Yesterday I posted a link to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association's letter to the editor responding to my recent text-message column. The letter claims that my comment that "consumers pay more, but get less" is inaccurate. Yet consider the claims made in the letter: "recent figures from Merrill Lynch confirm […]
Post Tagged with: "cwta"
Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Ringtone Decision
The Federal Court of Canada has issued its decision (not yet online) in the judicial review of the Copyright Board of Canada's ringtone decision. The court upheld the decision, marking a big win for SOCAN and a loss for the wireless providers (CWTA, Bell Mobility, Telus) who challenged the Board's decision. The court addressed two primary issues – first, whether the transmission of a ringtone to a cellphone is a "communication" under the Copyright Act and second, whether it is a "communication to the public." While the wireless carriers argued that a communication must only include a transmission that is intended to be heard simultaneously or immediately upon transmission, the court disagreed, ruling that "the wireless transmission of a musical ringtone to a cellphone is a communication, whether the owner of the cellphone accesses it immediately in order to hear the music, or at some later time."
The potentially more important line of reasoning involves whether the transmission of the ringtone is a "communication to the public."
CWTA on Lawful Access
"CWTA is not aware of even a single circumstance when law enforcement has demonstrated an inability to obtain CNA information from the wireless industry. CWTA notes that the types of 'basic identifiers' sought for wireless services go well beyond what virtually anyone would consider basic."
Canada’s Communications Outlook: Average At Best
The OECD has just released its Communications Outlook 2007. The report contains an incredible amount of comparative data on phone, broadband, and broadcast markets in all OECD countries. Each country will look for its own rankings (US, UK, Australia), but there has yet to be much Canadian coverage with the […]
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