There are several media reports this morning (including an excellent piece in the Tyee) on the launch of Open Medicine, a new Canadian open access medical journal, conceived in the aftermath of the editorial firings at the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
News
Blame Canada, China Edition
What happens when you get a steady stream of unfounded claims from the U.S. government and U.S. lobby groups on the state of Canadian copyright law? What happens when Canadian lobby groups representing largely foreign interests try to convince Canadians that they are a "pirate nation"? What happens when the […]
OECD on User Generated Content
The OECD has just issued an important and insightful report on user generated content and the policy issues it raises.
BBC To Make Million Hours of Archive Freely Available
The BBC has announced plans to make one million hours from its television and radio archive freely available to UK residents. Moreover, it will add scripts, supporting documentation, and letters related to the show in a classic illustration of what a public broadcaster should be doing in the public interest.
Canadian DMCA To Be Introduced This Spring
The Hill Times reports this week (issue still not online) that the Conservative government will introduce copyright reform legislation this spring provided that there is no election. The paper points to two main changes from the Liberals Bill C-60 – tougher anti-circumvention legislation (ie. DMCA-style laws that ban devices that can be used to circumvent as well as provisions that block all circumvention subject to the odd exception) and an educational exception that will provide for free access to web-based materials.
If this report is true, the bill will be remarkable in its ability generate more opposition than any prior copyright bill in Canadian history. From a policy perspective, it is a disaster – dangerous and unnecessary laws to support DRM and an educational exception that does little to address the needs of the education community while encouraging even greater use of DRM.
From a political perspective, it is even worse. Who will oppose the bill? For starters:
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 237: A Conversation with Jason Woywada of BCFIPA on Political Party Privacy and Bill C-4 
Lawful Access on Steroids: Why Bill C-2’s Big Brother Tactics Combine Expansive Warrantless Disclosure with Unprecedented Secrecy 
Government Reverses on Privacy and the Charter: Department of Justice Analysis Concludes Political Party Privacy Bill Raises No Charter of Rights Effects 
“Big Brother Tactics”: Why Bill C-2’s New Warrantless Disclosure Demand Powers Extend Far Beyond Internet and Telecom Providers 
Government Seeks To Exempt Political Parties From Privacy Laws Even As CRTC Reports They Are Leading Source of Spam Complaints
