 Kati was recently given a copy of the book “Shantaram” by one of her friends who had enjoyed it and wanted to share the experience with her. To most of us, the ability to share a good book with friends and family is taken for granted. But could this kind of activity be outlawed in the near future?
Considering the growing popularity of digital technology, this is not so far-fetched. In the United States, it is illegal to break digital locks. That means that if you purchase an electronic book (e-book) that is protected by a digital lock, you cannot copy that book to your friend's e-book reader without breaking the law.
Geoffrey Glass is worried that Canada is about to screw up its copyright laws in pretty much the same way the United States did. Glass is a PhD student in the communications program at Simon Fraser University and the co-founder of Vancouver Fair Copyright, which is part of a larger movement to see the copyright reform process achieve a balance between the rights of content creators, distributors, and consumers.
I recently sat down with Glass at his home in Burnaby, BC to discuss how copyright laws have the potential to affect the lives of ordinary Canadians and to find out what he'd like to see come out of the government's copyright reform process. Here is what he had to say…
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Last Updated on Monday, 01 March 2010 12:33 |
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 In the spring, the Government of Canada introduced two pieces of legislation that would greatly expand the power of the state to monitor its citizens online activity. The legislation, known as the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century (IP21C) Act, would force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to install costly surveillance systems on their networks and give police wide ranging new powers that do away with judicial oversight.
According to University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist, the legislation would create additional requirements for ISPs and expand police powers. These ISP requirements can be broken down into two components. First, ISPs will be required to install costly surveillance equipment on their networks. Part of the cost will fall to taxpayers while the remainder will be carried by the companies themselves. Some smaller ISPs will be exempt from this requirement for a period of three years, creating an unfair burden on the larger, more successful companies.
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Last Updated on Monday, 08 March 2010 12:47 |
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 The Canadian government recently introduced legislation that would expand its powers to monitor Canadians Internet activity. Even though the legislation has not yet been passed into law, we already know that governments around the world are monitoring Internet communications. Luckily, there is an abundance of ways to help protect your privacy in cyberspace. The main obstacle to many of these technologies becoming commonplace is a lack of users. For example, it is possible to send encrypted e-mails, but unless the other people within your social network are using the technology, no one will be able to read your messages. If enough people are concerned about protecting their privacy, we may see the critical mass of people necessary to seamlessly integrate some of these technologies into our daily computing experience. Detailed below are some of the ways to protect yourself on the Internet.
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Last Updated on Monday, 08 March 2010 12:56 |
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 A CBC reporter tries to spark grassroots fury on Canadian streetsLast spring, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff stood in front of Canadians and issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Stephen Harper: unless the government passed meaningful Employment Insurance (EI) reforms, the Liberals would force election-weary Canadians back to the polls. Of course the Conservatives never passed any EI reforms and Ignatieff never defeated the government.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 13:00 |
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