in the digital environment.
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Reports indicate that Industry Minister Christian Paradis could unveil
the government's spectrum
auction and telecom
foreign ownership policies this month. My weekly technology law
column (Toronto
Star version, homepage
version) provided a preview of some the key issues. While interest
in spectrum auction policy is typically limited to
telecom companies and business analysts, all Canadians have a stake in
this decision. The available spectrum - known as the 700 MHz spectrum -
opens up a host of possibilities for new innovation, competitors, and
open Internet access. It is viewed as particularly valuable spectrum
since it easily penetrates walls, making it ideal for delivering
wireless high-speed Internet services.
Auctioning the spectrum raises a host of critical policy choices.
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Canadian superstar Neil
Young on piracy:
It doesn't affect me because I look
at the internet as the new radio. I look at the radio as gone. [...]
Piracy is the new radio. That's how music gets around. [...] That's the
radio. If you really want to hear it, let's make it available, let them
hear it, let them hear the 95 percent of it.
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Ariel Katz adds his voice
to the criticisms from Howard
Knopf and Sam
Trosow on the recent agreement between Access Copyright and two
Ontario universities.
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