Until recently, ripping a DVD or installing the unapproved iBoobs app on your phone could have landed you in legal hot water. In July, however, the Copyright Office approved six exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions, allowing consumers to modify their cellphones and decrypt DVDs under certain circumstances.

The DMCA makes it illegal to break digital locks (software designed to prevent technology from being used in certain ways) but allows the Copyright Office to grant exceptions once every three years.

Under the new guidelines, owners of smartphones will legally be allowed to modify the software on their handsets and unlock the phones in order to switch them to different carriers. This will allow millions of iPhone users to legally install software that is not available through Apple's App Store.

Likewise, people will now be allowed to decrypt DVDs and use short clips for purposes of education, documentary film making, and producing non-commercial videos for sites such as YouTube. However, it is still illegal for a third party to provide the software necessary to extract video from a DVD.

Corynne McSherry—Senior Staff Attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which petitioned for some of the changes—says this is an important decision for American consumers and content creators. “They're going to have much more flexibility in terms of making the uses that they expect to make of the products that they buy.”

However, McSherry warns that the DMCA still stifles competition and free speech. “What we predicted when the DMCA was passed, and has certainly happened ever since, is that these circumvention provisions would be used to inhibit innovation and competition.”

At the end of May, Toronto police issued a controversial report on hate crimes committed during 2009. The crimes ranged from mischief and hate speech (which is against the law in Canada) to attempted murder. Among the victim categories were teachers, feminists, infidels, police, Nazis, pedophiles, and one “Non Jewish Shikse.”

The report sparked outrage from Jewish groups, which argued that the authorities were applying hate crimes law beyond its original scope. “If one were to follow the police logic on this to its ultimate conclusion,” says Bernie Farber, head of the Canadian Jewish Congress, “I suppose you can say that if somebody hates lawyers and commits crimes against a lawyer, it’s a hate crime against lawyers.”

In June the Department of Labor introduced stricter child labor regulations and higher fines for employers who break them. “Work is not child’s play,” Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis explained. “When children do work, that work must be age appropriate, safe, and positive, and it must not interfere with their schooling.” Under the new rules, young people under the age of 16 cannot hold any jobs that are not specifically approved by the government.

Although small farms are still allowed to employ children as young as 12 under certain circumstances, the Labor Department has stepped up enforcement of child labor laws in the agricultural sector. As a result, many farms have begun banning children altogether. This development puts a burden on many migrant workers, who often rely on younger family members as a source of income. It also poses a problem for workers who do not have access to day care facilities for their small children and, in some cases, can no longer bring them to their workplace. “It was better before, because if you didn’t have someone to take care of the kids, you could take them along,” Celidania Diaz, a migrant worker from North Carolina, told The New York Times.

The rules took effect at the end of July. Employers caught violating them face fines ranging from $6,000 to $11,000.

After going home for Christmas to visit with friends and family, I found myself confronting my second semester of journalism school. This semester, we were expected to participate in a blogging assignment. Two posts a week on a specific topic. I was excited that I finally had a chance to stop pretending to be objective and start writing what was really on my mind.

The big problem was deciding on a topic, as I preferred to write about whatever made me angry on any given day. One of my friends came to me with a great solution to this dilemma: write about the trials and tribulations of being a student with right-of-centre political views in a predominantly left-wing university.

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?

Steve Anderson is an advocate for a more open and democratic media and is one of Canada's leading crusaders of net neutrality. Aside from writing for a number of independent media outlets—including The Tyee and rabble.ca—he also helped found a group called OpenMedia, which encourages citizen engagement in the media, and a group called SaveOurNet.ca, which is concerned about net neutrality.

Net neutrality is basically the idea that the Internet should remain an open and neutral network. In other words, any application you decide to use, or any device you plug into the Internet, should be given equal access to the network. It is important because the fact that the Internet is open and neutral has encouraged the spirit of competition and innovation, which shaped the modern-day Internet. If the Internet does not remain neutral, freedom of speech and innovation could be threatened.

Despite the Olympic buzz, Whistler is feeling the effects of the recession. Young workers were once in high demand. But not anymore.

Video produced by Kate Allen, Josh deHaas, Jesse Kline and Magally Zelaya.

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.

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 21^st 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.

Strip mall on North Road in Coquitlam

James Min emigrated to Canada from South Korea 13 years ago. Like many Korean immigrants, he found it hard to find employment when he arrived. He spent three years working menial jobs before finally opening his own business.

Now, Min is the owner of the Robson Relax Centre, a massage studio located in the food court of the Robson Public Market in downtown Vancouver.

Min sits at a table talking to the owners of a nearby Korean restaurant. In this mid-sized food court, only two tables are occupied. At one table sits a paying customer, at the other is Min and his fellow business owners.