My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version and non-reg hyperlinked version, homepage version) reflects on two major copyright events of the past ten days — last week's Grokster case and the recently announced Canadian copyright reforms. Of all the interesting anecdotes about the Grokster case, I found the fact that people began lining up at 2:30 p.m. the day before the hearing the most interesting. As I argue in the column, when people are willing to line up for nearly 24 hours to hear a copyright case, something far bigger than accessing free music is taking place.
Latest Posts
B.C. Court Dismisses Privacy Claim Over Data Outsourcing
The British Columbia Supreme Court has dismissed a claim by a B.C. union challenging the outsourcing of the management of health information to a U.S. company.
The Real Story Behind Canada’s Copyright Plans
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version or free hyperlinked Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) provides some context for last week s announcement on the government s plans for Canadian copyright reform. The immediate spin from the recording industry was that they were delighted with the push toward copyright reform. While I am sure they are happy that the government is doing something, a closer look at the actual proposals suggest that they did not get much of what they wanted.
The ISP March Toward Packet Preferencing Continues
Mark Evans, a reporter with the National Post, reports on his blog that Clearwire has established a terms of use that effectively excludes services such as Vonage and BitTorrent.
Japenese Study Finds No Negative Impact From P2P
A Keio University economics professor recently released research (Japanese report) that indicates that the use of "Winny", the most popular P2P application in Japan, has no effect on CD sales. In fact, the study found that P2P helps to promote music sales and allows for new music discovery were indicated by the research.
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 214: Erin Millar on Trust in Media and the Implementation of the Online News Act 
The Bill on Canada’s Digital Policy Comes Due: Blocked News Links, Cancelled Sponsorship, Legal Challenges, and Digital Ad Surcharges 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 213: Elaine Craig on Mainstreaming Porn and Why Bill S-210 May Make Matters Worse 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 212: Matt Hatfield on the State of Canadian Digital Policy as Politicians Return from the Summer Recess 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 211: Carlos Affonso Souza on the Unprecedented Brazilian Court Order Blocking Twitter/X and VPN Use to Access the Service
