Columns

Government Keeps ACTA Consultation Results Under Wraps

Earlier this year, many Canadians were taken aback by reports of a secret trade agreement that conjured up images of iPod-searching border guards and tough new penalties for every day activities.  The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, currently being negotiated by Canada, the United States, Japan, the European Union, and a handful other countries, generated sufficient public concern such that then-Industry Minister Jim Prentice specifically denied any links between the treaty and proposed new legislation.

While the ACTA debate has largely disappeared from the public radar screen, the negotiations continue. Over the summer, I reported about attempts to establish a private consultation committee composed of industry groups that excluded public interest organizations.  The status of the consultation committee remains unknown, but my latest technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) reports on newly obtained documents [13 MB] under the Access to Information Act that provide additional insights into the secretive nature of the negotiations as well as the results of a limited public consultation conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs in the spring.

The documents confirm that two countries – the United States and Japan – have emerged as the primary supporters and drafters of the treaty.  Countries have met three times in recent months to discuss elements of the treaty with those two countries providing draft treaty language to the other participants just prior to the formal meeting. For example, in late May, the U.S. and Japan forwarded draft treaty language on new border measures provisions to the Canadian delegation, two weeks before a round of talks in Washington.  According to Australian officials, subsequent meetings in Geneva and Tokyo addressed statutory damages and criminal provisions for unauthorized camcording. The next meeting is set for Brussels in early December with Internet issues on the agenda.

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November 3, 2008 25 comments Columns

Canadian Podcasting Royalty Down But Not Out

In the annals of Canadian copyright royalty fights, few can match Tariff 22 for pure stamina and longevity.  First introduced in 1995 by SOCAN, thirteen years later the proposal is still the source of much disagreement.  Indeed, years after the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an attempt to implement a tariff on Internet service providers for the music transmitted over their networks, the Copyright Board of Canada issued a new decision on Friday that addressed the prospect of establishing a royalty on hundreds of thousands of websites ranging from social network giants such as Facebook to thousands of Canadian podcasters.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that while Friday's decision is not limited to social networks and podcasters – the decision established royalty rates for, among others, Internet-based radio stations that are deemed to be high users of music (5.3 percent of revenues), electronic games sites (0.8 percent of revenues), and non-commercial radio station webcasts (1.9 percent) – it is the "other sites" category that encompasses everyone from MySpace to a solitary website featuring a small amount of music that will rightly attract the most attention.

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October 27, 2008 4 comments Columns

Canadian Political Parties Practice Politics 1.0 in a Web 2.0 World

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) assess the use of the Internet in the last election.  Business increasingly recognizes the need for an Internet strategy that engages current and prospective customers.  In the just-concluded national election, many analysts anticipated an "Internet election" with sophisticated websites, active blogging, YouTube videos, Facebook groups, and rapid-fire Twitter postings. 

While the public and activist groups used the Internet to promote their candidates (partisan bloggers for each party provided a near-continuous echo chamber of commentary), issues (the Culture in Peril YouTube video had a marked impact the Quebec electorate) or to encourage strategic voting patterns (Voteforenvironment.ca received considerable attention), the political parties themselves seemed stuck with Web 1.0 strategies in a Web 2. 0 world.  Each party had the requisite websites, yet their most innovative initiatives – the Conservatives' Notaleader.ca and the Liberals' Scandalpedia.ca to name two – were quickly dismissed as juvenile sites that did more harm than good (the New Democrats' Orange Room is a notable exception).

With months of advance preparation, why did the parties perform so poorly?

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October 21, 2008 4 comments Columns

Election 2008 – A Digital Policy Scorecard

As the national election campaign launched five weeks ago, I wrote that "the election presents an exceptional opportunity to raise the profile of digital issues."  While the economy unsurprisingly dominated much of the political discourse, each of the national parties unveiled platforms and positions that included some discussion of digital policy.  With Canadians headed to the polls today, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) offers a scorecard on each party's digital policy positions.

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October 14, 2008 4 comments Columns

ISP Tax May Be The Next Big Culture Funding Fight

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) places the spotlight on the next big cultural funding issue that promises to make the current dispute seem like a short preview as compared to the forthcoming main attraction. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will hold hearings on new media regulation in early 2009 and barring a change of heart, the focal point will be the prospect of a mandated levy on Internet service providers to fund new media cultural production.  

Opponents will deride the plan as a new tax, but that has not stopped cultural groups from lining up in support of such a scheme.  Earlier this year, several groups, including the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Directors Guild of Canada, and Writers Guild of Canada, proposed a mandatory ISP contribution of 2.5 percent of broadband revenue to help fund Canadian new media content creation.  In support, the groups released the results of a public opinion survey which they said found that "69 percent of Canadians believe that ISPs should be required to help fund the production of Canadian digital media content in the same way that cable and satellite TV providers are required to contribute a small percentage of their revenues to the production of Canadian television programs."

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October 7, 2008 12 comments Columns