By: Maira Sutton | Published by Electronic Frontier Foundation on Mar 1, 2013: Major announcements from the US and Canada today give a clear indication that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is coming back with a vengeance. ACTA is an agreement negotiated and signed by 11 countries, carrying intellectual property (IP) provisions that would negatively impact digital
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Peace, order and good government, eh?: Remember when they talked about standing up for Canada?
We now appear to have gone from “Made-In-Canada” policy to complying with a treaty we’ve never signed simply because the Americans have ordered us to. Cory Doctorow’s hed pretty much tells the tale: US Trade Rep orders Canada to comply with the dead-and-buried ACTA treaty, Canada rolls over and wets
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: European Parliament Opposes Restrictive Measures in Both CETA and ITU
According to Internet freedom group European Digital Rights, provisions that would criminalize our Internet use may be dropped from the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA)! While the battle isn’t…
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: What’s Wrong With TPP?: Prominent Academics Respond
Prominent Academics Respond to the TPP (via EFF) We asked several academics to let us know their thoughts about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP is a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: The ITU takes a (half-measured) step towards transparency
Last month, we reposted an article that reported a move by the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to take over management of the Internet. This is a worrying move that could allow certain oppressive nations to threaten the freedom and openness of the Internet. The issue is due to
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Conservatives to Ignore the Canadian Copyright Consultation in Favour of DMCA?
The Conservatives still appear to be steering Canada toward a DMCA-like future: one that enslaves our culture to a few controlling (mostly foreign) companies, stifles science and freedom of expression, and anchors Canada’s economy to the digital dark age rather than propelling it toward what could be an incredibly innovative
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Angus Asks for Answers to ACTA Secrets
Charlie Angus (NDP) penned an open letter1 (.doc) (26 January 2010) to Peter Van Loan (Conservative Minister of International Trade) regarding the ongoing secretive ACTA negotiations and Canadian copyright issues. Considering the ACTA negotiations have occurred largely in secret but collide head-on with copyright issues widely discussed over the last few years, it’s reasonable to expect
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Secret Copyright Negotiations Disregard Canadian Consultation
Because of recent leaks, the public has learned that the minority Conservative government is engaged in at least two sets of secret negotiations to bring forward new copyright and “intellectual property” regulations without the consent of Canadians. The Conservatives got their first two attempts at copyright change wrong. Later, the government set up
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Motivating Anti-IP Activism in Canada
In the scheme of things, few people have the interest (or is it patience?) to delve deeply into the concept of “intellectual property” (IP). I think that is why IP regulation is among the most under-considered issues in public political discourse today. It’s difficult, in the snap of a soundbite,
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