In 1906, Adam Beck, a provincial cabinet minister from London, Ontario, introduced a bill that created the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. Adopting "Power for the People" as his slogan, Beck vigorously fought corporate interests who wanted to keep electricity in private hands. He pushed for a public utility that […]
Archive for February, 2005
The Continuing Saga of Internet Jurisdiction
The Financial Times runs a story on the continuing saga of Internet jurisdiction with a particular focus on the Yahoo! France case, which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed to rehear. While the business community argues that the case could have a devastating effect on e-commerce, I'm quoted as saying that the world has moved on since the case was brought and most big companies now understand that they risk foreign judgments based on their web presence.
Copyright and Faith in the Free Market – Now in the Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen features my column which focuses on the Canadian recording industry's rejection of alternative compensation systems on the grounds that it prefers to rely on the free market. The column notes that the industry has been a leading proponent of government involvement, consistently seeking both financial support and legislative intervention.
Lawful Access Back on The Canadian Agenda
The Toronto Star today reports what has been an open secret for a couple of months now — the Canadian government is moving forward with its lawful access agenda. For those new to the issue, lawful access would require network providers to establish new capabilities to allow for real-time network surveillance.
Copyright Conference Talk Now Online
I recently gave a keynote address at the University of Toronto's Sound Bytes, Sound Rights conference. The talk is titled Canada's Choice: Copyright, Culture and the Internet. The webcast of the talk is now online in Real format.