Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP

Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP

Copyright

Election 2011: The Digital Policy Surprises

Digital policies may not have played a starring role in the current election campaign, but neither have they been ignored. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that for the first time, all major political parties have devoted a section of their platform to digital issues and both the Liberals and New Democrats ran events focused on digital policy. While there is general agreement on the key issues – topping the list are Internet access and pricing, telecom competition, copyright, and the privacy-security balance – each party offers a surprise that gives some insight into its digital policy priorities.

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April 26, 2011 20 comments Columns

UK Music Publishers Take Down Canadian Sheet Music Site

The UK Music Publishers Association has succeeded in taking down the International Music Score Library Project, an enormously popular Canadian-based sheet music site that has posted thousands of public domain scores. The site has faced legal threats from European publishers in the past and worked hard to ensure that all […]

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April 21, 2011 18 comments News

Digital Locks Emerge As Election Issue in Battleground Riding

Digital locks emerged as one of the first issues discussed last night in one of Canada’s most hotly contested ridings. An all-candidates debate in Kitchener -Waterloo, home of RIM and one of the closest ridings in the 2008 election, moved quickly to a discussion of digital locks and the “PlayBook […]

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April 20, 2011 57 comments News

Comparing the Political Parties on Arts Policy

The Canadian Conference of the Arts has posted an excellent summary of political party views on arts and culture issues, including copyright. The CCA received responses from all parties other than the Conservatives. It confirms that the NDP support new culture contributions payments from over-the-top services such as Netflix and […]

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April 20, 2011 2 comments News

Liberals on C-32’s Digital Lock Rules

Liberal Marc Garneau, who served on the C-32 committee and as the party’s Industry critic, issued a tweet last night that provided the clearest statement yet on the Liberal support for reform to the digital lock rules. Garneau stated: “Liberals believe Copyright Bill C-32 must be amended to allow digital […]

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April 20, 2011 2 comments News