News

Justice Committee Report Recommends Expanding Lawful Access Legislation

The government has placed Bill C-30, the lawful access/online surveillance bill on hold, but there is no reason to believe it is going away. In fact, a recent report Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights suggests that the changes coming to the bill may not address public concern but rather expand lawful access requirements even further. The committee report on the State of Organized Crime that includes recommendations that reinforce Bill C-30’s mandatory warrantless disclosure of subscriber information and envision going beyond the bill by requiring both telecom companies and device manufacturers to assist in the decryption of encrypted communications as well as exploring mandatory verification of the identity of cellphone users.

April 4, 2012 — 37 comments — News

ACTA Rapporteur: Little Evidence That ACTA Will Fix Global IP Enforcement

David Martin, the ACTA rapporteur at the European Parliament, has published an op-ed expressing skepticism about the agreement’s effectiveness, noting “so far there is little evidence that it will have the intended effect. Indeed several non-signatories have stressed their opposition to the agreement.”

April 4, 2012 — Comments are Disabled — News

Libraries Boycott Random House Over E-Book Pricing

Libraries on Nova Scotia’s South Shore are boycotting Random House, one of the world’s largest book publishers, due to its e-book pricing demands. The publisher is charging as much as three times as much for downloadable book as for a print version.

April 3, 2012 — 3 comments — News

Canadian Hurt Locker Lawsuits Withdrawn

New records indicate that the file sharing lawsuits in Quebec against individuals downloading the Hurt Locker have been withdrawn. The cases attracted wide attention last year after the Federal Court ordered several ISPs to disclose the identities of alleged infringers.

March 30, 2012 — 6 comments — News

CRTC Stands By New Disclosure Requirement on Software Installs Over Objections From ESAC, RIM

The CRTC has finalized its anti-spam regulations, retaining some notable new disclosure requirements for some software installations. The requirements were opposed by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and Research in Motion, who both asked for the requirements to be either dropped or significantly changed. The regulation requires:

A computer program’s material elements that perform one or more of the functions listed in subsection 10(5) of the Act must be brought to the attention of the person from whom consent is being sought separately from any other information provided in a request for consent and the person seeking consent must obtain an acknowledgement in writing from the person from whom consent is being sought that they understand and agree that the program performs the specified functions.

The functions listed in 10(5) of the Act are:

(a) collecting personal information stored on the computer system;
(b) interfering with the owner’s or an authorized user’s control of the computer system;
(c) changing or interfering with settings, preferences or commands already installed or stored on the computer system without the knowledge of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system;
(d) changing or interfering with data that is stored on the computer system in a manner that obstructs, interrupts or interferes with lawful access to or use of that data by the owner or an authorized user of the computer system;
(e) causing the computer system to communicate with another computer system, or other device, without the authorization of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system;
(f) installing a computer program that may be activated by a third party without the knowledge of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system; and
(g) performing any other function specified in the regulations.

While this is obviously designed first and foremost at spyware, it targets many other possibilities including the infamous Sony rootkit case and other attempts by software or app developers to unexpectedly collect personal information or interfere with a user’s computer. It could also have an impact on some digital rights management systems, raising interesting questions about the interaction between these requirements and the digital lock rules in Bill C-11.

March 29, 2012 — 16 comments — News