Category Archives: Politics
Newspapers: Effects of Closing their Content Ecosystem?
I rely on other people to produce content for me to consume, and I reciprocate by providing my own content (via this blog, government submissions, submissions to alternative news sites, interviews on radio, etc.) to the public. I see this … Continue reading
EU: Judicial Review Central to Telecom Disconnects
I’m perhaps a bit idealistic, but I think that there are clear contemporary demonstrations of democracy ‘working’. Today’s example comes to us from Europe, where the European Parliament has voted to restore a graduated response to copyright infringement that would see individuals disconnected from the Internet. Disconnecting individuals from the ‘net, given its important role in citizens’ daily lives, can only be done with judicial oversight; copyright holders and ISPs alone cannot conspire to remove file sharers. This suggests that any three-strike policy in the EU will require judicial oversight, and threatens to radically reform how the copyright industry can influence ISPs. Continue reading
Three-Strikes to Banish Europeans and Americans from the ‘net?
America: this problem is now officially on your shores, and while neither AT&T or Comcast are admitting to having cut people off from the telco networks because of a three-strikes rule, it has been noted that this is likely only because three notices haven’t been sent to any one household. … To group (b), I would want to maintain there there is real symbolic value in the parliament denouncing a three-strikes rule, though I would tend to agree that if this issue is placed on the third pillar that the parliament (as I understand it) will be relatively impotent. … Three-strikes laws are the tip of a particularly nasty iceberg that we’ve been cruising towards for the past few years, and like the one that ‘met’ the Titanic, we won’t realize the magnitude of the catastrophe unless we get serious about copyright and IP law before it’s too late. Continue reading
Update: EDLs in Saskatchewan
The costs have been increasing and if they go to a point where it just doesn’t make sense anymore then we’re not going to move forward. … This being said, I should be fair and point out that the Privacy Commissioner of Saskatchewan hasn’t received the Privacy Impact Assessment from Sask. … I don’t know exactly what the consequences of this kind of ‘tweaking’ would be, especially given how limited those governments incorporated suggested privacy protections, but it would be nice to see documents that really put the Commissioner’s cards (and desired changes) on the table. Continue reading
