Archive for March, 2008

Bell Secretly Throttling Wholesale Internet Services? – UPDATED

Internet chat boards are buzzing with concerns that Bell has begun throttling Internet traffic for its wholesale services.  In other words, third party ISPs that buy their connectivity from Bell ("resellers") are being left with irate customers who are suddenly subject to packet shaped services.  Apparently Bell did not inform […]

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March 24, 2008 79 comments News

H&R Block’s Privacy Policy

A reader points to the H&R Block Canada privacy policy, which includes the following gem for Canadians handing over their personal tax information: Due to H&R US's location in the United States, and in instances where your personal information is processed or stored by another affiliate or service provider in […]

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March 24, 2008 10 comments News

EU Complains About Lack of U.S. Copyright Compliance

Michael Factor points to a release late last week by Ambassador John Bruton, the head of the European Commission Delegation to the United States, complaining about the failure of the United States to live up to its international copyright obligations.

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March 24, 2008 Comments are Disabled News

ComputerWorld Canada on Copyright Reform

ITWorld Canada features an editorial warning the technical community of the dangers of copyright reform, arguing that "a piece of legislation that views TPM circumvention in black and white will only harm Canadian industries and consumers, effectively trumping their fair use rights in the process. And fair dealing should be […]

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March 24, 2008 1 comment News

The CBC’s Next Great Way To Distribute Content

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses again on the CBC's decision to distribute the finale of Canada's Next Great Prime Minister without DRM on BitTorrent. The use of BitTorrent may come as a surprise to those who mistakenly equate file sharing solely with infringing activities.  BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer technologies are finding increasing favour with legitimate businesses attracted to its ability to distribute content in an efficient, cost-effective fashion. 

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March 24, 2008 6 comments Columns