Wallace McLean has posted his annual celebration of public domain day, listing dozens of authors whose work entered into the public domain in Canada on New Year’s Day. Notable names this year include Nobel Prize winners William Faulkner and Herman Hesse as well as poet e.e. cummings. The list is […]
News
Ten Canadian Tech Stories That Mattered in 2012
Peter Nowak has a great review of the big tech stories in Canada in 2012, including UBB, throttling, the CRTC, lawful access, and copyright reform. Meanwhile, Ars Technica has a good review of the U.S. experience and the 1709 Blog has a global look at copyright issues in 2012.
UK To Introduce Wide Range of Copyright Exceptions
The UK government has announced plans to introduce a wide range of copyright exceptions. The plan includes a new private copying right that will permit personal copying of content onto any medium (including personal cloud storage) for personal use. The personal copying right will not require further payment or a levy system. Canada enacted a similar reform this year, though the levy remains for copying of sound recordings onto some media. The UK reforms will also include a fair dealing exception for non-commercial use of materials in teaching. The summary of UK reforms include:
European Commission Drops ACTA Appeal
The European Commission has dropped its appeal of ACTA at the European Court of Justice. Earlier this year, the EC promised to take ACTA to the ECJ to review its compatibility with fundamental rights. With ACTA now politically dead in Europe, the EC has dropped the action.
ITU Phobia: Mueller on the WCIT
Milton Mueller offers an insightful take on the recently concluded WCIT. Mueller characterizes some of the extreme ITU criticism as “ITU phobia”, which he notes: One notable feature of ITU phobia is that it takes the alternative internet institutions off the hook. They are inherently good – good by definition […]
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