Parliament resumes this month, and as Tim Harper of the Toronto Star asserts, the highly unpopular online spying bill, C-30, is still high on the government’s agenda. As there’s little on the books for the fall session of Parliament, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is taking the opportunity to once
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OpenMedia.ca: Financial Post: Bell’s vertical integration hearings begin
CRTC hearings began this morning on Bell’s proposed $3.4-billion takeover of Astral Media. If the deal is approved, it would greatly increase Bell’s media ownership across Canada’s broadcast spectrum – all at the expense of restricting fair market choice and competition for Canadians. The time to unite and speak out
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Open The TPP campaign turns heads at negotiations
Over the past week, we’ve been asking you to submit your comments, images and opinions regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yesterday, our coalition partners met with negotiators and shared your feedback – turning heads and creating discussion based on what YOU had to say. Your messages were provoking and united by
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Council of Canadians: Talks resume on trade agreement that could harm innovation and online privacy
The latest round of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership are underway this week, with lobbyists and corporate advisers making decisions on ways to regulate and restrict our Internet use. The TPP’s regressive approach to intellectual property is shrouded in secrecy and only made available to 600 or so industry representatives.
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: What is the TPP hiding from us?
The negotiating parties behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership are continuing to restrict access and input to the TPP text, effectively disregarding the voices of citizens worldwide in letting themselves be heard. We’ve created an online tool at OpenTheTPP.net to get your messages in front of TPP negotiators. Together, let’s push open
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Open The TPP!
Closed-door Trans-Pacific Partnership meetings are resuming this week. Officials behind the TPP Internet trap will continue to develop a plan to impose new restrictions; including consumer fines and website blocking. We’ve created an easy-to-use tool that will get your voice to TPP officials. We encourage you to share your comments
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: The Globe & Mail: Bell’s $3.34B takeover will shortchange competition and choice
We’ve seen how Big Telecom has been putting a cap on our data, but now Bell is looking to capitalize on Canadian choice with a $3.34-billion takeover of Astral Media. Should the deal go through, it would provide Bell with a 37.6% stake in Canadian TV viewership and an increased
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: STC: Broadband costs decline – so why don’t our prices?
Canadian citizens are being price-gouged by Big Telecom even as their costs seemingly go down. We’re paying more but falling behind and getting less than our global counterparts due to restrictive data caps that are becoming increasingly prevalent. We’ve seen how Big Telecom has avoided being transparent about their pricing
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Momentum shifts in push towards Internet freedom: StopTheTrap.net update
Get ready to raise some ruckus: the next round of TPP negotiations is only a week away. From Thursday, September 6th to Saturday the 15th, in Leesburg, Virginia, U.S.A, negotiators will reconvene behind closed doors and make decisions about the future of Internet freedom worldwide. We at OpenMedia and the
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: RWW: Why you should you be terrified of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership has long been shrouded in secrecy. Although a few key leaks have given insight to strict copyright laws, collection of private data and criminalized Internet use – we still haven’t been granted access to the text or negotiating process. Even the upcoming ‘Stakeholder Presentations’ are beginning to
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Fall Is Coming: Weekly News Update from OpenMedia.ca
Hey! Here’s Lindsey with your update: read more
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Media momentum starts on Stop The Takeover campaign
We’re one day into our http://StopTheTakeover.ca/ campaign and already we’re gaining incredible momentum thanks to your support. By continuing to rally our voices against Bell’s Astral takeover, we’re not only making ourselves heard but we’re enabling other Canadians to take action. From The Canadian Press: Bell’s proposed $3.4-billion takeover of
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Huffington Post: How Bell’s takeover will worsen Canada’s media concentration
We’ve seen how the Bell/Astral deal is bad for consumer choice before, but a new report is shedding further light on this vertical integration of Canada’s communications. Currently, 81.4% of the value of Canada’s TV distribution market is controlled by companies that also create content, meaning that Big Telecom companies
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Canadians to CRTC: Bell Takeover of Astral is Bad for Canada
Takeover_210x150_120816.png Diverse Coalition forms in response to Bell’s proposed acquisition of Astral Media August 28, 2012 – Bell’s proposed takeover of Astral Media is bad for Canada. That’s the message being sent by the new, broad-based coalition of groups known as the Stop the Takeover Coalition. The Coalition consists of
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Canadians launch platform to defend Internet freedom worldwide
OMI_256x256.png Mobile-adaptive site launched as threats to open Internet access go global August 23, 2012 – In response to the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) process and other threats to Internet freedom, Canadian non-profit Internet freedom organization, OpenMedia, is launching a platform to amplify the voices of the global pro-Internet community.
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Scaling up together to meet the threats to the open Internet
From the beginning the Internet has always been about us; those who use the Internet to connect with one another, to create, to express ourselves, and to make our lives just a little bit easier. We’ve been successful in standing up to lobbyists who act to restrict Internet freedom in
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: The Online Hub: Weekly News Update from OpenMedia.ca
Hey! Here’s Lindsey with your update: read more
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: EFF: What is TPP?
To speak out on the TPP and Stop the Internet Trap visit: http://stopthetrap.net. Image below via our coalition partners at EFF.
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Huffington Post: CSIS Suspends Two Over Security Lapses
Last month we brought you news on how it had been revealed that CSIS wanted to help ‘advise’ Vic Toews on rewriting Canada’s Online Spying Bill C-30, all in the hopes that with their input the legislation would be passed through government. Although they want to bypass our Internet security
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: How we use the Internet to save the Internet
Our Executive Director, Steve, popped online during his vacation to suggest we put together a blog entry about how OpenMedia.ca’s online petitions have been effective. He noted that a lot of the newer members of the pro-Internet community might not know about the amazing progress we made with our groundbreaking
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