My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, BBC Version, webpage version) examines America Online and Yahoo!’ s recent announcement of a new fee-based system for commercial email. I argue that certified email will do little to address spam and may not attract a large client base. Rather, its more significant impact lies in the fact that it is yet another step toward the two-tiered Internet that will ultimately shift new costs to consumers.
Latest Posts
CCTA To Shut Down
The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, Canada's leading cable association, announced today that it plans to shut down after 50 years of operations. The CCTA had been hit by several major defections in recent years (Shaw and Videotron being the most prominent) as the key industry players seemingly agreed on less […]
The CBC as a Role Model
I’ve been critical of the CBC over the past few months, emphasizing the need for Canada’s public broadcaster to do more to embrace the potential of new technologies and the Internet. To that end, there are signs that the CBC is moving in the right direction. In addition to a […]
The Digital Road Leads Out of Rome
My weekly Law Bytes column (BBC version, homepage version) focuses on last week's OECD meeting on the future of the digital economy. The column notes that the discussion pointed to two competing approaches for the distribution of content in the Internet era, one based on DRM and the other on […]
French Court Dismisses P2P Case
Last week I noted that following the international standard on copyright is complicated, since there are many countries that are moving ahead or already have reforms that better serve the interests of users. Things just got a bit more interesting as a French court has dismissed a lawsuit against an […]
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 202: David Soberman on the Reality Behind Claims Canadian Wireless Prices Have Been Cut in Half 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 201: Robert Diab on the Billion Dollar Lawsuits Launched By Ontario School Boards Against Social Media Giants 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 200: Colin Bennett on the EU’s Surprising Adequacy Finding on Canadian Privacy Law 
Debating the Online Harms Act: Insights from Two Recent Panels on Bill C-63 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 199: Boris Bytensky on the Criminal Code Reforms in the Online Harms Act
