The Canadian Press is reporting that several musicians from the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, including Steven Page, Andrew Cash, and Brendan Canning, are in Ottawa today meeting with senior government officials. The report says the musicians met with Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda and were […]
Articles by: Michael Geist
Supreme Court Tips Its Hand on Privacy
Appeared on May 8, 2006 in the Toronto Star as Supreme Court Tips Its Hand on Privacy The Access to Information Act has generated increasing attention over the past few months as Prime Minister Steven Harper has acknowledged the need for its reform as part of his accountability plans for […]
Online Rights Canada Launches Grassroots Copyright Campaign
Online Rights Canada, a joint initiative of EFF and CIPPIC, has launched an important new grassroots campaign on copyright reform. With Canadian musicians speaking out in favour of balance, ORC is ensuring that individual Canadians can easily have their voice heard as well. The campaign makes it easy to write […]
SSHRC Backtracks on Open Access
Disappointing news from Peter Suber’s excellent Open Access blog, where he reports that the SSHRC has slowed down its quest to adopt open access principles into its research approach. In October 2004, SSHRC decided to move toward an open access approach that would increase access to its (publicly) funded research. Following consultations, the funding agency has now stated that "the idea of open access to all research is widely accepted, but presents a number of implementation obstacles, and the community is by and large cautious. Rather than imposing mandatory requirements on researchers to publish via open access, Council chose to increase awareness of open access, pursue discussions with major stakeholders, and gradually incorporate open access provisions in research support programs."
WIPO Broadcast Treaty Lurches Forward
Reports from Geneva indicate that five days of discussion at WIPO has led to a compromise on the proposed Broadcasting Treaty with a two-track approach that removes highly contentious webcast provisions from the conventional broadcast treaty. While this is good news, the entire broadcast treaty is a solution in search […]