Post Tagged with: "cdmca"

The Unofficial Canadian DMCA Background Document

Multiple sources advise that Industry Minister Jim Prentice's current plan is to introduce the Canadian DMCA this week, likely on Wednesday.  While things could change, it would appear that Prentice's communication strategy is to do as little communicating as possible. Plans for a possible press conference have apparently been put on hold given concerns that the press might actually ask questions and Prentice has even entertained thoughts of shuffling the bill quickly to a committee for summer hearings so that he would not have to deal with the issue all summer long. The Minister will also head for Japan and South Korea late the following week as part of the OECD Future of the Internet Economy conference, so out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

What do we get instead?  Likely a press and MP briefing in a lockup just prior to the release of the bill, which will probably happen later in the afternoon (government bills are tabled after 3:00 on Wednesdays) to minimize the opportunity for critical comment in the immediate news cycle. While Prentice presumably hopes that this is a one-day story, my guess is that he is wrong.  There is no local open house this time round, but Prentice is planning his annual Calgary Stampede breakfast for July 5th.  Further, the OECD is inviting anyone to pose comments or questions about the Internet directly to the Minister on its YouTube page with the Ministers asked to react to the best videos at the OECD conference in South Korea.

Given the apparent effort to control the media spin, I thought it would be useful to anticipate the likely talking points in the Canadian DMCA backgrounder along with a broader perspective featuring things Prentice probably won't say.  These include: 

Read more ›

June 2, 2008 17 comments News

The Unofficial Canadian DMCA Background Document

Multiple sources advise that Industry Minister Jim Prentice's current plan is to introduce the Canadian DMCA this week, likely on Wednesday.  While things could change, it would appear that Prentice's communication strategy is to do as little communicating as possible. Plans for a possible press conference have apparently been put on hold given concerns that the press might actually ask questions and Prentice has even entertained thoughts of shuffling the bill quickly to a committee for summer hearings so that he would not have to deal with the issue all summer long. The Minister will also head for Japan and South Korea late the following week as part of the OECD Future of the Internet Economy conference, so out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

What do we get instead?  Likely a press and MP briefing in a lockup just prior to the release of the bill, which will probably happen later in the afternoon (government bills are tabled after 3:00 on Wednesdays) to minimize the opportunity for critical comment in the immediate news cycle. While Prentice presumably hopes that this is a one-day story, my guess is that he is wrong.  There is no local open house this time round, but Prentice is planning his annual Calgary Stampede breakfast for July 5th.  Further, the OECD is inviting anyone to pose comments or questions about the Internet directly to the Minister on its YouTube page with the Ministers asked to react to the best videos at the OECD conference in South Korea.

Given the apparent effort to control the media spin, I thought it would be useful to anticipate the likely talking points in the Canadian DMCA backgrounder along with a broader perspective featuring things Prentice probably won't say.  These include: 

Read more ›

June 2, 2008 Comments are Disabled Stop CDMCA

U.S. Report Says ACTA Deal Gaining Steam

While Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian officials continue to remain mum about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a report out of the U.S. suggests that there is considerable reason for public concern.  Congress Daily (sub req) quotes a high-level official from the USTR as indicating that the talks are gaining […]

Read more ›

May 29, 2008 21 comments News

“Let’s Stand Up to Big Brother”

The Vancouver Province ran a masthead editorial yesterday calling for action against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The paper calls on Canadians to "act now before it's too late", noting that: One of the joys of living in the Internet age is the personal freedom it offers people to enjoy the […]

Read more ›

May 29, 2008 16 comments News

Canadians Stuck With Analog Rights in a Digital World

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, Vancouver Sun version, homepage version) notes that earlier this month, some fans of the NBC television programs American Gladiators and Medium found themselves unable to digitally record the shows on their personal computers.  The reason for the blocked recordings raises important technical and legal questions about the rights of consumers to "time shift" television programs in the digital era. The blocked recordings affected people that record television programs on their personal computers using the Microsoft Windows Vista Media Centre.  Most people are unaware that Microsoft has inserted a feature that allows a broadcaster or content owner to stop the digital recording of a show by triggering a "broadcast flag" that specifies its preference that the show not be recorded.  When the user tries to record it, Microsoft’s software recognizes the flag and issues a warning that the program cannot be recorded.

Read more ›

May 28, 2008 10 comments Columns