Kim Weatherall has an insightful post on New Zealand's copyight reform package. The TPM provisions are particularly noteworthy as they link anti-circumvention with copyright infringement and in the process rebut claims by CRIA and others that Bill C-60 stood alone in its approach.
Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP
Copyright
Copyright Board Looking for a New Board Member
The Copyright Board of Canada is advertising for a new board member to fill a current vacancy. If you're interested, check out the vacancy notice and the selection criteria.
Digital Info Strategy Requires Courage Before Cash
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines efforts in Canada to develop a national digital information strategy in light of a national summit on the issue held last week in Montebello, Quebec. The column notes that the good news is that many provincial governments and organizations are not waiting for Ottawa to act, citing initiatives by the Alberta and Quebec governments, Alouette Canada, Synergies, the McCord Museum, and the blossoming of user generated content.
This enormous energy suggests that digitization will flourish regardless of whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda adopt a formal strategy. However, despite the good news, the summit also left little doubt that there are immediate steps that can be taken to pave the way for even more.
In fact, I argue that the federal government would do well to resist introducing expensive new initiatives by first maximizing the benefits that can be extracted from the current set of policies and programs.
Bulte’s Back
A resident of Parkdale High Park has passed along a promotional flyer indicating that Sam Bulte is back as she and the Parkdale Federal Liberal Riding Association will be hosting a holiday celebration next Saturday. The return of Ms. Bulte comes as a bit of a surprise, given that two […]
Privacy Commissioner of Canada on TPMs
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released a new fact sheet on TPMs. While explicitly not taking a position on TPMs, DRM or fair use, the Commissioner does identify some concerns with the privacy impact of the technology. In fact, the Commissioner opens the discussion by noting that: The use […]
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 232: What Will Canadian Digital Policy Look Like Under the New Liberal Carney Government? 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record 
Queen’s University Trustees Reject Divestment Efforts Emphasizing the Importance of Institutional Neutrality
