Archive for April, 2011

Wikileaks on New Zealand Copyright: US Funds IP Enforcement, Offers to Draft Legislation

This week I published multiple posts Wikileaks cables revelations on the U.S. lobbying pressure on Canadian copyright including attempts to embarrass Canada, joint efforts with lobby groups such as CRIA, and secret information disclosures from PCO to U.S. embassy personnel (posts here, here, here, here, here, and here). Wikileaks has also just posted hundreds of cables from U.S. personnel in New Zealand that reveal much the same story including regular government lobbying, offers to draft New Zealand three-strikes and you’re out legislation, and a recommendation to spend over NZ$500,000 to fund a recording industry-backed IP enforcement initiative. Interestingly, the cables regularly recommend against including New Zealand on the Special 301 list, despite the similarities to Canadian copyright law that always garner vocal criticism.

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April 30, 2011 21 comments News

A Wikileaks Cable to Call My Own

Among the Wikileaks cables released on Canada, is one devoted to summarizing a meeting I had with embassy officials in April 2007. At the meeting I noted the shift away from DRM, doubts about camcording claims, and calls for fair use.

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April 29, 2011 9 comments News

Wikileaks Cable: CMPDA Supports Notice-and-Notice System

A Wikileaks cable from 2005 reveals that the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association, the Canadian arm of the MPAA, told the U.S. embassy that it supports the notice-and-notice approach for ISP liability.  The cable states that “in CMPDA’s view, the advent of peer-to-peer filesharing has lessened the need for notice-and-takedown, […]

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April 29, 2011 Comments are Disabled News

Wikileaks Cable: What Makes for Good Canadian Heritage Minister

A Wikileaks cable discussing the entry of satellite radio into Canada discusses what makes for an effective Canadian Heritage Minister.  According to the cable (which criticizes former Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla), “Canadian Heritage ministers must be strong enough to disappoint that core constituency in order to strike compromises with […]

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April 29, 2011 4 comments News

Wikileaks Cables Show Massive U.S. Effort to Establish Canadian DMCA

Wikileaks has released dozens of new U.S. cables that demonstrate years of behind the scenes lobbying by U.S. government officials to pressure Canada into implementing a Canadian DMCA. The cables include confirmation that Prime Minister Harper personally promised U.S. President George Bush at the SPP summit in Montebello, Quebec in 2008 that Canada would pass copyright legislation, U.S. government lines on copyright reform that include explicit support for DMCA-style digital lock rules, and the repeated use of the Special 301 process to “embarrass” Canada into action. In fact, cables even reveal Canadian officials encouraging the U.S. to maintain the pressure and disclosing confidential information.

This post highlights some of the key cables. An earlier post discussed confirmation that public pressure delayed the introduction of a copyright bill in 2008 and a parallel post focuses on the linkages between CRIA and the U.S. government lobbying effort.

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April 29, 2011 32 comments News