Columns

Canada’s Grassroots National Digital Library Takes Shape

Last week, the European Commission released The New Renaissance, an expert report on efforts to digitize Europe’s cultural heritage. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that Europe has been particularly aggressive about its digitization efforts, developing Europeana, an online portal currently featuring more than 15 million works of art, books, music, and film, as well as the European Library, which provides access to 24 million pages of full-text scanned by 14 national libraries.

Several European countries have set very ambitious digitization goals. The National Library of the Netherlands has committed to digitizing everything – all Dutch books, newspapers and periodicals dating back to 1470. The National Library of Norway set a similar goal in 2005, setting in motion plans to digitize its entire collection that now includes 170,000 books, 250,000 newspapers, 610,000 hours of radio broadcasts, 200,000 hours of television and 500,000 photographs.

Building on those efforts, the report recommended that public domain works be digitized with public funding and be made freely available for access and re-use. It also called on lawmakers to develop policies to facilitate the digitization of works still subject to copyright protection.

Canada could have attempted something similar years ago by committing to its own national digital library. Library and Archives Canada was given responsibility for the issue but was unable to muster the necessary support for a comprehensive plan. Last year, it published a final report on its national digital information strategy, noting that it â€œbrings to a close LAC’s role as facilitator of the consultations.â€

January 19, 2011 — 2 comments — Columns

The Roadmap to a Compromise on Bill C-32

Yesterday I posted on the urgent need for Canadians to speak out on Bill C-32, with the committee examining the bill inviting email submissions until January 31, 2011. The post included links to several background posts on the bill, digital locks, and fair dealing. A more specific proposal on digital lock reforms can be found here. This week I also have a guest op-ed in the Hill Times (HT version, homepage version) that suggests that the roadmap to a compromise on Bill C-32 can be found among the various policy comments from the political parties late last year.

January 18, 2011 — 10 comments — Columns

Supreme Court Will Lead Tech Law in 2011

Predictions about the upcoming year in technology law and policy in Canada are particularly challenging given the prospect of a possible election. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that while there is no shortage of potential new laws – bills on privacy, copyright, and lawful access are all before the House of Commons – an election call before the fall would likely mean that those bills would die on the order paper.

With political uncertainty clouding even the best crystal ball, the Supreme Court of Canada is set to emerge this year as the place where much of the action will take place. Canada’s highest court has lined up a tech-heavy docket that will have a major impact Canadian law.

January 11, 2011 — 5 comments — Columns

The Letters of the Law: 2010 in Tech Law from A to Z

The past twelve months in law and technology were exceptionally active, with the passage of anti-spam legislation, record penalties for violating the do-not-call list, and relentless lobbying on new Canadian copyright legislation. A look back at 2010 from A to Z (Toronto Star version, homepage version):

A is for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which concluded in October with a watered-down treaty after the U.S. caved on several controversial Internet issues.

B is for Black v. Breeden, an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling involving postings on the Hollinger International, Inc. website that Conrad Black claimed were defamatory.

C is for Crookes v. Newton, the high-profile Supreme Court case that addressed the liability hyperlinks between websites.

D is for the do-not-call list, which gained new life when the CRTC pressured Bell into paying $1.3 million for multiple violations of the list rules.

E is for the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, the initial name of Canada’s anti-spam legislation that received royal assent in December, six years after a task force recommended new Canadian spam laws.

December 28, 2010 — 12 comments — Columns

Canadian Education Faces Technology Tipping Point

Canadian universities and colleges have undergone a remarkable technological transformation over the past decade. Ten years ago laptops were relatively rare in classrooms, yet today virtually every student comes to buildings outfitted with electric outlets and Internet connectivity at each seat equipped with one. Course websites were once little more than places to post a syllabus and a list of readings, but today they feature podcasts, webcasts, the actual course readings, and space for ongoing discussion and debate.

While technology has become a core part of the educational process, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes it has often been treated as a complement â€“ rather than a replacement â€“ for traditional educational materials. Libraries still spend hundreds of millions of dollars on physical books and journals, some professors still generate paper-based coursepacks, and the schools themselves still pay millions of dollars in copying licensing fees.

The two-track approach may have made initial sense, but the costs of maintaining both are increasingly forcing universities to consider whether technology can replace conventional approaches. The tipping point toward using technology as a replacement may have come this year when Access Copyright, the copyright collective that licenses copying on Canadian campuses, demanded a significant increase in the fees associated with photocopying articles and producing printed coursepacks.

December 23, 2010 — 11 comments — Columns