Archive for May, 2011

The Lawful Access Legislation: Does it Really Criminalize Linking & Anonymity?

The government’s plans to include lawful access provisions within its omnibus crime bill has attracted mounting attention in recent days as many commentators express concern that the legislation could create criminal liability for linking to content that incites hatred and for using anonymous or false names online. The concerns started at the Free Dominion site and have since spread to Brian Lilley at the Toronto Sun and Jesse Brown’s blog at Maclean’s.

As I have argued for a long time, there are many reasons to be concerned with lawful access. The government has never provided adequate evidence on the need for it, it has never been subject to committee review, it would mandate disclosure of some personal information without court oversight, it would establish a massive ISP regulatory process (including employee background checks), it would install broad new surveillance technologies, and it would cost millions (without a sense of who actually pays). Given these problems, it is not surprising to find that every privacy commissioner in Canada has signed a joint letter expressing their concerns.

Yet while lawful access raises many issues (such that it clearly does not belong in an omnibus bill placed on the fast track), I do not believe that creating criminal liability for linking or anonymous speech are among them.

May 11, 2011 — 26 comments — News

Conservative Majority Gives Ottawa A Crack At Breaking The Digital Logjam

My weekly technology column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) reviews many of the points raised in a blog post last week on the future of digital policies in Canada given the majority Conservative government. It is hard to project precisely what will happen; given the number of open cabinet positions it is not known whether Industry Minister Tony Clement and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore will remain in their portfolios or move elsewhere. If they stay the course, the Conservative digital policies are strong in a number of areas.

May 10, 2011 — 10 comments — Columns

Government Reaffirms Plans for Lawful Access

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews yesterday re-affirmed the government’s commitment to passing lawful access legislation within 100 sitting days.

May 10, 2011 — 5 comments — News

New Zealand Angry Over US IP Watch List

Add New Zealand to the growing list of countries upset over this year’s USTR Special 301 list. Opposition politicians and independent academics view the placement as gearing up for the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations and an attempt to increase drug prices in the country.

May 10, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — News

Billboard Article Changes Tune on Canadian Copyright Reform

Last week, Billboard ran an article on what the Conservative majority government might mean for copyright reform. The article placed the spotlight on the sharp divide between the Canadian Recording Industry Association on one side and much of the remainder of the music industry on the other. While CRIA was one of Bill C-32’s most vocal supporters (aided by its Balanced Copyright for Canada site), many other music associations including collectives, songwriters, and publishers were sharply critical. This divide came through in the original article, noting that CRIA’s Graham Henderson told Billboard.biz that “he believes 90 percent of C-32 was agreed upon by members of the music industry ‘with just a difference of opinions on a couple of things'”.

That comment led to a sharp rebuke from Catherine Saxberg of the Canadian Music Publishers Association:

May 9, 2011 — 7 comments — News