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  • Modiba Productions Presents Nation Beat Animation Contest Nation Beat, a musical group that “bridges folkloric Brazilian rhythms with classic American roots music”, is set to release their sophomore album, Legends of the Preacher, on July 15th 2008. In conjunction with their release, Nation Beat and record label Modiba Productions are sponsoring an animation contest based on the band and their songs, with [...]
  • search.creativecommons.org screencast and i18n We’ve rolled out a few small changes to search.creativecommons.org: The part of the interface we control is now translatable, and has five languages enabled now — Afrikaans, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, and Japanese. You can suggest translations here. A screencast on using ccSearch with Firefox, including how to change your default search engine, and change it [...]
  • Tune Rooms Tune Rooms is “a music company that was created for Musicians and Music Fans alike” that aims to “enable music collaboration, promotion, and distribution on your terms.” This is accomplished through the use of ‘tune rooms’ in which users can upload different ideas, song sketches, and the like to the Tune Rooms webspace and allow [...]
  • ccLearn Workshop Video Now Live at OSL In April I blogged about Open Source Lab’s fourth official workshop featuring ccLearn’s Executive Director, Ahrash Bissell. The Open Source Lab has now posted a video of the workshop at their blog. The workshop focuses on recent developments within open education, including but not limited to the impact of open licensing, as Ahrash emphasizes the [...]
  • ccHost 4.5 and 5.0beta Two new releases of ccHost today, the remix-oriented media hosting software that drives ccMixter: 4.5, the final release from the 4.x tree. 4.0 was released March 6 last year. 5.0beta is the code that has been running on ccMixter for several months (5.0alpha was available in February.) The missing piece needed to make 5.0 final is updated [...]
  • Building Commons and Community Building Commons and Community, a book written by the late Karl Linn on his experience “creating neighborhood spaces for communities and by communities”, has been released under a CC BY-NC-ND license. From New Village Press: Landscape architect and child psychologist Karl Linn (1923-2005) was a beloved, down-to-earth, visionary leader of grassroots community building, who brought life [...]
  • CC-Licensed Twitter Music Project The Twitter Compilation Album is the end result of 34 different people meeting over Twitter and coming together to produce a CC-licensed album of unique and interesting music, all without meeting en masse in the same physical space. Most of those involved made music while others created pictures and provided server hosting. The end product [...]
  • Neuro Net Recordings Neuro Net Recordings is an online techno-music distribution project based out of Japan that houses over 80 pieces of CC BY-NC-ND licensed music at Archive.org. Founded in 1994, NNR has been pushing free and open licences in some form since before CC was even a blip of an idea and represents an interesting case study [...]
  • Apture Apture is a new tool for bloggers that allows “content creators the power to find and incorporate relevant multimedia items directly into their pages” by adding links and small navigator windows to pages and posts automatically. Better understood in practice (see screenshot below), Apture seems poised to add incredible functionality to web pages that, while [...]
  • The (potential) U.S. copyright czar and you Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “PRO-IP Act” 410 to 11. The bill, if also passed by the U.S. Senate and made law, could create a “copyright czar” office and greatly expand copyright enforcement in and outside of the U.S. Slashdot is of course running the story. A comment by Slashdot user analog_line lays [...]
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    Michael Geist Blog
    Michael Geist - Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law

  • Copyfight at the Library of Parliament Committee It looks like Industry Minister Jim Prentice has yet another group that will be unhappy with his forthcoming copyright bill - the Library of Parliament.  Macleans Kady O'Malley live-blogged a committee hearing today (short summary here) during which a fight over copyright broke out.  The Library called for a special fair dealing exemption for Parliamentarians.  The issue created considerable debate with some support for raising the issue in a report back to the House of Commons or discussing the matter with the Speaker of the House.  The prospect of Prentice providing the necessary access to his own colleagues while denying individual Canadians their fair dealing rights strikes me as unlikely, yet it highlights again why the government still desperately needs to consult more broadly on the bill.
  • CRTC New Media Consultation I'll have much to say about the CRTC's New Media consultation in the coming days - I think it holds the promise of addressing net neutrality and the danger of promoting unnecessary new Internet regulation in the form of online Canadian content requirements - but in the meantime the document is here and the consultation site here.
  • Nymity Interview on iOptOut.ca I recently conducted an interview with Nymity about the iOptOut.ca site.
  • Angus Raises Copyright During Question Period

    Fresh off the Canadian Press story that the suggests a copyright bill delay, copyright reform made it back onto the floor of the House of Commons.  NDP MP Charlie Angus posed two questions (audio) (video) (transcript) to Industry Minister Jim Prentice, packing in the LeBreton comment about the dangers of Facebook, the French report of a three strikes and you're out approach for Canada, the influence of the U.S. in lobbying for a Canadian DMCA, the prospect of a few exceptions like time shifting to pacify users, DMCA-style reforms that would lock down devices like Apple's iPhone, and the commitment to tabling the WIPO treaties for debate for introducing implementing legislation.  Prentice flubbed his tried and true line about working with the Minister of Canadian Heritage to strike a balance between "consumers and industrial consumers."


