That’s right. The age old tune is still copyrighted and to use it you need to pay up.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an adult or group of children that sings it. And when a film production company called Good Morning To You Productions Inc made a documentary about the songs history, they were required to pay a $1,500 synchronization license fee to use it on their film.

Had this company not paid they would have been liable up to $150,000 in damaged for copyright infringement so they paid up. But of course they also decided to launch a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court representing the Southern District of New York, on behalf of all who were forced to pay to use this song.

The composition was originally entitled “Good Morning To All” and composed in 1893 by Patty Smith Hill and her sister Mildred Hill. And the copyright to that song of course expired in 1921 in the States. But a change in lyrics in 1924 and a different arrangement in 1935 caused the copyright to linger.

Fast forward to 2013.

The plaintiffs claim that they have evidence dating the traditional lyrics to 1911. This would date both the composition and traditional lyrics to over 75 years, rendering both public domain.

They also dispute whether copyright was actually established in 1924 because Robert H. Coleman was only credited for compiling, editing and publishing “Harvest Hymns”, a songbook which featured the melody and lyrics to “Happy Birthday To You”.

The class action lawsuit also alleges that copyright for “Happy Birthday To You” had not been established in several subsequent publications and copyright registrations.

What’s annoying about this is that in Canada there’s no dispute whether this song is public domain with lyrics or not. But everything that is uploaded to Youtube is subject to American law so hold off uploading your birthday videos guys and gals until this is settled.

Communications Security Establishment Canada is a security agency that collects various information to protect national interests and according to Ronald Diebert there is a possibility that they are collecting data right now.

Like in the United States this data is likely just cross referenced because it would take an enormous effort to listen to every call or read every email, for example. But we should ask ourselves if this information is stored securely enough so that it cannot be accessed by someone else and how long this data remain accessible, waiting to be abused.

A June 13th, 2013 press release from Commissioner Robert Décary of the Communications Security Establishment Canada addresses some of the issues and he states that the “CSEC does not direct its foreign signals intelligence collection and IT security activities at Canadians — wherever they might be in the world — or at any person in Canada.” But he also confirmed that the CSEC may “unintentionally intercept a communication that originates or terminates in Canada” and that metadata is being collected by the CSEC “for purposes of providing intelligence on foreign entities located outside Canada and to protect information infrastructures of importance to the government”.

We’ve already had serious security breaches with data stored on hard drives and USB sticks within the past six month courtesy of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, who managed to loose a hard drive containing data on over half a million Canadians in January and a USB key containing private information on an additional 5000 Canadians in December. And in 1999 we had sensitive top secret documents stolen from a CSIS agent’s car while he was at a Toronto Maple Leafs game so Canadians should know what is being stored and by whom.

If you are concerned about this issue contact your local Member of Parliament and/or sign this petition.

Thank you.

Canadians can now pre-order the Kindle Fire HD Tablets and order Android Apps from Amazon.ca..

The standard Kindle Fire HD has a 7″ color display in 720p and comes either with 16GB or 32 GB. The Kindle Fire HD Tablet 8.9″ is also available in 16GB or 32 GB and has an 8.9″ display with a 1080p resolution. Both include Dolby stereo virtual surround sound, a front facing HD camera and unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content.

You will also notice that accessories are discounted on these pre-orders.

These kiosks, which are either located in a retailer or outdoors near the retailer’s entrance, offer movie rentals in both DVD and Blu-Ray. But unlike the Zip kiosks, they take reservations online and offer game rentals for Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3.

Though more expensive than Zip for DVD rentals at $1.50/day, Redbox also offers Blu-Ray rentals at $2/day so I will probably rent my Blu-rays from them when they decide to expand to my local grocery store or Walmart. The Zip kiosk location I currently rent from is some distance from my home.

It’s Star Wars Day. Time to look for those rare Star Wars items on sale and to enjoy those John Williams soundtracks.

