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People Flocking to the Movies

TechDirt notes a NY Times article on record ticket sales at the movie theatres this year, reminding yet again on the overstated claims of movie piracy.

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March 2, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

Little New In New Media Hearings

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission new media hearings take a break over the next few days before concluding with a steady stream of appearances by Internet service providers, who are certain to argue next week against the imposition of a new ISP tax to fund the creation of Canadian new media.  My technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) this week argues that the break is much needed, as the past two weeks have been huge disappointment with submissions short on specifics, long on rhetoric, and filled with inconsistencies.

While there is plenty of blame to go around, criticism must start with the CRTC, since it set the tone for the hearings with a series of conditions that make little sense.  The Commission tried to limit the hearings to "new media broadcasting," explicitly excluding issues such as net neutrality and the potential regulation of user generated and non-commercial content.

Yet each of these distinctions cause the entire new media hearing edifice to crumble. 

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March 2, 2009 6 comments Columns

CRTC New Media Hearings – Day Seven: Sirius Canada, MoboVivo, TEN Broadcasting

Day seven of the CRTC's New Media hearings included a discussion of the threat of Internet radio to satellite radio providers.  Sirius called for a levy on ISPs and WSPs, after noting that its preferred solution, geo-blocking of non-compliant content, was unlikely.  Carleton professor Ira Wagman provides the details. Thanks […]

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March 1, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

CRTC New Media Hearings – Day Six: CBC, ADISQ, Shaw Rocket Fund, ACT, Corus

Day six of the CRTC's New Media hearings featured extensive discussion with the CBC, which backed off an earlier proposal to license online aggregators.  Carleton professor Ira Wagman provides the details on his blog. 

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March 1, 2009 2 comments News

UK Government Backs Open Source

The BBC reports that the UK government has announced plans for support for open standards and open source software.

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March 1, 2009 Comments are Disabled News