2012 Grafstein Lecture: ”Books, Libraries & The Digital Future”

This year’s 2012 Grafstein Lecture in Communications was delivered last week by Robert Darnton, the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian at Harvard University. His lecture, titled ”Books, Libraries & The Digital Future” discussed the digitalization and commercialization of public knowledge. He promotes the creation of a Digital Public Library, which will make the collections of research libraries available free of charge.

The webcast of Prof Darnton’s lecture can be found here.

“Do Not Track” – Recent Developments in Internet Privacy

Fresh off successful efforts to quash the Stop Online Piracy Act, a number of internet companies are turning to consumer privacy issues. Web giants like Google and Facebook have been facing mounting political pressure and popular demands for greater user choice and control over privacy settings. In the forefront of the debate is the proposed Do Not Track mechanism to restrict the tracking of user data. In the hands of web service providers and advertisers, information relating to consumers’ online activities –  such as browsing history, search terms and geographical location –  are pieced together to form a digital fingerprint of interests and preferences. This knowledge enables the delivery of personalized content and targeted behavioural advertising. The industry fears that strict privacy measures could negatively impact advertising revenue, a substantial component of corporate growth. Read the rest of this entry »

SOPA and PIPA: The White House Changes Its Stance

The explosion in major names denouncing  SOPA and PIPA (including giants of the internet like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and the Wikimedia foundation, who are all considering an unprecedented ‘blackout’ on January 18th) now has a new supporter in the name of the White House and the Obama administration.  Read the rest of this entry »

2011 Cloud Computing Conference Live Webcast

Watch the live webcast of the Fall 2011 Cloud Computing Conference: Law and Policy Issues in the Cloud here. The Conference begins at 9:00 am Friday, October 14, and ends at 5:00 pm the same day.

Federal Government Introduces New Copyright Reform Bill

Last week the Canadian federal government introduced Bill C-11, entitled An Act to Amend the Copyright Act. Since 2005, there had been three failed attempts at copyright reforms by the federal government. The last such attempt was Bill C-32 introduced in June 2010 during the last parliament, which died on the order paper when the federal election was called last spring. The new Bill C-11 is identical to Bill C-32. The following are some of the highlights from the bill: Read the rest of this entry »

Recording Industry to SCC: Scale Back Fair Dealing

In a factum submitted last week, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) is arguing that the Supreme Court of Canada should substantially narrow the scope of Canada’s fair dealing standard, a standard established in the seminal CCH v. Law Society of Upper Canada decision in 2004.

Last year, the Federal Court of Appeal  upheld a decision (SOCAN v. Bell Canada) by the Copyright Board that the provision of 30-second previews of songs, used by online music services, functions as consumer research and thus are eligible as fair dealing according to s.29 of the Copyright Act. In response to this, the CRIA is claiming here that the definition of “research” according to the Federal Court of Appeal, in the context of the fair dealing exception, is in error because that definition creates too broad and liberal of an exception, thereby conflicting with the object and purpose of the Act (to balance the interests between consumers and rights-holders). Read the rest of this entry »

Lawful Access Concerns Gathering Steam

The Conservative government first introduced “lawful access” legislation in three bills in late October and early November of last year. The bills’ aim was to amend the Criminal Code to give law enforcement authorities new investigative powers for computer-related crimes and to use new communications technologies for that purpose. With a Conservative majority in place, that legislation appears likely to pass. Opposition to Bill C-51, however, is also gathering momentum.  Read the rest of this entry »

Dropbox Accounts Accidentally Open to All for 4 Hours

A code update Monday afternoon introduced a bug which made Dropbox accounts password-free, meaning anyone could have logged into anyone else’s account with only the email address, for about four hours. The breach occurred between 1:54pm and 5:41pm Pacific time and was fixed at 5:46pm. According to Dropbox’s blog post, however, only less than one percent of users logged in during that period. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Riot: Why E-Evidence May Not Be Enough

In the aftermath of the downtown Vancouver riots that took place after the Canucks’ Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, we all heard about how a social media movement took root, with angry and embarrassed Vancouverites posting images online, asking for and giving help in identifying perpetrators. The Facebook page “Vancouver Riot Pics: Post Your Photos“, started on Thursday, provides a site on which people can upload their riot photos. Vancouver police are now combing through more than one million photos and a thousand hours of video footage submitted as evidence following the Stanley Cup riot. But sometimes, a photo is just a photo. Read the rest of this entry »

Illegal to Share Netflix Password in Tenn.

State lawmakers in Tennessee have passed a “ground-breaking measure” that now makes it illegal to use a third-party’s login to listen to songs or watch movies from online services, like Netflix or Rhapsody, even with the other party’s permission. Heavily pushed for by the recording industry, they hope to try and stop the loss of billions of dollars to illegal music sharing. Read the rest of this entry »