  • CRTC Sets Timeline for Throttling Case The CRTC this morning issued its promised plan for addressing the substantive issues raised by the CAIP complaint over Bell's throttling practices.  The plan has an aggressive timeline with all submissions in by June 26th and a decision promised within 90 days.   Bell and CAIP have been asked to respond to a series of questions, with the CRTC giving Bell two weeks to provide much more detail on its network congestion claims and its network management practices.  Interested parties - ie. the public and other businesses - will have the chance to file comments by June 12, 2008.  Combined with the new media discussion document slated to be released later today, CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein wasn't kidding when he told an industry conference in a speech earlier this month that the throttling issue "will have wide-ranging consequences and will lead to a much wider debate. This will undoubtedly occupy much of our time this year."
  • The Canadian DMCA Delayed Again? I'm Not So Sure

    Ever since the government decided to delay Canadian copyright reform last December, Industry Minister Jim Prentice has relied on the same talking point - "When (Canadian Heritage Minister Josee) Verner and I have reached a consensus and we're satisfied, we will introduce a bill."  On Wednesday Prentice was asked about the copyright bill and he again refused to speculate on timing and reiterated the usual talking point.  With only a couple of weeks left in the spring session, however, the media took the non-response to be an indication that the bill is delayed again.  According to the Canadian Press, Canadians will have to wait a few more months for the copyright bill (the article also contains an astonishing demand from the Entertainment Software Association to force ISPs to snoop on their customers).

    While I think this is the right thing to do - I wrote in the Hill Times this week about the merits of consulting this summer and immediately tabling the WIPO Internet treaties for debate - I'm not so sure that this is what will happen.  The general chatter (confirmed by Industry Committee Chair James Rajotte last month) is that a bill will be introduced before the House breaks for the summer, likely in the last week of May or the first week of June.  My guess is that bill will still mirror the DMCA on the key anti-circumvention provisions but provide Canadians with a few teasers in the hope that they ignore the disasterous pro-DRM provisions.  Prentice will magically declare a consensus achieved, though business groups, artists, educators, consumer groups, and thousands of Canadians will be left to wonder why their concerns were ultimately trumped by U.S. pressure and ignored by a Minister who has professed to put consumers first.

    Update: The ESAC writes to advise that CP misunderstood its position. It is not the ESAC's position that copyright be "strengthened to allow Internet service providers to monitor high-speed downloads and shutdown transfers containing unauthorized copies of games and other files."


  • Speaking to the Parliamentary IP Caucus I have been critical of the Parliamentary IP Caucus, so I should be equally quick to praise where appropriate.  Tonight I was invited to appear before the caucus and given two full hours to make a presentation and participate in an engaging discussion on copyright.  The meeting was well attended with members from all four parties in attendance. 

    My powerpoint slides are posted below (the first half of the talk covered the same ground as the Copyright Myths presentation I gave a couple of weeks ago).  My key messages centred on putting copyright reform in context and getting the key content issues right.  From context perspective, I highlighted:
    • the need to recognize both the importance and limits of copyright
    • the lack of recent consultation
    • how Canadian copyright law is not nearly as weak as critics suggest
    • why the WIPO Internet treaties provide great flexibility in implementation
    • why focusing on copyright may undermine the efforts to address commercial counterfeiting
    • how there are many voices expressing concern with a Canadian DMCA approach
    I was also asked about my recommendations for reform.  I provided nine points:

    1. Do no harm to user rights
    2. Link anti-circumvention legislation to copyright infringement
    3. No ban on circumvention devices
    4. Flexible fair dealing
    5. Notice and notice
    6. Modernize the backup copy provision
    7. Rationalize statutory damages
    8. Making available = distribution
    9. Crown Copyright

    Once the bill is introduced, many more of these meetings will be needed and I was assured that the IP caucus wants to hear from all perspectives on these issues.

