One of the discussion points regarding Access Copyright's Captain Copyright, has been the attempt to restrict who can link to the site. Interestingly, Access Copyright has now altered the specific linking terms. The earlier version, which is still used for the main Access Copyright site, provided that:
Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP
Copyright
Captain Copyright
Access Copyright has launched a new site that borders on parody, but is apparently serious. Captain Copyright, is a new "superhero" that educates children about the virtues of copyright, rushing to the scene in the event that someone publishes research without proper credit. While my first reaction to the site was that it is just silly, as I dug deeper, I now find it shameful. These materials, targeting kids as young as six years old, misrepresents many issues and proposes classroom activities that are offensive.
In addition to the Captain Copyright series, there are a series of "games" and educational activities targeting kids and teachers beginning in Grade One. These so-called activities are of particular interest to me since one of my kids is currently in Grade Two and another starts Grade One in September. It is pointless to go through each exercise to point to the misconceptions and half-truths that it seeks to bring into my child's classroom, but a few merit comment.
private copying copyright education
CMEC Visits Ottawa
CMEC, which represents provincial ministers of education, was in Ottawa today to lobby on copyright. Jamie Muir, the Nova Scotia Minister of Education, is quoted extensively in the release on the visit (which interestingly contains several references to the recent CMCC effort to bring the views of Canadian musicians to […]
Podcasts and Broadcasts
I recently spent about 40 minutes chatting with Amber MacArthur for the Inside the Net podcast program. You can listen to the discussion (which suffer from some poor Skype audio quality) on music and the law, the clip culture, and net neutrality here. Meanwhile, TVO is broadcasting my Hart House […]
Sound Numbers
A special edition of my Law Bytes column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) reports on a recent Canadian Heritage commissioned study on the economic impact of the copyright industries. The Connectus Consulting report, entitled The Economic Impact of Canadian Copyright Industries – Sectoral Analysis, has yet to be publicly released. However, I recently obtained a copy of the final report dated March 31, 2006, under an Access to Information Act request.
The report, which spans 1997 to 2004, finds that the copyright industries comprise 4.5 percent of the Canadian economy and contribute 5.5 percent of total Canadian employment. While that is expected to increase in the coming years (the copyright industries are growing at a faster rate than the overall economy), it pales in comparison to sectors such as finance, manufacturing, agriculture, education, and health care.
More interesting is a case study on the sound recording industry that contradicts both the industry claims and the expectations of the report's authors.
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