Yes, even fans that were disappointed by the alternations on the original trilogy can still enjoy the original music, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

The main themes remain in most of the official original trilogy soundtracks so I’ve heard only a few complaints over the years about them. Except of course when it comes to Lapti Nek (by the Max Rebo Band) and the original Ewok celebration theme (a.k.a “Yub Nub”), both of which were featured on the original Return of the Jedi CD soundtrack release and in the 1993 Anthology.

As for the films, DVD is the end of the road for me.

Perhaps Disney will release a limited edition Blu-ray collection that includes the original footage from the original trilogy years from now. But I see no point in investing in higher resolution copies of the current remasters, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who were not introduced to the franchise with the prequels.

I am interested in seeing JJ Abrams’ take on the sequel trilogy though, which are scheduled for release in 2015, 2017 and 2019 according to The Guardian. I like most of the films he worked on.

Until July 16th, you will be able to enjoy the aforementioned free shipping offer and 5% off orders over $199 Canadian with coupon code LESPAUL. You can also use this LESPAUL coupon code to get 10% off orders over $999 Canadian until July 16th, 2013.

It went online on April 28th, 2003, offering Apple users 200,000 recordings, and sold over ten million mp3s by the time Windows compatible software was released for the service, on October 15th, 2003.

You can save $5 on select Blu-ray titles, $10 on select 3D Blu-ray titles and $15 on select Television series Blu-ray titles.

Over 80 titles are available for Trade-In in store at Future Shop, all marked with Trade & Save stickers. The amount of selections available at Best Buy Canada stores has not been published on their site.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act enables private companies and the United States government to exchange information related to internet security issues including private information to prevent cyberattacks, without public disclosure or the need for warrants. And this is of course where the idiom in the subject line of this post comes in.

In order to prevent cyberattacks and attacks against the national security of the United States everyone’s information would be exchanged and stored on multiple computers for analysis, opening this information up to misuse, abuse or theft.

This bill enables the distribution of information that you don’t want made public, from private posts and email to your internet browsing information, without your knowledge or consent. And it also contains an exemption from liability, reducing an individual’s ability to sue if something were to go wrong during this exchange of information.

The proponents of the bill are also relying on people’s inability to understand that the definitions used in this bill may extend the coverage of this bill beyond “cyber attacks”, the term “national security of the United States” having been linked to that country’s commercial interests in past legislation.

Your choice to purchase something outside of the United States could cause your information to be taken under the premise that the purchase was a threat to the American intellectual property owners because the product might not be authentic or authorized by an American company.

Having unfortunately been subjected to counterfeit DVDs in the past via eBay, my personal, private information could be collected and distributed. And because of this, an act beyond my control, I could face further victimization without legal recourse to prevent it.

Yes, some intellectual property provisions have been removed from the bill but what’s to stop them from re-introducing them ? They have no qualms re-introducing warrantless searches, over and over again and warrants do not significantly impede their current efforts to stop crime on the internet. And I have yet to see and evidence substantiating the claim that privacy is a hindrance to law enforcement, so why are these sentiments remaining in Government ?

I suspect internet security firms want to be funded by the public and are doing their best to present these bills as solutions to politicians that have no idea of what is involved.

Vic Toews, for example, is proof positive that politicians can be severely illiterate when it comes to technology.

In February 2012 this Canadian politician had introduced a bill in Parliament that he had not read in its entirety, claiming that it would address child pornography. And he had been so well convinced that it would that he actually accused opponents of this legislation of standing with child pornographers, in the House of Commons of all places.

Even joint statements from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and her provincial counterparts had failed to convince him that there were serious issues with the bill and it took a severe public backlash to get him to actually review what he was proposing.

This isn’t the time for half-baked, open ended legislation that can be exploited by the very criminals that these bills are trying to address. And it is rather stupid to believe criminals would not use arguments about the constitutionality of these laws in their defense.

Opposition has been strong within the United States and a White House petition has apparently convinced the President to threaten to veto the bill, “as currently crafted” in a April 16th, 2013 statement (pdf).

Another petition for Americans and non American alike is also available at Avaaz. There are currently over 800,000 signatories on this petition.