Just thought i’d bump an interesting collection of articles on copyright reform in Canada : From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced Copyright”: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda
The individual articles found at the above mentioned link are in the PDF format are are downloadable in respect to the Creative Commons Legal Code.
Don’t bother requesting the unabridged version of “Money For Nothing” in Canada, it has been censored.
That’s right, this Dire Straits classic has been banned from the airwaves in Canada because of a decision by the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council that found that because the song included the lyric “faggot” that it violated their Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code.
Appearently a listener had complained after hearing the song on OZ FM, a station based in St. John’s, Newfoundland that broadcasts through-out Newfoundland and Labrador ; On February 1st, 2010.
I find it rather interesting that this chart topping, Grammy Award winning single had aired on radio since late 1985 without a complaint. It took nearly 25 years for someone to be so offended as to result in a complaint.
A music video featuring the unabridged version of this song also aired quite frequently on Much Music and Musique Plus in the 80’s and 90’s.
Also interesting is the fact that Elton John performed this song with Mark Knofler, Sting, Phil Collins and Howard Jones at The Prince’s Trust concert in 1986.
Four of the major labels in Canada have settled a class action lawsuit against them for the unauthorized use and distribution of recordings, as well as unpaid mechanical and video royalties.
EMI Music Canada Inc., Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., Universal Music Canada Inc. and Warner Music Canada Co. have agreed to pay approximately $47.5 Million dollars to songwriters and music publishers that had not been compensated the use of their works in certain compilations and live recordings.
The class action lawsuit alledged that the labels had distributed over 300,000 works without authorization or compensation, fifty of which whose copyright is owned or partly owned by the estate of Chet Baker, the renown jazz trumpet player, arranger and composer.
According to January 10th, 2010 press release, the settlement will be distributed to the plaintiffs via the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), and Société du droit de reproduction des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs au Canada (SODRAC).
I was browsing my email and found a year old email with new information for my Music/Video/Book Download listings, that I completely missed for some reason.
These listings are now updated. And I think i’ll need to do something to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Argh !
I just read a CAUCE notice that someone is claiming they are an “official” replacement for Limewire in unsolicited commercial emails.
Limewire has issued a statement warning their users that this spam is in no way associated to them, as they have been ordered to cease their operations in October 2010 :
“We have very recently become aware of unauthorized applications on the internet purporting to use the LimeWire name. We demand that all persons using the LimeWire software, name, or trademark in order to upload or download copyrighted works in any manner cease and desist from doing so.”
As you may or may not already know, the days of the unlimited internet died in Canada this month.
Gone are the days where one wouldn’t need to worry about limits and extra charges because Shaw and Primus have decided to go the way of Bell and Rogers. They have decided to use caps and extra fees.
When I had originally joined Bell Sympatico years back I had a relatively inexpensive plan and unlimited internet for years.
The speed of the connection was o.k but this was prior to the higher resolution videos on Youtube, the site I frequent the most, and eventually I wanted to upgrade to a faster connection.
Unfortunately when I was offered the faster connection, at a cheaper price, I was introduced to capping. I was limited to a 60 gigabite amount with optional extra gigabites for a few dollars more.
I was not informed that I would have my uploads and downloads limited to 60 gigabites so I was disappointed. But I had never surpassed 40 gigabites anyway, so I managed it.
A year or two back Bell contacted me once more. They were offering a faster connection and more discounts. But this time I scrutinized the offer and found out they were going to reduce my uploads and downloads to 40 gigabites.
Yes, they were going to take $10 off my bill. But I would then need to pay $5 of it back to get extra gigabites to cover the higher amount of transfers I was now at because of chatting and the 720p videos on Youtube.
I of course explained the situation and the salesperson concured that it wasn’t in my best interest to take this offer.
If I had taken the offer I wouldn’t have able to try Netflix. I wouldn’t have had the chance to view many of the 1080p videos on Youtube, which can add up quite quickly.
To save broadband I view most of the videos at 480p. But since the introduction of widescreen video it still adds up. And I would find it impossible to limit my usage to 25 gig cap that is currently being offered to some Bell customers so I wont be changing my plan soon.
Unfortunately for us Canadians, it appears that we are doomed to have the most expensive Internet fees in the world, as determined by Harvard in eary 2010.
Our infrastructure is aging, resulting in additional expendatures, and WIMAX will not be possible until 2012, well after the Analog to Digital transition of Canadian television networks.
Then there’s the issue that WIMAX could be controled by many of the major players like Bell and Rogers, who own some of the television networks.
Are they going to offer competitive rates with WIMAX or play monopoly to pad their stock value ?
Will they play the illegal download card as an excuse to cap WIMAX transfers and/or whine about their landline expeditures ?
I don’t know but i’m sure we’re going to need to fight at least one of these issues to try to keep our prices from skyrocketing.
So much for the promises of inexpensive access.
