Policy
Discussion of specific policy areas
Whether free culture allowing all citizens to fully participate, or centrally owned/communicated/controlled culture, at the root of much of the debates are very different ideas on cultural policy.
The dishonestly labelled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which is really an Internet, copyright and patent trade agreement.
Competition / anti-trust issues.
A counterfeit is an imitation that is made usually with the intent to deceptively represent its content or origins. It is best understood as an offence against the recipient of the misrepresentation, and is a very different concept than Copyright or Patent law (and should never be lumped with those laws).
The common law origins of defamation lie in the torts of slander (harmful statement in a transitory form, especially speech) and libel (harmful statement in a fixed medium, especially writing). Canada's laws in this area are very out of touch with modern communication realities.
Digital "Rights" Management, Digital Restrictions Management, Dishonest Relationship Misinformation
This is a generic acronym used to describe a system of software, often including technical measures, used by copyright holders who "claim" that this stops or reduces copyright infringement. DRM in fact does not affect those engaged in unlawful activities, and can only impose hidden digitally encoded contract terms on law abiding citizens.
It is said that vendor-defendant file and communications formats are the "second hand smoke" issue of the Internet. Before consumers/citizens can be said to have choice on ICT there must be a strong government support for free/libre and vendor neutral standards.
Open Access usually refers to the open-access movement, the worldwide movement to disseminate scientific and scholarly research literature online, free of charge and free of unnecessary licensing restrictions. (See Wikipedia entry, Public Library of Science)
Privacy policy, and the interaction of privacy protection with other policy.
Telecommunications policy
I will be posting further thoughts later, but wanted people to know that this book is now available online.
In keeping with our policy on copyright, and in consideration of readers in remote areas, the entire text is also available for free download here.
According to a BBC article, "Tom Watson MP, minister for digital engagement, said open source software would be on a level playing field with proprietary software such as Windows.
Minister for Digital engagement? The closest we seem to have is Charlie Angus which is the digital issues critic for the NDP -- nobody in the government or official opposition in Canada seems to be closely following or trying to understand these issues.
From Michael Geist's BLOG:
Earlier today, I received the Les Fowlie Intellectual Freedom Award from the Ontario Library Association at their annual SuperConference in Toronto.
...
Third - and most importantly - I am sometimes asked whether those arguing for fair copyright are not really only in free access. This award recognizes that it is not about free. It is about freedom.
While looking for new Audio books on eMusic, I came across The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It by Jonathan Zittrain. Seems the book has a website and a blog.
A recent article announcing Herdict had this to say:
For the Internet we know and love is under attack. The openness that allowed users to write any software they wanted, run that software on any machine, and share that software with anyone who wanted it created a lot of great code: Google, Facebook, etc. But that same openness also encouraged a lot of bad code: malware, badware, bots, and so forth. In an effort to protect themselves from this bad code, users are moving from open, “generative” technologies (PC’s) to closed, “tethered” ones (TiVo’s). These tethered appliances give users security but at the price of innovation.
Wow -- sounds like the issue I've been dedicating quite a bit of time to as well! Interestingly the Herdict for PC Health only runs on Microsoft Windows. It's not like they had the option to have it run on some of the most sick platforms, like the iPhone or a TiVO.
I glanced at CPAC earlier this week, and noticed Bill Buxton giving a talk. I looked things up, and found out this was at the 77'th annual Couchiching conference and that CPAC's Video on Demand had this full talk (and even longer Q&A session), as well as a few others from the conference that I also plan to watch later (watch then soon, as CPAC only keeps the videos available for a limited amount of time).
While there are some things that Mr. Buxton believes that I don't agree with, I find that there is more I agree with than disagree. While the whole conference titled "The Power of Knowledge: the New Global Currency" appears to have themes which tie in directly with anyone who reads my blog,. I want to recommend you start with Mr. Buxton's talk.
Read the rest of this entry on IT World Canada's blog »
Tuesday evening and Wednesday all day was the second CopyCamp. The first CopyCamp was held in September 2006, and I actively participated in both. The first good news is that all the language coming out of the organizing committee is that they already have a desire for there to be a third, so this may become a yearly event.
Read full article on IT World Camada's BLOG.
For Immediate Release
Toronto, April 3rd 2008… COPYCAMP 2008, an “unconference” for artists about the Internet and the challenges to copyright is now open for registration at www.copycamp.ca.
Organized by the Creators' Rights Alliance and held in Toronto at OISE (The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), CopyCamp will bring 100 artists, geeks, lawmakers, and copyright activists together to explore issues surrounding new models for making art and making a living on the Internet. It continues the discussion initiated at the first CopyCamp held in September 2006.
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