Digital Copyright Canada

By now you will have read many articles derived from the statements made by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer at Google about China.

The primary issue that Google was bringing up was a simple and not politically hot one. Companies need to know that the government of countries they are trying to do business in will have laws and enforce them against those who attack the physical or virtual infrastructure of these businesses.

Many of the comments and articles about this incident suggested Google was trying to protect online free speech. I do not buy that argument in this case.

Read full article on IT World Canada's blog ...

A few media outlets are reporting on Irish rocker Bono's latest rantings. (See: CBC, New York Times, SlashDot). My SlashDot comment summarises my thinking on his views.

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime."

You forgot the real issue here, which is that Bono, Gates and similar pseudo-philanthropists are actively involved with making a variety of "teaching" (sharing of knowledge) expensive and/or illegal. This is the core of what Bono is ranting about this time, suggesting the world's governments should go as far as the human rights violations in China to (theoretically -- no proof of "benefit") grant him more money.

This Wednesday, October 7'th, there will be a book launch from 4:30 - 6:30 P.M. at the Parliament Pub, 101 SPARKS ST. (CASH BAR)

Brewster Kneen studied economics and theology, and is (or has been) a farmer, producer, author (Chapters search, Ram's Horn), and director for the Forum on Privatization and the Public Domain.

Not really news, but a SlashDot article is a good reminder to those that forgot that the DMCA was a bill brought to us by the US Democrats -- not "Bush". Some thought there would be change with this administration on key areas such as the new economy, but signs so far have suggested otherwise.

I need to comment on this historical time, with the USA electing President Barack Hussein Obama II. I believe it marks an important point in the USA's history in particular, but also in the world. The relationship between the US and the world community has been strained, and I think that President Obama has some unique qualities to try to improve that relationship.

The 2008 Give 1 Get 1 for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project launches on November 17.

See also: Amazon.com/xo.

Most techies have seen both of the advertisements featuring Jerry and Bill, and have read all the commentary about how most people hated them. While I disliked them, I disliked them because I dislike their successful message, not because I thought the advertisements were a failure.

If you look at any of the Securities and Exchange filings from Microsoft over recent years (5 or so) you will notice that Microsoft lists Linux and Open Source as their greatest competitive threat. One of the things that Free/Libre and Open Source Software offers is this warm-and-fuzzy community feeling about it, that by using this software and supporting it that you are somehow being more of a humanitarian -- almost a form of environmental and social consciousness to your software decisions.

Already being seen by many as the "evil empire", Microsoft can't fight that -- or can they?

Read full article on IT World Canada's blog »

An article by Michael Geist (Toronto Star, his website) talks about a few of the ways in which a copyright bill can be "green" or non-green.

An ITWeb article by Leon Engelbrecht starts:

[Johannesburg, 6 May 2008 ] - The Shuttleworth Foundation and the Canadian International Development Research Centre will, for the next two years, fund research in eight African countries on the relationship between copyright and education.

(Published on p2pnet)
Last November I participated in the Give One, Get One program of the One Laptop Per Child project. I received my "get one" XO in late January, at the beginning of the shipments to Canada. After a few months of having it I wanted to offer my thoughts.

I could give you specs on the hardware, but those interested in that can find the details online as well as comparisons with other smaller laptops such as the ASUS eee PC. I didn't get my XO because of the hardware specs, and to be honest I didn't think I would use it much. I mostly wanted to donate to the project and have a prop to show politicians and policy makers when I was hand-waiving about Free Software.