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Spam Not Gone, But Increasingly Forgotten

My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) takes stock of the battle against spam one year after Canada’s National Task Force on Spam submitted its report. The column notes that while filtering has become more effective, first impressions can be deceiving.  Global spam volume continues to increase, with recent surveys indicating that 80 percent of all e-mail is now spam.  Spam has also become far more dangerous as many messages secretly contain viruses or other hidden programs that can unwittingly turn ordinary Internet users with broadband connections into large-scale spammers.

Unfortunately the Canadian legal framework has failed to keep pace with the new spam-related concerns.

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May 3, 2006 3 comments Columns

Barenaked Guide to Copyright Reform

Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies offers up his guide to copyright reform in a National Post op-ed today.  Noting that the "products of the mind" for which the record labels claim to seek protection are the products of artists' minds, Page outlines the three principles articulated by the CMCC, […]

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May 1, 2006 4 comments News

Copyright Petition Presented to the House of Commons

Lost amid the coverage of the creation of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, was the presentation of a copyright petition this week before the House of Commmons.  James Rajotte, a Conservative MP from Alberta and rumoured chair of the Industry Committee, presented the petition with the following comments: "Mr. Speaker, […]

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April 28, 2006 1 comment News

CMCC’s Coming Out Party

The Canadian Music Creators Coalition has just announced its first live event with a press conference scheduled for the Horseshoe in Toronto on Monday morning. The press release suggests that many more musicians have joined the coalition and that they're interested in meeting with the relevant Ministers.  With considerable press […]

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April 28, 2006 Comments are Disabled News

The OECD on DRM Disclosures

The OECD has released a new report on DRM disclosure concerns. The report highlights consumer issues involving copy-controls and other DRM systems.

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April 28, 2006 Comments are Disabled News