|
The third edition of Copyright Matters!,
a copyright guideline document for the Canadian education community
backed by government ministers of education, school boards, and the
Canadian Teachers' Federation, has been released. This edition accounts
for recent court and legislative
changes, offering guidance that is far more consistent with the law than
the earlier editions. Indeed, the fair dealing guidelines provide
further confirmation of the widespread agreement throughout the Canadian
education sector on the
implications of the Supreme Court of Canada copyright decisions and make
it increasingly difficult to justify payments under the Access
Copyright licence. Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday December 12, 2012 |
|
|
KEI has posted a helpful summary of the key developments at the most recent round of negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership. Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday December 12, 2012 |
|
Despite growing opposition in Canada, the Canadian government has
begun formal participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership
negotiations, aimed at establishing one of the world's most
ambitious trade agreements. As nearly a dozen countries - including the United States,
Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore,
Mexico and Vietnam - gathered in New Zealand last week for the 14th
round of talks, skeptics here have already expressed doubts about
the benefits of the proposed deal.
Canada has free-trade agreements with the United States, Mexico,
Chile and Peru, leaving just six countries - currently representing
less than 1 per cent of Canadian exports - as the net gain. Moreover, the price of entry may be high, since leaked documents
suggest the deal might require a major overhaul of Canadian
agriculture, investment, intellectual property and culture
protection rules.
While the substance of the TPP is cause for concern, my weekly
technology law column (Toronto
Star version, homepage version) argues the more immediate
issue is the lack of transparency associated with both the
negotiations and Canada's participation in them. The talks remain
shrouded in secrecy, with a draft text that is confidential; public
interest groups are largely banned from the venue where the
negotiations are being held.
Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday December 12, 2012 |
|
View
|
|
Appeared
in the Toronto Star on December 9, 2012 as Secrecy the Standard as
Canada Enters Trans Pacific Partnership Talks
Despite growing opposition in Canada, the Canadian government has
begun formal participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership
negotiations, aimed at establishing one of the world's most
ambitious trade agreements.
As nearly a dozen countries - including the United States,
Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore,
Mexico and Vietnam - gathered in New Zealand last week for the 14th
round of talks, skeptics here have already expressed doubts about
the benefits of the proposed deal.
Canada has free-trade agreements with the United States, Mexico,
Chile and Peru, leaving just six countries - currently representing
less than 1 per cent of Canadian exports - as the net gain.
Moreover, the price of entry may be high, since leaked documents
suggest the deal might require a major overhaul of Canadian
agriculture, investment, intellectual property and culture
protection rules.
While the substance of the TPP is cause for concern, the more
immediate issue is the lack of transparency associated with both the
negotiations and Canada's participation in them. The talks remain
shrouded in secrecy, with a draft text that is confidential; public
interest groups are largely banned from the venue where the
negotiations are being held.
Moreover, the Canadian government has failed to engage openly with
the public on the TPP. Foreign Affairs has created an insider
"consulting group" that will be granted access to secret and
confidential information regarding the negotiations (members of the
group are required to sign a nondisclosure agreement). The
department has not publicly disclosed the existence of the
consulting group or indicated who might be granted privileged access
to otherwise confidential information.
It continues a trend that started earlier this year when the
government launched a public consultation on Canada's potential
participation in the TPP. The public consultation ran for six weeks,
yet the government never revealed the results. The individual
submissions were not posted online and no public report summarizing
the responses was ever published.
Yet, according to documents obtained under the Access to Information
Act, the government was overwhelmed with negative comments urging
officials to resist entry into the TPP and the expected pressures
for significant intellectual property reforms as part of the deal.
In addition to tens of thousands of form letters and emails
criticizing the TPP, the government received hundreds of individual
handcrafted responses that unanimously criticized the proposed
agreement.
A review of more than 400 individual submissions did not identify a
single instance of support for the agreement. Rather, these
submissions typically expressed concern with the prospect of
extending the term of copyright or adopting restrictive digital lock
rules.
The documents also revealed that the Canadian business community was
split on the agreement, with numerous companies and associations
identifying concerns about the potential direction of the TPP.
Leading telecommunications companies, including Bell, Rogers, Shaw
and Telus, cautioned against changes to Internet provider liability
rules; groups representing the blind warned against new restrictions
to accessing digital materials; Oxfam Canada worried about the TPP's
impact on pharmaceutical pricing; and the Canadian Library
Association expressed fears about a reversal of recent changes to
copyright damages rules.
Canada spent months lobbying other governments for entry into the
TPP, despite launching a public consultation that revealed serious
discomfort with Canadian participation. Now, the government seems
committed to keeping the public largely in the dark on where Canada
stands on an agreement that could radically transform our economic
policy.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and
E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can
reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday December 12, 2012 |
|
|
