stories filed under: "canada"
Canadian Businesses Speak Out Against Canadian DMCA
from the so-who-wants-it? dept
The entertainment industry has been pushing on Canada to introduce a version of the DMCA up north for years. Late last year, it looked like the effort was going to pay off in extremely one-sided legislation that was basically a wish list from Hollywood for changes in copyright law that clearly favored that industry over consumers' rights. While the Canadian politicians backing the proposal tried to push it through without too much scrutiny, Michael Geist's efforts to call attention to the effort helped get it postponed.However, since then, the supporters of the bill keep looking to reintroduce it at a time when most folks are looking elsewhere. When pressed on the bill, they try to defend it, though the defenses are usually easily debunked. One of the main talking points in that link is that businesses are demanding these changes. However, Geist is now pointing out that a huge number of big businesses have now formed the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright in order to publicly speak out against the Canadian DMCA. The group includes a bunch of Canadian telcos, broadcasters, cable companies, retailers and internet firms -- all basically saying that the Canadian DMCA isn't what they want. So, what businesses are actually demanding these changes? Oh yeah, just a few big entertainment companies based in the US.
Online Gambling Deals Between US And Other Countries Are A Matter Of National Security?
from the seriously? dept
Remember back in December, the EU, Canada and Japan suddenly agreed not to side with Antigua in the longstanding dispute over the US's online gambling ban violating free trade agreements? It was pretty clear that the US had cut some sort of deal with these countries (who had previously indicated they would side with Antigua). In order to understand what happened, a freelance writer named Ed Brayton filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the actual agreement between the countries. And, as The Agitator points out, the US Trade Representative has denied the request, claiming that the agreement is classified, as it's a matter of national security. Yes. The US gov't is actually claiming that an agreement over online gambling between two countries is a matter of national security. Perhaps this really shouldn't be such a huge surprise. Remember, the law that was passed to ban online gambling was hidden as part of a law to protect our ports. Clearly, the EU, Canada and Japan had to side with the US against Antigua to protect our ports.Filed Under: antigua, canada, classified info, eu, japan, national security, online gambling, us
Would You Believe That Microsoft Has Been Caught Exaggerating Concerning Copyright?
from the no,-really? dept
Microsoft has a decently long history of exaggerating the impacts of copyright infringement on its business, even as there's a fair bit of evidence that the company has benefited greatly from lax enforcement of copyright. However, now the company has taken to exaggerating what copyright law actually says up in Canada. Michael Geist does a nice job picking apart a recent Microsoft-penned editorial claiming that copyright law in Canada just isn't strong enough. Even better, he does so using examples of Microsoft's own actions to prove the company wrong. For example, the editorial claimed that current Canadian copyright law didn't protect a content creator from someone using their content for commercial purposes. Yet, as Geist points out, Microsoft itself won just such a lawsuit a year ago, trumpeting the results in a press release. Perhaps Microsoft saw how the movie industry was able to lie about existing copyright law in Canada -- which convinced politicians to pass unnecessary new legislation -- and figured that Canadian politicians seem mighty gullible on the subject.Filed Under: canada, copyright, exaggeration
Companies: microsoft
Canadian Content Lobbyists Pushing For ISP Liability
from the please,-someone-else-fix-all-our-problems dept
As the debate up in Canada continues over its plans to introduce new, more stringent, copyright legislation, a somewhat disturbing trend is appearing. While the earlier debate focused mainly on the similarities between Canada's draft legislation and the US's DMCA, it appears that some lobbyists are using the delay to push for something even more extreme: ISP liability. They're using recent wins in Europe over ISP liability, as well as AT&T's brain-dead proposals to filter unauthorized materials as an opening to push for much stronger copyright laws that include ISP liability, effectively using legislation to take their own business model problems and technical ignorance and dump those problems on everyone else. The potential to force the rest of the world to change in order to compensate for AT&T's own short-sightedness is breathtaking, and such influence would be deserving of envy, if it weren't so effectively but detrimentally applied. Right now, about the only good news coming out of this debate in Canada is that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, has pointed out that many of these proposals risk undermining individual privacy rights. Unfortunately, privacy supporters don't tend to donate nearly as much money to politicians as stronger copyright supporters.Filed Under: canada, copyright, dmca, isp liability
Canadian Doctors: Let Us Drive While Talking On Mobile Phones!
