Archive for March, 2011

U.S. Paper Says No Decline in New Music In Napster Age

A new paper by Joel Waldfogel, an economist at the University of Minnesota and NBER, finds no evidence that Napster and P2P have resulted in a reduction in recorded music or new artists coming to market.  The study also finds that independent music labels are playing an increasingly important role […]

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March 22, 2011 9 comments News

LSE Study Says P2P Should Be Encouraged to Promote Innovation

The London School of Economic Media Policy Project has released a new study that criticizes recent UK reforms for failing to strike the right balance between copyright enforcement and innovation. The report finds that P2P should be encouraged to promote innovative applications and that offering user-friendly, fairly priced services is […]

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March 22, 2011 1 comment News

Cdn Heritage Ctee Recommends Excluding Copyright From Trade Deals, Limits on Implementing ACTA

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has released its report on CETA and ACTA.  The report, which is based on hearings that featured Minister Peter van Loan, includes a notable recommendation with respect to ACTA implementation and future trade negotiations, including the ongoing Canada – European Union Trade Agreement discussions.  […]

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March 21, 2011 4 comments News

BCE CEO Cope Says UBB Accounts for Almost All Internet Revenue Gains

When Bell’s Mirko Bibic appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry to answer questions on usage based billing last month, he focused on the “fairness” associated with the billing approach. Using the word “fairness” seven times, Bibic mixed congestion, heavy users, and fairness with responses such as:

As for small businesses, which are generally on the same network as residential users, what you have is really a case where the congestion during peak periods is largely a residential phenomenon. It’s in that area that we’ve addressed the usage-based billing issue, and all we’re asking the CRTC for is to follow a fundamental principle of fairness. If we asked 97% or 98% of Canadians if they would be prepared to pay more so that the 2% of heaviest users pay less, I’m pretty sure of what the answer would be.

While Bell emphasized fairness once UBB became a political hot potato, the company had a far different emphasis when discussing UBB last year with financial analysts.  In an August 2010 quarterly call, BCE CEO George Cope stated:

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March 21, 2011 80 comments News

Government Launches Open Gov Initiative

One day after formally launching a Canadian open data portal, the federal governmental on Friday unveiled a new Open Government initative. The Open Gov initiative includes three prongs: open data, open information, and open dialogue. The most noteworthy change is a new requirement that all government departments must proactively release […]

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March 21, 2011 1 comment News