Julianna Yau’s blog

I told myself I wouldn’t blog today because I need my rest for the Technology in the Arts conference tomorrow, but my inbox has been crammed full of goodies today.

MCM emailed me about this great experiment upon which he’s embarking: Calm Copyright Canada. Although that sounds to be a bit of an oxymoron in the recent copyright climate, it’s something we dearly need right now. The goal to deconstruct and reconstruct was, of course, an instant hook for me. The how-to/rules posted on the site show great insight into some of the barriers in discussions on copyright, and the questions are a good starting point for discussion.

Once things quiet down for me a bit (although, at this rate, I doubt that will happen until retirement, which is at least 40 years away), I’ll participate and try to expand the deconstruction and reconstruction to copyright in general. For now, I think it’s useful for us to stick to one topic so that the experiment can begin with more focus.

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The following notice of meeting has been released for C-10:

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
When the Senate rises
but not before 4 p.m.

Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, including amendments in relation to foreign investment entities and nonresident trusts, and to provide for the bijural expression of the provisions of that Act.

I can’t seem to find the PDF I was sent on their website, so here it is. The link above is to the official governmental website.

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I just found out today that there will be a presentation and discussion, featuring Yaacov Iland, at the Waterloo Public Library Auditorium: One Laptop Per Child: Appropriate Technology?

This will take place tomorrow, March 26, 2008, from 7-8pm. Click the link above for details and to RSVP.

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I’m a bit behind on blogging because I’ve been engrossed in a sculpture, but I wanted to remind people that CopyCamp2 is fast approaching. I attended a planning meeting for it on Friday, and what’s been “planned” is exciting. This year’s CopyCamp is scheduled for April 29th and 30th, starting on Tuesday afternoon, and continuing through the evening and the next day, Wednesday.

Here’s the Facebook event for CopyCamp.

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Michael Geist points to an article in The Star by Peter Howell which quotes a spokesperson for Heritage Minister Josée Verner as indicating that “Canadian Heritage has not received an application for a production containing criminal content”.

This is great news, but doesn’t make people’s concerns a simple case of “legal absurdity”. The proposed wording in C-10 uses the phrase “public policy“, and does not speak specifically to issues of criminal content. Again, the concern is not the isolated inclusion of the phrase “public policy”, but its existence alongside Charles McVety’s lobbying “to deny tax credits to TV and film productions that contain graphic sex and violence or other offensive content”.

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I’ve been catching up on some of my blog reading and thinking about copyright again. After a short break, it has become much more apparent that too many things have been incorrectly thrown under the umbrella of “copyright”, even at the legislative level. It seems that part of the reason why people use copyright to fight for creative control is that moral rights are a subset of the Copyright Act (at least in Canada).

In the next little, while, I’ll be doing some more thinking about the concept of Creator’s Rights, and some of the buzz around the concept of “intellectual property”.

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Despite the fact that the opposition motion to Bill C-10 was voted down in response to the Senate Liberals’ intent to block the Income Tax Act from being used as a censorship enabler, the Banking Committee resumes study of Bill C-10 amidst public concerns about censorship.

CARFAC Ontario has published their press release on C-10, as well as a form letter which can be used to send to members of parliament. The Toronto International Film Festival Group has also published a press release on C-10. The Facebook group Keep your censoring hands off of Canadian film and TV! No to Bill C-10! has 29,360 members as of the writing of this post.

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• Sam Trosow brings some disappointing news about an unsuccessful request to amend C-10
• Lawrence from Northworthy is keeping tabs on the news development
• Geist also likens the public C-10 response to that of the new copyright legislation, and reminds us that it’s about tax credits (this post has been hidden in my sea of email since Tuesday). The main difference between C-10 and the upcoming copyright legislation is we can actually see what’s in C-10.

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Lawrence at Northworthy and Sam Trosow have been busy with digging deeper into C-10 today. Lawrence looks at the history behind C-10 and the supposed consultation which happened with the film industry. Sam Trosow finds some interesting snippets from Question Period on C-10.

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Last week, Russell McOrmond forecast that the copyright legislation is still on its way. While we wait, the media continues to swarm bill C-10 instead:

• Lawrence at Northworthy pick up on celebrity responses to C-10
• Heritage Minister Josee Verner responds to the concerns with C-10
• The Harper government stands behind their proposed changes in C-10 (en Francais; Google’s translation into English here)
• Heritage Minister Josee Verner failed to show up at the Genie awards on Monday night
• Sam Trosow points out why Verner’s response to C-10 is suspicious (at best)
• Keep your censoring hands off of Canadian film and TV! No to Bill C-10! Facebook group has 22,820 members as of the writing of this post

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