Latest Posts
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Today's National Post Magazine carries a feature (subscription required) on Canadian Recording Industry Association President Graham Henderson. I'm quoted as saying that Henderson is a smart, tenacious guy but that CRIA doesn't represent the views of the entire industry nor of the public interest. Henderson responds with this priceless quote:
The Battle over Municipal WiFi (Or Sir Adam Beck’s Internet)
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) examines the battles over municipal wireless Internet access initiatives. Adam Beck, a provincial cabinet minister from London, Ontario, introduced a bill that created the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. Adopting Power for the People as his slogan, Beck vigorously fought corporate interests who wanted to keep electricity in private hands. He pushed for a public utility that could provide all Ontario cities and towns with affordable electric power generated from Niagara Falls. His vision led to the worlds largest public utility and dramatically changed the lives of rural Ontarians by bringing electricity to thousands of farms and villages.
World Bank Says Digital Divide Is Closing
The World Bank says that the digital divide between rich and poor nations is closing fast. Last week it issued a draft report that found that telecommunications services to poor countries were growing at an explosive rate. s
The Continuing Saga of Internet Jurisdiction
The Financial Times runs a story on the continuing saga of Internet jurisdiction with a particular focus on the Yahoo! France case, which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed to rehear. While the business community argues that the case could have a devastating effect on e-commerce, I'm quoted as saying that the world has moved on since the case was brought and most big companies now understand that they risk foreign judgments based on their web presence.
Copyright and Faith in the Free Market – Now in the Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen features my column which focuses on the Canadian recording industry's rejection of alternative compensation systems on the grounds that it prefers to rely on the free market. The column notes that the industry has been a leading proponent of government involvement, consistently seeking both financial support and legislative intervention.