from the it-saves-patients dept
Bans on using mobile phones while driving are pretty common these days, so there's not much to talk about in hearing about another such ban. However, up in Calgary, some folks are fighting back against such a ban. The Calgary Health Region has banned staff from driving while talking on a phone, but doctors are arguing against the ban, saying they rely on pagers and mobile phones to respond to emergencies -- and that banning the use of mobile devices while driving could put patients at risk. Of course, that leaves out the potential of putting other drivers on the road at risk -- but at least a doctor would be present following any such accident (for the sarcasm impaired, that's a joke). Still, given all the calls for banning driving-while-yakking for safety's sake, it's amusing to see doctors claim safety reasons for allowing the practice.Filed Under: calgary, canada, doctors, driving while yakking, mobile phones
Canadian Courts Strike Down 'You Must Be A Criminal' iPod Tax Again
from the haven't-we-been-through-this-before? dept
A few years back, we noted that a Canadian court had ruled that the "private copying levy" (better known as "you must be a criminal tax") for blank media such as CDs and DVDs could not be extended to iPods. However, the Canadian Copyright Board seemed to think that such a decision didn't preclude it from going back and adding the levy to iPods at a later date -- and this year it tried to do so, sending the whole issue back to court again. Once again, the courts have said that the Copyright Board is wrong and it cannot put the levy on iPods. Apparently, it took all of about 24 hours to make this decision, pointing out that much of this stuff was covered in the earlier decision a few years back. It's worth noting, by the way, that the recording industry probably wasn't on the side you'd expect in this case. It was so afraid that a private copying levy would "legalize" file sharing, that it came out against the proposal as well. Now it can keep on suing people. Of course, it makes you wonder how it feels about the private copying levy that is still used on blank CDs and DVDs, which seem even less likely to be used for private copying purposes than an iPod.Not Many Folks Pleased About US Paying Off EU, Japan And Canada Over Online Gambling
from the who-does-this-help? dept
On Tuesday, we wrote about how the US was paying off the EU, Japan and Canada over a trade dispute around online gambling. The real point was to get these three to back off from putting pressure on the US to abide by free trade agreements, which effectively required the US to allow online gambling as long as it was hosted in other countries. It's quite a shame that these countries basically accepted money to let the US get out of agreements it had made -- and many are beginning to point out how ridiculous the whole situation is, and how it's likely to harm future US trade agreements around the world. All for the sake of preventing people from being able to play a little online poker.Related to this, bankers and bank lobbyists are trying to explain to US politicians that upcoming rules concerning online gambling are impossible to abide by. As you may recall, back in October, the US approved new legislation that would put the liability on banks to prevent money from being used for online gambling. Beyond the ridiculousness of trying to stop people from gambling online if they choose to do so, this particular law means that banks need to figure out what money is being used for online gambling and try to prevent such uses. How? Politicians don't bother to go that far. Meanwhile, I hear that the gov't continues to make good money from state lotteries...
Filed Under: antigua, canada, eu, japan, online gambling, wto
US Cuts Deals To Keep EU, Canada And Japan From Siding With Antigua In Online Gambling Dispute
from the so-much-for-that-plan dept
For quite some time now, we've covered the ongoing dispute between the US and Antigua over the fact that the US's ban on online gambling violates free trade agreements between the two countries. While the US has tried to unilaterally change those agreement to keep gambling out, the WTO has repeatedly made it clear that the US was at fault (even though the US has pretended otherwise). Either way, the US knew that it could simply ignore Antigua, as the tiny country couldn't do much to hurt it (even if it moved forward on its plan to become a piracy haven for digital content. However, earlier this year, there were rumblings that the EU would get involved on Antigua's side, putting a lot more pressure on the US. However, it appears that US politicians and diplomats made quick work of that signing new agreements with the EU, Canada and Japan to keep those three out of the way, leaving the dispute between the US and Antigua, with much less powerful countries like Costa Rica and Macau backing Antigua's position. Not surprisingly, online gambling firms in the EU aren't pleased that the powers that be in the EU rolled over like this -- and neither are folks in the US who still don't understand why it's okay for them to buy a lottery ticket, but they can't play a little poker online.Filed Under: antigua, canada, eu, japan, online gambling, wto
