Conference Board Of Canada Releases New Report On Copyright That Isn't Just A Cut And Paste From US Lobbyists

from the well,-that's-a-start dept

Thu, Feb 11th 2010 7:47pm — Mike Masnick

You may remember last year that the Conference Board of Canada (who, until then, was pretty well respected) released a report on "intellectual property policy" that was blatantly plagiarized from US copyright industry lobbyists. While the Conference Board at first insisted that it stood by the report, eventually it recalled three reports and admitted that they "did not follow the high quality research standards" of the organization. Many months later, it appears that the replacement report has been released, and it's much more balanced. I still think there's plenty in the report that doesn't make much sense to me, but it's significantly better than the totally one-sided, blatantly plagiarized piece from last year.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: canada, intellectual property, lobbyists
Companies: conference board of canada

7 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 11 Feb 2010 @ 8:02pm

Whatever
Why can't I sign in when I've been unceremonlously signed out?

You need a "Login" menu choice.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
:), 11 Feb 2010 @ 9:21pm

About balances.
I like discussions but there needs to be public participation on the process too and this is why I shameslly will spam you guys now and I'm sorry for it.

The U.S. government is collecting public input.

Broadband discussion
http://broadband.ideascale.com/

Copyright discussion that happens every year so every year you citizen can complain too, don't let only the industry complain.

http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2891

Comments can be filed electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2010-0003. You have to include the term “2010 Special 301 Review” in the “Type Comment and Upload File” field. More information about the Special 301 process is available here. Deadline for filing is February 16 by 5 p.m.

Maybe that way the U.S. can see some "balance" in the proposals too.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2010 @ 10:11pm

Personally, I find the last few paragraphs of Mr. Geist's article the most interesting; i.e., the paragraphs talking about treaties and the flexibility they provide to each sovereign nation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ant anti mike, 12 Feb 2010 @ 8:15am

YA KNOW ITS A SHAM LIKE TH COPYRIGHT CONSULTATIONS
it was leaked that they were used to through everyone off while ACTA moved forward and as geist says that ACTA will require changes to canuck law , although that does require parliament and both liberals and conservatives have both tried to do dmca style laws this bodes badly aand unless iggy wants harper to keep ruling after prorogation and go full term

then get his numbers lessened and also them conservatives want to see the NDP massively grow across canada
then i suggest iggy grow some balls and use that harvard brain and realize that ACTA also is not good for canad and join the rest of the world and oppose it

a majority of the house would force the agreement open.
i ferget her name but that one member of the PQ is slanted ironically to hollywood bills too so you can count out the beloved PQ they will SARKOZY YOU.

and where is the investigation by the rcmp fraud squad into where the money is going for the cdr levy like i dunno where 450-500 million went ? where is the artists money going ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2010 @ 9:18am

Two steps forward, one step back; two steps forward, one step back. It's all a scam.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Derek Bredensteiner (profile), 12 Feb 2010 @ 9:25am

Re: Conference Board Of Canada
Spam is getting fairly sophisticated these days isn't it? It's an account, with an almost real name. A comment with an almost relevant title, and some content that almost sounds like it's related to the post. Hell this probably would have passed a cursory glance from a human filter.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike Masnick (profile), 12 Feb 2010 @ 11:30am
  
  Re: Re: Conference Board Of Canada
  Spam is getting fairly sophisticated these days isn't it? It's an account, with an almost real name. A comment with an almost relevant title, and some content that almost sounds like it's related to the post. Hell this probably would have passed a cursory glance from a human filter.
  
  Yeah. His comments and account have been deleted. But, yeah, that was pretty sophisticated spam.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]