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Van Loan on ACTA

International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan's office has responded to NDP MP Charlie Angus' public letter on ACTA.  According to the Wire Report, Van Loan says that "ACTA would comply with Canadian law" and that "before acceding to any agreement, our government would need to be fully satisfied that it […]

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January 28, 2010 13 comments News

Former Trade Official Warns Against Major IP Changes in EU Trade Deal

Embassy reports on the Canada – EU Trade Agreement, which concluded the second round of talks last week (Cyndee Todgham Cherniak notes the government's "failure to communicate" on the latest round of talks).  Dan Ciuriak, a former deputy chief economist at the International Trade department, expresses concern with the agreement's […]

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January 28, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

Privacy Commissioner Launches New Facebook Investigation

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched a new investigation into Facebook's privacy practices.  The new investigation stems from a complaint filed in the wake of Facebook changing its privacy default settings.

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January 28, 2010 1 comment News

ACTA Guide, Part Three: Transparency and ACTA Secrecy

Part Three of the ACTA Guide (Part One on the agreement itself, Part Two on the official and leaked documents [update: Part Four on local effects]) focuses on the issue that has dogged the proposed agreement since it was first announced – the lack of transparency associated with the text and the talks.  As yesterday's public letter from NDP MP Charlie Angus and the UK cross-party motion highlight, elected officials around the world have latched onto the transparency issue and demanded that their governments open ACTA to public scrutiny.  Reviewing the ACTA transparency issue involves several elements: the public concern with ACTA secrecy, the source of the secrecy, and the analysis of whether ACTA secrecy is common when compared to other intellectual property agreements.

1.   The Public Concern

Over the course of the two years since ACTA was first publicly announced (it was secretly discussed for about two years before the public unveiling), there have been repeated calls from elected officials and public interest groups to address the transparency concerns. In fact, each time portions of the ACTA text leak, the concerns grow stronger.  For example, a sampling of the global call from politicians for greater transparency includes:

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January 27, 2010 18 comments News

ACTA Attracts Wide Canadian Media Coverage

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement generated wide media coverage in Canada yesterday as a web-based press conference sponsored by Quebec's Union des consommateurs (I was a participant) and a Charlie Angus press conference put the issue in the spotlight.  Media coverage includes articles from CBC.ca, Canadian Press, and Radio-Canada. InternetNews.com also […]

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January 27, 2010 4 comments News