     

  • CRTC Denies CAIP Request for Interim Relief from Bell's Throttling The CRTC this morning denied CAIP's request for interim relief blocking Bell's throttling practices.  The Commission ruled that CAIP did not meet the standard for interim relief.  It acknowledged that there is a serious issue to be determined, but it was not convinced that there will be irreparable harm if the relief was not granted.  While CAIP is undoubtedly disappointed, I don't think this decision is much of a surprise.  The standard for interim relief is very high and given the ability to provide monetary compensation at a later date, the CRTC took a pass on stopping the throttling practices based on the limited record of evidence.  The CRTC has left the door open to addressing throttling and net neutrality in a serious way, however.  First, it ruled that there is a serious issue to be determined.  Second, tomorrow it will release the details on how it plans to address the substantive issues of the throttling complaint.  Combined with the draft new media document, there is a real possibility of hearings in the fall on throttling and net neutrality in Canada from both a broadcast and telecom perspective.
  • The CAB on Using Your VCR or PVR The Canadian Association of Broadcasters, in a submission to the CRTC, states:

    in Canada, consumers who record TV shows for later viewing, whether on a VCR, in-home PVR or, potentially, through an NPVR, are infringing copyright. For this reason, Canadian BDUs are actively seeking an amendment to the Copyright Act to create a "time-shifting right" similar to that which exists in the US and some other jurisdictions. The creation of such a right, however, is not expected in the short-term, if at all.
  • Conservatives Could Face Long, Hot Copyright Summer The Hill Times runs a special op-ed (Hill Times version (sub req), homepage version) I wrote that outlines an alternative policy path for the Conservatives on copyright.  If the Ottawa rumour mill is correct, Industry Minister Jim Prentice will introduce copyright reform legislation in the next few weeks.  The decision to forge ahead with the controversial reform package is a curious one.  While the pressure from the United States to act continues to escalate - representatives from the U.S. Embassy paid a visit to the Parliamentary intellectual property caucus last week and caucus members plan to travel to Washington later this month - there are alternatives that would address some of the top intellectual property concerns without subjecting Conservative MPs to a steady stream of criticism throughout the summer from concerned consumers, educators, and businesses.

    The general sense is that Prentice will introduce a copyright bill that claims to "modernize" the law.  Assuming that the bill meets U.S. demands to largely mirror its Digital Millennium Copyright Act but avoids updating key consumer concerns such as fair dealing and the making of backup copies, it is almost certain to disappoint consumer and education groups. Moreover, by running afoul of the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright (comprised of leading companies and associations including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Retail Council of Canada, Telus, Rogers, Google, and Yahoo) the Industry Minister risks alienating a large swath of the Canadian business community.

    While that backlash alone might be enough to give a minority government pause, there is an alternate three-part strategy that could allow the government to fulfill its commitments to address intellectual property, consult on treaty ratification, and avoid a process that Liberal Industry critic Scott Brison recently labeled as "anything but transparent."

    First, the government could move forward immediately with anti-counterfeiting legislation.  The counterfeiting issue has been a key focus for both the U.S. and copyright lobby groups and it was the subject of two unanimous House of Commons committee reports in 2007.  Four government ministers - Prentice, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, International Trade Minister David Emerson, and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson - issued a joint response last October to the reports expressing general support for the recommended reforms.

    According to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, there is strong internal government support for new anti-counterfeiting measures.  While officials questioned the need for certain reforms such as the creation of a new intellectual property crime task force or increasing penalties under the Copyright Act, representatives from key government departments including Industry, Justice, and Public Safety accepted the majority of the recommendations. These included defining trademark counterfeiting as a criminal offence, creating a criminal offence for the manufacture or distribution of fake labels of authenticity, and removing the Copyright Act from the list of excluded acts contained under Proceeds of Crime legislation. Moving forward with an anti-counterfeiting package would win plaudits from the U.S. and enjoy all-party support in the House of Commons.

    Second, the government could immediately table the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Internet treaties in the House of Commons, consistent with its new policy on the ratification of treaties.  Introduced in January, the policy requires a 21 sitting day period of review before any legislation designed to facilitate ratification of an international treaty is introduced.  The policy has been respected in other instances.  For example, Emerson tabled the trade agreement between Canada and the European Free Trade Association in the House of Commons in February and only introduced implementing legislation last week after the review period had passed.

    The same policy should be applied to the WIPO Internet treaties, which serve as the basis for the forthcoming legislation.  By tabling the treaties, the government would avoid accusations of only following its own accountability policies when convenient to do so.

