In April 2004, the Liberal government released a report on Canada’s National Security Policy that included plans to establish a public-private cybersecurity task force. More than two years later, it appears that the Conservative government is preparing to follow through on that commitment by launching its own task force. Although […]
Latest Posts
Canadian Students Speak Out on Copyright
The Canadian Federation of Students, which represents more than 500,000 university and college students across Canada, has released a public letter to Ministers Oda and Bernier on copyright reform. The CFS identifies five issues of concern. Anti-circumvention legislation – the CFS recognizes the dangers associated with DRM and argues that […]
European Commission Online Film Charter
The European Commission has released an online film charter to coincide with the Cannes Film Festival. The Charter makes for an interesting read as it includes supportive comments for P2P distribution and non-commercial initiatives such as the BBC Creative Archive.
The Rise of eMusic
Great article from ArsTechnica on eMusic, the DRM-free alternative that has grown into the second-largest online music seller behind Apple iTunes.
Dot-XXX Decision Exposes Cracks in Net Governance System
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, BBC version, homepage version) looks at the recent ICANN decision to reject the creation of a new dot-xxx domain name extension. The year-long debate over whether to approve the adult-oriented domain may have long-term implications for Internet governance since it sparked enormous controversy and provided ample evidence of U.S. government intervention into ICANN matters.
With millions of dollars at stake, the Internet community has relied on ICANN to establish a transparent system for creating new domain name extensions. The resulting process has left many observers unhappy. They argue that it is too expensive (application costs alone are now estimated at US$250,000), too cumbersome (creation of the domain name extension may require months of negotiation after preliminary approval is granted), and too subjective (rather than establishing objective criteria, the decisions are fraught with subjective policy choices).
The prospect of a dot-xxx domain name extension created an immediate firestorm in the United States.
Recent Posts
CRTC Approves Google’s $100 Million Online News Act Exemption Deal 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 217: David Fraser on the Privacy Implications of the Federal Court of Appeal’s Facebook Ruling 
When Antisemitism No Longer Shocks 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 216: Game Changer or More of the Same? Patrick Leblond on the New Global E-Commerce Agreement 
Is Meta Offside the Online News Act? The CRTC Wants to Know.
