Bill C-11 Debate Scheduled For Today

Bill C-11 is scheduled to be debated in the House Of Commons today, apparently under time restraints according to the Projected Order Of Business.

Hopefully the questions on the technological protection measures will be blunt and to the point :

  • In what manner are artists and copyright owners harmed by private copying from copy protected works ? And why does this harm not exist in private copying from works that are not copy protected ?
  • In what manner are film makers harmed by the private viewing of legally purchased films that failed to be distributed in Canada ? And does the sale of this material to Canadians by legitimate retailers and distributors not imply consent to their private use by Canadians ?

The Private Copying section of our Copyright Act distinguished private use from piracy and in my opinion the technical protection measures provisions in Bill C-11 are a step back.

October 18th, 2011 Comments Off on Bill C-11 Debate Scheduled For Today Canadian Law, Consumer Information, Music Industry, Music Technology Rob McIntyre

Associations Against Digital Locks

Here is a short list of Canadian groups that are against the technological protection measure provisions in Bill C-11 :

All of the parties in opposition in Parliament had voiced concerns about these provisions on November 2nd, 2010.

October 17th, 2011 2 Comments Canadian Law, Consumer Information, Music Industry, Music Technology Rob McIntyre

Lawful Access = Higher Internet Fees

There’s no way around it. Lawful access will be costly to consumers in Canada.

The internet providers do not have the necessary technology and manpower to give law enforcement in Canada real time access to internet communications, especially the smaller internet providers. And these extra expenditures will be passed on to Canadians.

We are talking about technology used to distinguish criminal activity from normal internet traffic and according to Statistic Canada‘s Canadian Internet Use Survey, 79% of Canadian households accessed the internet in 2010.

The task is not only overwhelming but could possibly be open to abuse and security breaches.

After all, we are talking about individual internet providers here, some of which use different technologies to secure their networks. And I’m sure there are plenty of identity thieves that would love to access the weaker of these networks, some of which are probably tied to the criminal organizations our law enforcement is trying to expose with this legislation.

The 2011 Canadians and Privacy Survey conducted by Harris/Decima for The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found that 8 out of 10 Canadians opposed this legislation because of numerous concerns about privacy and security. And in 2009, Statistics Canada found that 48% of Canadian consumers were concerned about credit card purchases online.

Is this really the time to make consumers nervous about security and privacy online ?

October 14th, 2011 Comments Off on Lawful Access = Higher Internet Fees Canadian Law, Consumer Information Rob McIntyre

2011 Holiday Season Suggested Mailing Dates

Canada Post has added their suggested mailing dates for the 2011 Holiday Season to their site. Click here for details.

October 13th, 2011 Comments Off on 2011 Holiday Season Suggested Mailing Dates Consumer Information Rob McIntyre

Delays, Delays, Delays

I had planned to start doing more on the blog side of this site last week but unfortunately I was sidetracked by family illness, pain from dental surgery and a cold. And now my Windows 7 machine, which had worked fine since I purchased it in late 2009, is starting to get buggy.

The Desktop Window Manager issue has appeared. This program randomly shut of causing my monitor to flicker and the Aero window transparency to turn off and on, randomly.

This is rather annoying and I’ve tried all of the fixes, including forcing Aero by editing the registry. In the end the best solution for me was to just go with a “Basic and High Contrast Theme” on personalization, which isn’t a big loss really. It looks fine and it appears to be better on the resources.

If I ever get another Windows 7 machine I’ll probably drop Aero. But then I digress.

I’m hoping to get back into posting more regularly here by November, especially about Bill C-11. The debate is on and the opposition is multiplying to the digital lock provisions.

October 11th, 2011 Comments Off on Delays, Delays, Delays Random Bump Rob McIntyre

Congratulations Again To Heart



October 8th, 2011 Comments Off on Congratulations Again To Heart Music Industry, Random Bump Rob McIntyre