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Canadian Cultural Policy Must Adapt to an Internet World

My weekly Law Bytes column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) focuses on the need to adapt Canadian cultural policy to an Internet world.  Given our easy access to Hollywood movies and U.S. television programming, it is unsurprising that Canadians have long placed great emphasis on cultural policies. To avoid marginalizing homegrown talent, Canada has set Canadian content as a key objective in the Broadcasting Act, established foreign ownership restrictions within the cultural industries, and safeguarded cultural policies in its international trade agreements.  

As a result, Canadian television and radio broadcasters must be Canadian-owned and comply with Canadian content requirements, while funding programs at the federal and provincial level help the Canadian cultural sector compete on the global stage. These policies have enjoyed a measure of success – Canadian musicians and children's television programming are particularly noteworthy in this regard – however the emergence of the Internet and new media is rendering many current policies increasingly irrelevant.

I argue that two pillars of Canadian cultural policy need to be reconsidered.  

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July 3, 2007 1 comment Columns

The Tyee on Telus’ Notice and Takedown Demands

The Tyee has a good article on Telus' use of the U.S. notice and takedown system to demand the takedown of videos over which they do not hold copyright.

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July 3, 2007 2 comments News

Does Film Piracy Help or Hurt the Box Office?

CNET focuses on the Internet release of Sicko and its performance at the box office.

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July 3, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

LSAT Fingerprinting Finding Posted

CIPPIC has posted a copy of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's preliminary finding on the requirement for LSAT test-takers to provide a fingerprint.

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July 3, 2007 3 comments News

CRTC Releases CTF Report

The CRTC has released its report on the Canadian Television Fund. The report leaves no doubt that payments must continue, but does seek to build in some flexibility in how CTF money gets spent, including a new envelope for new media.

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June 29, 2007 Comments are Disabled News