Michael Geist

Latest Posts

Perhaps It Got Caught In His Spam Filter

Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, who has shown little appetite for the anti-spam legislation, now says that he is reviewing the 2005 Task Force Report on Spam (I was a member of the task force). Bernier says he "just" received the report – it was obviously part of his ministerial briefing […]

September 18, 2006 — 6 comments — News

Cory on Amazon’s Download Service

Read before you buy.

September 18, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — News

Sony’s Rootkit Settlement Leaves Canadian Consumers Unsettled

My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) picks up on last week's post examining the mounting concerns over the Sony rootkit class action settlement in Canada. The column touches on many of the same themes – less compensation, no security review, and no injunctive relief. I conclude […]

September 18, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — Columns

30 Days of DRM – Day 30: Prohibition on Contractual Circumvention of Rights (Foundational Issue)

Yesterday's post identified the availability of circumvention devices as a one foundational issue. The second foundational issue is protection against contracts that seek to trump the law by contracting out of the copyright balance or, in the event that anti-circumvention legislation is introduced, statutory circumvention rights. The use of contractual […]

September 17, 2006 — 2 comments — News

Belgian Court Rules Against Google News

A Belgian court last week ruled against Google in a case involving the copyright issues associated with Google News. I haven't seen any news coverage of the ruling, which cited both copyright and the EU database directive, but a copy of the decision has been posted on the Chilling Effects […]

September 16, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — News