Reports today indicate that British Telecom and other UK mobile providers have started blocking access to Pirate Bay. The move is being described as a voluntary measure that is part of the Internet Watch Foundation voluntary code.
Latest Posts
Norwegian Study Finds Downloaders Buy More Music
A Norwegian study (translated version) into the music downloading and purchasing habits of nearly 2,000 Internet users found that downloaders were more likely to buy music than non-downloaders. The finding is consistent with a previous Industry Canada-sponsored study.
CRTC Extends Do-Not-Call Registrations to Five Years
The CRTC has announced that it is extending the registration on the do-not-call list from three to five years. Consumers will now only have to re-register every five years.
Desire2Learn Wins Patent Battle in the U.S.
Waterloo-based Desire2Learn has succeeded in getting a preliminary rejection of all 57 claims in a software patent that Blackboard used to sue it for infringement. I wrote about the original case here.
Policy Toolkit Nearly Empty In Bid To Support Local TV
This week a steady stream of television and cable executives will appear in Ottawa before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to discuss the "evolution of the television industry in Canada and its impact on local communities." My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that MPs from all parties will demand to know what companies like Rogers, CTV, and Canwest are prepared to do to ensure that local television broadcasting does not disappear in many smaller and medium sized communities.
The current "crisis" feels new, yet the issues are nearly as old as Canadian broadcasting itself. The economics of Canadian broadcasting have relied on a range of policy support mechanisms that include: lucrative commercial substitution, which lets broadcasters substitute Canadian commercials during the simulcast of popular U.S. programs; market protection that has limited local competition; declining programming commitments that allows broadcasters to fill airtime with cheaper foreign programming; and corporate convergence approvals that have resulted in only a handful of big Canadian broadcasters.
Broadcasters now argue these measures are insufficient and with the latest round of threats to shut down some local stations, MPs will be anxious to identify solutions to keep broadcasters in business. As they grapple with the issue, the MPs would do well to remember that at least three separate issues are often lumped together into the single umbrella issue of local broadcasting.
Recent Posts
What Is the Canadian Government Doing With Its Incoherent Approach to TikTok? 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 240: Dean Beeby on Why Canada’s Language Laws May Stop Government From Posting Access to Information Records Online 
Risky Business: The Legal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory Age Verification Technologies 
Another Canadian Digital Policy Own Goal: Corporate TikTok Ban Leads to Millions in Lost Cultural Group Support 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 239: The Rise and Fall of Canada’s Digital Services Tax