    Third, the government could use the summer months to conduct a much-needed consultation on copyright reform. The last national consultation on digital copyright reform took place in 2001 and with so many groups clamouring for an opportunity to have their voice heard, an open consultation process would allow the government to proceed with reforms that enjoy far broader support than is currently the case.  Indeed, with tens of thousands of Canadians now focused on copyright, a serious misstep could put Conservative MPs across the country on the copyright hot seat this summer.
  • Fair Dealing and Media Use of Flickr Photos The Torontoist covers a recent decision by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council on CityNews' use of photos from Flickr in a news report without attribution.  City argued that the use was covered by the news reporting provisions in fair dealing.  The CBSC disagreed, noting that the statute requires attribution.
  • Knopf on Getty Images Howard Knopf on Getty Images copyright threats to Canadians over the use of unlicensed images on websites.
  • Degen Offers Free Download of Novel John Degen, Executive Director of the PWAC, is offering The Uninvited Guest, which was short-listed for Canada's best First Novel Award, as a freely downloadable PDF.
  • Records Indicate Government Misusing Crown Copyright

    As Industry Minister Jim Prentice prepares to introduce new copyright legislation, crown copyright is unlikely to be part of the reform package. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, there may be a disturbing reason behind the government's reluctance to address it - crown copyright costs Canadians hundreds of thousands of dollars while being used as a tool to suppress public criticism of government programs.

    Dating back to the 1700s, crown copyright reflects a centuries-old perspective that the government ought to control the public's ability to use official documents.  Today crown copyright extends for fifty years from creation and it requires anyone who wants to use or republish a government report, parliamentary hearing, or other work to first seek permission.  While permission is often granted, it is not automatic. The Canadian approach stands in sharp contrast to the situation in the U.S. where the federal government does not hold copyright over work created by an officer or employee as part of that person's official duties.  Government reports, court cases, and Congressional transcripts can therefore be freely used and published.

    The existence of crown copyright affects both the print and audio-visual worlds and is increasingly viewed as a barrier to Canadian film making, political advocacy, and educational publishing.


    For example, while U.S. governmental reports are freely available and often used for commercial purposes without the need for prior permission, Canadian publishers seeking to release a Canadian report as a commercial title would need approval from the government to do so.  To obtain permission, the publisher would be required to provide details on the intended use and format of the work, the precise website address if the work is to appear online, as well as the estimated number of hard copies if the work is to be reprinted.  If the work is to be sold commercially, the publisher would be required to disclose the estimated selling price. Film makers and educational publishers face similar barriers.  Unlike their U.S. counterparts, they must budget for lengthy, expensive approval processes for the use of government clips in their films or documents in their textbooks.

    Beyond the policy reasons for abandoning crown copyright, internal government documents reveal other concerns.  Financially, the federal crown copyright system costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Documents from Public Works and Government Services Canada, which administers the crown copyright system, reveal that in the 2006-7 fiscal year, crown copyright licensing generated less than $7,000 in revenue, yet the system cost over $200,000 to administer.

    In most instances, Canadians obtain little return for this investment.  Ninety-five percent of crown copyright requests are approved, with requests ranging from archival photos to copies of the Copyright Act. More troubling are the five percent of cases where permission is declined.  While in some instances refusals stem from the fact that the government does not have rights in the requested work, government documents reveal that some requests are declined for what appear to be politically motivated reasons.

    For example, an educational institution request to reproduce a photo of a Snowbird airplane was denied on the grounds that the photo was to be used for an article raising questions about the safety of the program.  Similarly, a request to reproduce a screen capture of the NEXUS cross-border program with the U.S. was declined since it was to be used in an article that would not portray the program in a favourable light. Although it seems unlikely that crown copyright authorization was needed to use these images, the government's decision to deny permission smacks of censorship and misuse of Canadian copyright law.

    Given the significant costs associated with a program that does more harm than good and that appears susceptible to political manipulation, any new copyright reform should eliminate crown copyright and adopt in its place a presumption that government materials belong to the public domain to be freely used without prior permission or compensation.
  • Conservative Senator Labels Facebook "Dangerous" Kady O'Malley at Macleans notes that last week Conservative Senator Marjorie LeBreton was asked about the thousands of Canadians who have expressed their concern with Bill C-10 through a Facebook group.  Her response? 

    Honourable senators, I have been asked about Facebook before. I never look at Facebook because I do not understand the technology. I think the concept is dangerous.

    • Digital Copyright Canada - All Canadian Citizens are "Rights Holders"!
    This forum was started in Aug 2001 to raise the level of debate about Digital Copyright revision in Canada. We work to ensure that the views of all citizens including creators and their audiences are considered. Thus far the federal government has allowed lobbiests for the increasingly outdated intermediaries to dominate discussions. Read about this forum for more details and site description.

