Archive for May, 2013

The Canadian Government’s Embarrassing Opposition to Security Breach Disclosure Legislation

Last week, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released her vision of privacy reform, including the need for security breach disclosure legislation, order-making power, and greater transparency of warrantless disclosure. On the same day as Commissioner Stoddart released her position paper, the government was embarrassing itself in the House of Commons by formally opposing security breach disclosure legislation on the weakest of grounds. The opposition to meaningful privacy reform is particularly discouraging given the thousands of breaches that have occurred in recent years from within the government itself and its claims to be concerned with the privacy of Canadians.

The government introduced legislation featuring security breach disclosure requirements in Bill C-12 in September 2011 (itself a reintroduction of the former C-29 that was first introduced in 2010).  Since first reading, the bill has not moved. It would take very little for the government to complete second reading and send the bill for study to committee, yet more than a year and a half later, the bill languishes, certain to die this summer when the government hits the parliamentary reset button. Frustrated by the inexplicable delays, NDP MP Charmaine Borg introduced a private member’s bill in February (C-475) that includes a mandatory security breach requirement roughly similar to the government’s own bill. 

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May 27, 2013 3 comments News

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Sets Out Targets for PIPEDA Reform

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart this morning set out her office’s goals for PIPEDA reform. The last attempt to reform the private sector privacy law stalled in the House of Commons with Bill C-12 still technically alive (having been sitting at second reading for months) but destined to die […]

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May 23, 2013 2 comments News

The Copyright Pentalogy: Copyright Collective Management

This week I wrote about the need for reform of the Copyright Board of Canada. Copyright collective management is addressed in two chapters of The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law, an effort by many of Canada’s leading copyright scholars to begin the process of examining the long-term implications of the copyright pentalogy. As I’ve noted in previous posts, the book is available for purchase and is also available as a free download under a Creative Commons licence. The book can be downloaded in its entirety or each of the 14 chapters can be downloaded individually.

First, the complexity of copyright collective management is a recurring theme in debates over whether the Copyright Board of Canada, the Copyright Act and industry practice result in multiple payments for use of the same works. Jeremy de Beer describes this as “copyright royalty stacking” in his important chapter that unpacks “the layering of multiple payments for permission – through a certified tariff, collective blanket license or individual contract-to use copyright – protected subject matter.”

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May 22, 2013 Comments are Disabled News

Canadian Library Association on Access Copyright Lawsuit

The Canadian Library Association issued a statement late last week on the Access Copyright lawsuit filed against York University, urging it to abandon the lawsuit and pointing to several legal concerns.

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May 21, 2013 1 comment News

Competition Bureau To Investigate Google Canada

The National Post reports that the Competition Bureau of Canada plans to launch an investigation into Google Canada. The scope of the investigation is unknown.

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May 21, 2013 Comments are Disabled News