Archive for May, 2006

Supreme Court Tips Its Hand on Privacy

Appeared on May 8, 2006 in the Toronto Star as Supreme Court Tips Its Hand on Privacy The Access to Information Act has generated increasing attention over the past few months as Prime Minister Steven Harper has acknowledged the need for its reform as part of his accountability plans for […]

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May 8, 2006 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Online Rights Canada Launches Grassroots Copyright Campaign

Online Rights Canada, a joint initiative of EFF and CIPPIC, has launched an important new grassroots campaign on copyright reform.  With Canadian musicians speaking out in favour of balance, ORC is ensuring that individual Canadians can easily have their voice heard as well.  The campaign makes it easy to write […]

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May 7, 2006 Comments are Disabled News

SSHRC Backtracks on Open Access

Disappointing news from Peter Suber’s excellent Open Access blog, where he reports that the SSHRC has slowed down its quest to adopt open access principles into its research approach.  In October 2004, SSHRC decided to move toward an open access approach that would increase access to its (publicly) funded research.  Following consultations, the funding agency has now stated that "the idea of open access to all research is widely accepted, but presents a number of implementation obstacles, and the community is by and large cautious. Rather than imposing mandatory requirements on researchers to publish via open access, Council chose to increase awareness of open access, pursue discussions with major stakeholders, and gradually incorporate open access provisions in research support programs."

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May 7, 2006 1 comment News

WIPO Broadcast Treaty Lurches Forward

Reports from Geneva indicate that five days of discussion at WIPO has led to a compromise on the proposed Broadcasting Treaty with a two-track approach that removes highly contentious webcast  provisions from the conventional broadcast treaty.  While this is good news, the entire broadcast treaty is a solution in search […]

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May 7, 2006 3 comments News

The Census and Open Source

Several people have written to me about the federal government’s online census system, which is open only to Windows and Mac users.  Russell provides a good analysis of the security issues raised by the approach.

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May 7, 2006 1 comment News