Post Tagged with: "ISP"

UK ISPs Agree To Greater Speed Transparency

The BBC reports that UK ISPs have agreed to support a regulator-backed code of practice that will give customers more information about broadband speeds.

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December 5, 2008 Comments are Disabled News

Copyright Lobby Groups Gear Up For Further Reforms

With the government set to unveil its new cabinet tomorrow, a copyright reform bill will be back on the agenda.  While copyright will presumably take a back seat to more pressing economic concerns, the campaign promise to reintroduce a bill means that the issue will not disappear.  User groups were […]

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October 29, 2008 8 comments News

CRTC Posts Notice on New Media Hearings

The CRTC has posted its notice on the forthcoming new media hearings which will focus on whether regulatory measures are needed to promote Canadian new media and whether the new media exemption order remains valid.  Comments are due by December 5th.  The hearing is scheduled to begin on February 17, […]

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October 16, 2008 2 comments News

ISP Tax May Be The Next Big Culture Funding Fight

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) places the spotlight on the next big cultural funding issue that promises to make the current dispute seem like a short preview as compared to the forthcoming main attraction. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will hold hearings on new media regulation in early 2009 and barring a change of heart, the focal point will be the prospect of a mandated levy on Internet service providers to fund new media cultural production.  

Opponents will deride the plan as a new tax, but that has not stopped cultural groups from lining up in support of such a scheme.  Earlier this year, several groups, including the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Directors Guild of Canada, and Writers Guild of Canada, proposed a mandatory ISP contribution of 2.5 percent of broadband revenue to help fund Canadian new media content creation.  In support, the groups released the results of a public opinion survey which they said found that "69 percent of Canadians believe that ISPs should be required to help fund the production of Canadian digital media content in the same way that cable and satellite TV providers are required to contribute a small percentage of their revenues to the production of Canadian television programs."

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October 7, 2008 12 comments Columns

ISP Tax May Be The Next Big Culture Funding Fight

Appeared in the Toronto Star on October 6, 2008 as Is An Internet Tax Coming? The emergence of cultural funding as a hot-button political issue in the current election campaign appears to have taken virtually everyone by surprise.  The roughly $50 million in cuts may be tiny in terms of […]

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October 6, 2008 3 comments Columns Archive