  • Charlie Angus during Question Period on the DMCA


    A link to the above video came directly from Charlie with the following text:

    Angus challenges Conservative thinking over digital innovation issues in the wake of comments by Conservative Senate Leader Marjorie LaBreton who said she doesn't understand technologies like facebook and she thinks they are dangerous.

    He then challenges Jim Prentice over the U.S. arm-twisting to enact a DMCA-style copyright Act. The Conservatives have pledged that all treaties will be debated in the House of Commons before being ratified. Angus challenges Prentice on refusing to bring WIPO into the House prior to any new copyright legislation.

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  • John Degen offers book for DRM-free download

    Details on his site/BLOG.

  • Superman Charity vs. Kryptonite Inc.

    Thomas Denton wanted to raise money for cancer. He did so by enlisting the services of several professional and amateur comic book artists, who drew original artworks featuring famous DC comic book heros, then selling them on Ebay with the proceeds to go to the charity.

    But just how wrong was he to do this without the permission of the super hero copyright holders? I argue on DeathByCopyright.ca that he was not at all wrong.

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  • Little Brother library/school donation project update, bacon on your cat

    A note from Cory Doctorow about how to donate in support of Little Brother:

    Last week,I told you about my donations program for my new book, Little Brother. Every time I put a book online for free, I'm inundated by offers of cash "tips" from people who got the ebooks for free. I don't want anyone's money (cutting my publisher out of the loop isn't good for them or me), so I came up with an alternative. I asked librarians and teachers who wanted free copies to step forward and put their names down, and now I'm looking for would-be "donors" to step forward and send them copies of the book.

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  • On May 30, celebrate 6 Years of Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments

    May 30'th, 2008 is the 6 year anniversary of GOSLING: Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments. We are having a party at the Parliament Pub, just in front of the parliament buildings in Ottawa. For details and any changes please see our website where we also ask people to RSVP so we can plan food.

    GOSLING started in May 2002 as a couple of informal Friday gatherings after work at the pub, to bounce around some ideas ahead of the first free/libre/open source software event hosted by the Government of Canada. We have been meeting nearly every Friday since. Our weekly gatherings are very informal. While we expect our 6-year anniversary party to be larger than any other GOSLING gathering in the past, it will be equally informal.

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  • Entertainment Software Association opposes technology property rights

    Michael Geist reported that Canadian copyright scholar Howard Knopf squares off against Stevan Mitchell of the Entertainment Software Association on Buisiness News Network's show SqueezePlay. You can read my letter to the show on IT World Canada's BLOG.

  • Security Now Feedback: "DRM" is policy, not technology

    As a listener to the Security Now podcast, I sent in the following feedback.

    Steve,

    I am a long time listener, but two of my complaints came together in your discussion of the RSA show in episode 141.

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  • Global IP comparisons

    Michael Geist's blog today points to a study by Taylor Wessing which compares various national IP laws around the world. No doubt, Canada's laws are judged by the report to be very strong which supports Geist's conclusion that "claims that Canada's international reputation has been harmed by our intellectual property laws are the stuff of fiction."

    This is a great study to demonstrate that our laws are strong enough. What is missing, and what I'd love to see next, is a study that compares the fairness various laws.

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  • Parliamentary committee deplores abandoning of Coordination of Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS)

    The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics has released a report which includes:

    The parliamentary Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics:

    • deplores the fact that, at the request of Treasury Board, as of April 1, 2008 officials are no longer updating the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS), a central database for all requests filed with the government under the Access to Information Act;

    • demands that the Conservative government reinstate this tool, which promotes transparency and accountability; and

    • encourages the Conservative government to make this database available online and free of charge.

    I agree, and was in fact surprised that a party who campaigned on accountability and transparency of government would abandon rather than expand this important system.

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  • Recognizing a policy problem doesn't suggest agreement on solutions

    A few hours after posting my article on the content industry vs content delivery providers I was sent a link to an article titled "Raging Grannies demonstrate for fair contracts for freelancers" by its author, journalist Shannon Lee Mannion. The contracts that the big media companies are asking freelance journalists to sign are getting worse and worse all the time. I feel really bad about this situation, and I do anything I can in my policy work to help improve the situation for authors -- especially freelance creators given I am one myself with my self-employed business.

    I am left with mixed feelings, however, because I believe that the organizations that should be helping authors -- organizations like the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), The Writers Union, and other members of the Creators Copyright Coalition and DAMIC -- have been promoting policies which will have the effect of protecting or worsening the market conditions that enabled these bad contracts in the first place.

    Read full article on IT World Canada's BLOG »

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