Archive for December, 2007

RCMP Demonstrates That Movie Piracy Law Unnecessary

Throughout the debate over Bill C-59, Canada's fast-tracked anti-camcording law, I consistently argued that there was no need for additional legislation since the Copyright Act was already well-equipped to deal with problem (documents obtained under the Access to Information Act reveal that that was the view of Department of Justice […]

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December 5, 2007 7 comments News

Prentice To Oppose Canadian Universities

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has issued its position paper on copyright reform.  If the bill coming next week is as expected, Industry Minister Jim Prentice will be issuing a major rejection of the concerns of Canada's higher education community.  The AUCC has listed four recommendations – […]

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December 5, 2007 2 comments News

Ten Questions for Industry Minister Jim Prentice

CBC's Search Engine received hundreds of questions for Industry Minister Jim Prentice on the forthcoming copyright bill, yet the Minister advised the program yesterday that he would not take any questions until the bill is introduced.  Prentice's unwillingness to respond to Canadians' concerns speaks volumes, but on the assumption that he will eventually defend his Canadian DMCA, I would ask the following ten questions:

1.   After you unveiled the government's approach to the release of new spectrum, you indicated that you granted a full hour to each company involved in the issue to state their case.  It has also been reported that you have met with U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins on the copyright issue.  Would you please advise which other stakeholders you've met with on copyright reform?  Have you personally met with consumer groups, privacy commissioners, education groups, researchers, and creator groups such as the Canadian Music Creators Coalition and Appropriation Art, to hear their concerns?

2.   The public was last consulted on digital copyright reform more than six years ago in 2001.  Given the dramatic change since that time, why has the government not consulted the public on this issue before introducing major copyright reforms? Given the lack of consultation, will the government commit to full committee hearings that grants everyone who wants to appear the right to do so?

3.   While the government is clearly committed to implementing the WIPO Internet treaties, those treaties feature considerable flexibility.  Leaving aside the debate over whether the treaties are good policy for Canada, there is no debating that Canada need not adopt a maximalist, U.S.-style DMCA in order to be compliant with the treaties.  Given that flexibility (which was embraced in the 2005 Bill C-60 bill that died on the order paper), why would you revert unnecessarily to a more restrictive approach?

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December 4, 2007 13 comments News

Passport Canada Suffers Massive Privacy Breach

The Globe and Mail reports that Passport Canada has suffered a massive privacy breach that resulted in online availability of applicant information. I argue that this again highlights the need for mandatory security breach notification legislation. Update: The incident is raised during Question Period on the floor of the House […]

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December 4, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

RCMP Says Ebay Not Cooperating With Investigation

An RCMP officer says that eBay is trying to hide a "hijacking" problem that has victimized about one thousand Canadians since 2000. Update: eBay has responded, arguing it is an "Internet" problem, not an eBay problem. 

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December 4, 2007 1 comment News