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Rob Hyndman points to today's embarrassing Globe and Mail article on movie piracy ("Pirates of the Canadians"), noting that the article smacks of a planted public relations piece.  I certainly agree that the article continues a build-up toward new copyright legislation.  I have two further points.  First, I'd have no […]

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January 13, 2007 16 comments News

Reading Materials

There are two new European Commission-commissioned reports worth checking out.  First, there is a lengthy study [PDF] on the economic impact of open source software that provides numbers that should get the attention of politicians and policy makers worldwide.  The study estimates that it would cost 12 billion euros (over C$18 billion) to reproduce the same software code of current quality FLOSS applications.  Moreover, the number of new software applications is doubling every 18 – 24 months.  It further finds an 800 million euro voluntary contribution by software programmers.  The industry impact is breathtaking with estimates that firms representing 263 billion euro in revenue and 565,000 jobs have invested 1.2 billion euro in FLOSS software that is then made freely available.  In short, the direct and indirect economic impact is very significant and must surely form a more integral part of any national economic and ICT strategy.

The EC has also released a study[PDF] completed by the exceptional Institute for Information Law on the harmonization of European copyright law. 

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January 12, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

UK To Open Access to Legal Database

The BBC has the details on what is described as a "sea-change" in the way government information becomes available to the public.

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January 12, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

Copyright and Digital Markets

Canadian Press is reporting this evening that the introduction of a copyright reform bill is imminent, with the article stating that "sources say the new legislation is ready, but Heritage Minister Bev Oda and [Industry Minister Maxime] Bernier are struggling on final wording that gives each the maximum political brownie points."  The article, which features comments from myself, CRIA's Graham Henderson, and Howard Knopf, does a good job of highlighting at least two of the key issues – fair use and digital markets – that will be front and centre once the legislation is introduced.

As is the case in many other countries (Australia, UK, New Zealand), there is a growing awareness of the limits of fair dealing/fair use, particularly with respect to time/place/device shifting.  Consumers rightly take for granted that they have the right to record a television show or a copy a CD for their iPod.  Under current Canadian copyright law, such activities are at best in a legal grey zone.  Unless the government addresses the fair use issue, expect Canadians (and the media) to be very vocal about the failure to address a fundamental issue in need of reform.

Another issue that will garner considerable attention is the question of digital markets.  Graham Henderson hints at the issue in his comments, when he suggests that anti-circumvention legislation is needed to facilitate the development of new digital services, comparing the popularity of services in the U.S. with those in Canada. This argument represents a clever sleight of hand that confuses the facilitation of new services with the popularity and market acceptance of those services. 

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January 11, 2007 8 comments News

Libraries in the Digital Age

The Globe and Mail features a terrific article today on the transformation of community libraries.  Far from disappearing in the digital age, libraries are experiencing dramatic increases in both visits and circulation.  The article notes that the Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal gets 8,000 visitors per day, while other libraries are […]

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January 10, 2007 3 comments News