Appeared in the Toronto Star on December 18, 2006 as Decisions, Disputes that Shaped Technology in '06 This past year in law and technology has been marked by a series of noteworthy developments including the explosive interest in user-generated content, the emergence of several artists-backed copyright coalitions, and the arrival […]
Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP
Copyright
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year
Time Magazine has named "you" – the rise of citizen journalism, blogging, and user-generated content – as its person of the year. I'm not sure about the person part, but it certainly was among the most noteworthy developments. As I was preparing my A to Z year-end piece (out tomorrow), […]
NZ Copyright Reform
Kim Weatherall has an insightful post on New Zealand's copyight reform package. The TPM provisions are particularly noteworthy as they link anti-circumvention with copyright infringement and in the process rebut claims by CRIA and others that Bill C-60 stood alone in its approach.
Copyright Board Looking for a New Board Member
The Copyright Board of Canada is advertising for a new board member to fill a current vacancy. If you're interested, check out the vacancy notice and the selection criteria.
Digital Info Strategy Requires Courage Before Cash
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines efforts in Canada to develop a national digital information strategy in light of a national summit on the issue held last week in Montebello, Quebec. The column notes that the good news is that many provincial governments and organizations are not waiting for Ottawa to act, citing initiatives by the Alberta and Quebec governments, Alouette Canada, Synergies, the McCord Museum, and the blossoming of user generated content.
This enormous energy suggests that digitization will flourish regardless of whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda adopt a formal strategy. However, despite the good news, the summit also left little doubt that there are immediate steps that can be taken to pave the way for even more.
In fact, I argue that the federal government would do well to resist introducing expensive new initiatives by first maximizing the benefits that can be extracted from the current set of policies and programs.
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