Archive for November, 2011

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 24: Federation Etudiante Universitaire du Quebec

The Federation of University Students of Quebec represents 15 member associations and roughly 125,000 students in Quebec.  In its submission on Bill C-32, it added its voice to the criticism of digital lock rules, noting that the regulation making process for new exceptions is insufficient and that new exceptions should […]

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November 7, 2011 Comments are Disabled News

What’s the Justification for Warrantless Access to Customer Information?

David Fraser has a great post on lawful access and the government’s inability to “come up with a shred of a justification” for mandatory disclosure of personal information under lawful access.

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November 7, 2011 2 comments News

CANARIE Makes Its Case For a Mandate Renewal

CANARIE, which supports Canada’s research and education networks, appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance to make the case for mandate renewal. President and CEO Jim Roche’s opening remarks can be found here (I am a member of the CANARIE board).

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November 7, 2011 Comments are Disabled News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 23: Canadian Association of Law Libraries

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries currently has approximately 500 members representing a wide variety of law library interests across Canada. It provides a forum for the exchange of information and ideas among members, fosters cooperation among Canadian law libraries, and plays an active role in promoting access to legal information for all Canadians. CALL has addressed digital locks within the context of Bill C-32, noting the implications for access to law:

Libraries and other knowledge institutions are increasingly dependent on works in digital form and are acutely affected by the deployment of TPMs to limit access to or use of copyrighted materials. Vendors should not be permitted to undermine the balanced rights users have been granted by the fair dealing clauses of the Act. Vendors should not be permitted, as part of their business model, to make otherwise fair (and therefore legal) dealings with copyrighted materials effectively illegal. Effecting what is or is not legal in our society is the job of our legislature. To say that this issue is fairly resolved because purchasers have a choice not to buy materials with digital locks is disingenuous and misleading. Vendors often have exclusive rights to sell particular content, and libraries and knowledge institutions have a mandate to meet all of the research and educational needs of their users. It is rarely possible for us to purchase the same content from any alternative vendor, let alone one who has chosen not to prevent what are legal uses of the material under the Copyright Act.

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November 4, 2011 1 comment News

The Legal Side of Gaming’s Digital Revolution

Peter Nowak has a great interview with Maxime Gagne, a lawyer with Heenan Blaikie who represents video game developers. Asked specifically about an exception to the Bill C-11 digital lock rules for private use, Gagne states: I haven’t seen the exception but there could be ways that it’s crafted that […]

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November 4, 2011 10 comments News