The Montreal Gazette reports on a visit to Canada by Brazilian Culture Minister and musician Gilberto Gil. When told of Canadians' demand for public consultations on the copyright issue, Gil responded "That's it, that's what this is all about. A multiple discussion of what can and can't done. It can't […]
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Australian Governments Embrace Creative Commons Licensing
The Guardian reports on how Australian federal and state governments are moving toward using creative commons licenses for public sector information.
Independent Report Blasts Access Copyright Over Lack of Transparency
One year after it was completed by University of Toronto law professor Martin L. Friedland, the results on an independent study on Access Copyright and royalty distribution system has been released [the report was emailed to me; I have not seen an online version]. The report is a stunning indictment of the copyright collective, calling for dramatic change in governance, transparency, and royalty distribution practices. Friedland begins by noting:
I have undertaken a number of other public policy studies over the years, including such reasonably complex topics as pension reform, securities regulation, and national security, and have never encountered anything quite as complex as the Access Copyright distribution system. It is far from transparent. Very little is written down in a consolidated, cohesive, comprehensive, or comprehensible manner. There is no manual describing in detail how the distribution system operates.
The report continues by examining the history of Access Copyright, comparing it to other collectives, and identifying inequities in the distribution structure. For example, it reveals that "in the distribution for 2005 under the federal government licence, the publishers received $188,256 for scholarly journals and the creators received nothing."
The report includes 20 recommendations for change, which include:
Private Member’s Bill Calls for CRTC To License ISPs
Liberal MP Karen Redman yesterday introduced Bill C-506, the Internet Child Pornography Prevention Act. The bill envisions a new licensing system for ISPs to be administered by the CRTC, with liability for knowingly permitting access to child pornography. The bill also empowers the government to order ISPs to block access […]
The Race Toward Clean Cloud Computing
Imagine a world where most of the functions of our personal computers – running applications, communicating, and storing data – do not take place on those computers but rather at massive computer server farms located in remote locations and linked through high-speed networks. This is not the stuff of science fiction but rather describes "cloud computing," one of the hottest Internet and computing trends and the subject of my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Vancouver Sun, homepage version).
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record 
Queen’s University Trustees Reject Divestment Efforts Emphasizing the Importance of Institutional Neutrality 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 228: Kumanan Wilson on Why Canadian Health Data Requires Stronger Privacy Protection in the Trump Era
