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Screenshot from Wikipedia’s #FairCopyrightOz campaign, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/2017/05/23/wikipedia-says-time-fair-use-australia/

My ADA Keynote: What the Canadian Experience Teaches About the Future of Copyright Reform

In late March of this year, I travelled to Canberra, Australia to deliver a keynote address at the Australian Digital Alliance’s 2019 Copyright Forum. The ADA is a leading voice on copyright issues in Australia and its annual Copyright Forum brings together government, creators, education, libraries, and the broader public to explore copyright issues. This year’s event included innovative film makers, the President of the Australian Society of Authors, European Parliament MEP Julia Reda, as well as leading academics, trade negotiators, government policy experts, and many others.

My talk focused on the Canadian copyright experience, using real data to dispel the misleading claims about the impact of Canada’s 2012 reforms. A video of the keynote has been posted to YouTube and is embedded below.

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April 17, 2019 1 comment News
Privacy Blue by Richard Patterson http://www.comparitech.com/ https://flic.kr/p/25cUnjs (CC BY 2.0)

Rewriting Canadian Privacy Law: Commissioner Signals Major Change on Cross-Border Data Transfers

Faced with a decades-old private-sector privacy law that is no longer fit for the purpose in the digital age, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has embarked on a dramatic reinterpretation of the law premised on incorporating new consent requirements. My Globe and Mail op-ed notes the strained interpretation arose last Tuesday when the OPC released a consultation paper signalling a major shift in its position on cross-border data transfers.

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April 16, 2019 7 comments Columns
profile pic jan 17-1, Rebecca Giblin

The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 7: What if Copyright Law Took Authors Rights Seriously? A Conversation with Professor Rebecca Giblin

What if copyright law took authors rights seriously?  Many groups claim to do so, but Professor Rebecca Giblin, one of the world’s leading experts on creator copyright, isn’t convinced. Professor Giblin argues that creators are often placed at the centre of the debate only to be largely ignored by other stakeholders. Professor Giblin joins this week’s Lawbytes podcast to talk about her Author’s Interest Project, the latest data, and why Canadian artist Bryan Adams may be on to something when it comes to his copyright reform proposal to benefit creators.

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April 15, 2019 Comments are Disabled Podcasts
Privacy Policy Security Data Transfer Padlock Creative Commons Zero - CC0 https://www.maxpixel.net/Padlock-Data-Transfer-Privacy-Policy-Security-2499720

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Signals Major Shift in Approach on Cross-Border Data Transfers

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released a consultation paper that signals a major shift in its position on data transfers, indicating that it now believes that cross-border disclosures of personal information require prior consent. The approach is a significant reversal of longstanding policy that relied upon the accountability principle to ensure that organizations transferring personal information to third parties are ultimately responsible for safeguarding that information. In fact, OPC guidelines from January 2009 explicitly stated that “assuming the information is being used for the purpose it was originally collected, additional consent for the transfer is not required.”

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April 10, 2019 9 comments News
Netflix logo on a computer screen with a magnifying glass by Marco Verch https://foto.wuestenigel.com/netflix-logo-on-a-computer-screen-with-a-magnifying-glass (CC BY 2.0)

The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 6: Former CRTC Vice-Chair Speaks Out on the Plan to Regulate and Tax the Internet – “Dangerous Game to Play”

For the better part of two decades, Canadian cultural groups have been pressing Canada’s telecom and broadcast regulator, the CRTC, to regulate and tax the Internet. The CRTC and successive governments consistently rejected the Internet regulation drumbeat, citing obvious differences with broadcast, competing public policy objectives such as affordable access, and the benefits of competition. That changed last year when the CRTC released Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada, in which it dramatically reversed its approach. Peter Menzies, a former CRTC commissioner and Vice-Chair of Telecommunications, joins this week’s LawBytes podcast to help sort through Cancon funding, Internet regulation, and the CRTC.

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April 8, 2019 Comments are Disabled Podcasts