NDP MP Charlie Angus has issued a press release calling on Industry Minister Jim Prentice to abide by the government's commitment to table international treaties in the House of Commons before introducing ratifying legislation by tabling the WIPO Internet treaties before introducing copyright reform legislation. Last week, the Conservatives unveiled […]
Archive for January 29th, 2008
Angus Calls for WIPO Debate Before Copyright Bill
NDP MP Charlie Angus has issued a press release calling on Industry Minister Jim Prentice to abide by the government's commitment to table international treaties in the House of Commons before introducing ratifying legislation by tabling the WIPO Internet treaties before introducing copyright reform legislation. Last week, the Conservatives unveiled […]
ISPs Face New Role in Network Control
My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, BBC version, homepage version) focuses on the failure of the DRM, content-locking strategy and the move toward locking down the Internet. I note that this approach envisions requiring Internet service providers to install filtering and content monitoring technologies within their networks. ISPs would then become private network police, actively monitoring for content that might infringe copyright and stopping it from reaching subscribers' computers.
The support for locking down the Internet revives an old debate – the appropriate role and responsibility of ISPs for the activities that take place on their networks.
Fair Copyright for Canada Local Chapter Meetings
Manitoba had one last week, Toronto is planning one for mid-February.
Norwegian Public Broadcaster Uses BitTorrent for Content Distribution
BoingBoing points to a new initiative by the Norwegian public broadcaster to distribute one of its most popular programs without DRM via BitTorrent.