Tyler Hamilton at the Toronto Star is reporting that Toronto Hydro is set to announce plans for a city-wide municipal wifi initiative that could launch as soon as this fall. After months of watching similar developments occur in the U.S., it is great to see this come to Canada.
Latest Posts
Access Copyright’s Distribution Fact Finding Study
In addition to the launch of the Public Domain Registry project, Access Copyright has also announced plans to study its distribution system. The Creators' Copyright Coalition reports: "Access Copyright' s newly announced fact-finding process is a response to a proposal several creator organizations made to the agency last summer. The […]
OAK Law Project
The Queensland University of Technology has launched the Open Access to Knowledge Law Project. The project sounds like an exciting initiative as it will develop legal protocols for managing copyright issues in an open access environment and investigate provision and implementation of a rights expression language for implementing such protocols […]
Music and the Market
In case you missed it, last week CRIA was back in the news claiming that Canadian copyright law is in need of reform, arguing that Canadian digital download sales have not met expectations. The copyright lobby group chose to focus on sales of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl. In the U.S., the song has become the first to reach one million paid downloads. By comparison, in Canada it has hit 20,000 paid downloads. CRIA argues that based on population and broadband penetration rates, the Canadian figure should be 150,000.
I find this argument rather remarkable. CRIA is obviously hoping to convince Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier that the Canadian digital music market has been hurt by the absence of anti-circumvention legislation, yet the notion that music sales are a function of population size and broadband access is certainly subject to challenge.
Online Gambling Ad Bill Advances to Committee
The Ontario online gambling advertising bill, introduced as a private member’s bill, appears to have some life. The bill has received second reading and is headed to committee. John Gregory reports that the bill has support from the Woodbine Entertainment Group, which may be looking to protect its horse racing […]
Recent Posts
Debating the Online Harms Act: Insights from Two Recent Panels on Bill C-63 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 199: Boris Bytensky on the Criminal Code Reforms in the Online Harms Act 
AI Spending is Not an AI Strategy: Why the Government’s Artificial Intelligence Plan Avoids the Hard Governance Questions 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 198: Richard Moon on the Return of the Section 13 Hate Speech Provision in the Online Harms Act 
Tweets Are Not Enough: Why Combatting Relentless Antisemitism in Canada Requires Real Leadership and Action
