Archive for September, 2010
From Rhetoric to Reality: The Key Issues in Bill C-32
CMEC Seeks Leave to Appeal Fair Dealing Decision
The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada has announced that is seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada this summer’s Federal Court of Appeal decision involving fair dealing in education. I discussed the decision here.
Spam Bill Debated in House of Commons
Members of Parliament spent over two hours yesterday debating Bill C-28, the anti-spam bill. A full transcript of the discussion is available here.
U.S. Uses Domain Names As New Way to Regulate the Net
Domain names are widely used to ensure that email is delivered to the right inbox or to allow users to access a particular website. The system includes a large database that matches the domain name (e.g. michaelgeist.ca) to a specific IP address (i.e. the location of the computer server). The system is used billions of times every day to route Internet traffic to its intended destination.
As every Internet user knows, inadvertently entering the wrong email or web address typically means that the email bounces back or takes the user to an unexpected destination. As my weekly technology law column notes (Toronto Star version, homepage version), legislators have now begun to consider the possibility of intentionally stopping access to certain sites by ordering Internet providers to block access to their domain names.
Canadian Digital Music Sales Growing Faster Than U.S. in 2010
Nielsen Soundscan reports that Canadian digital music sales grew outpaced the U.S. during the first six months of 2010. This continues a longstanding trend as Canadian sales have grown faster than the U.S. each year since 2006.