I’ll be getting back to my deconstruction of copyright next week. Here’s what’s been floating around the web and blogosphere in the past week…
While most discussions about copyright infringement and the internet is focused on users as infringers, Digital Copyright Canada picks up on the itWorldCanada article We’re not thieves. We just can’t read contracts (McAfee and Open Source). Monica Hesse of the Washington Post also writes about the topic, focusing on corporate misuse of copyrighted photos.
The Crave blog finds software that allows users to record free, unlimited MP3 audio with your cell phone and hardware to share content between iPods.
Both Michael Geist and Russell McOrmond pick up on the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s public letter to the Industry Minister and Canadian Heritage Minister on the impacts DMCA-style legislation has on privacy.
The Vancouver Sun also publishes an article arguing that reformed copyright laws shouldn’t suppress creativity.
Meanwhile, Howard Knopf picks up on another camcording bust.
And I’m still behind on my reading of some blogs I recently discovered:
Tags: Canada, copyright, corporate, dmca, howard knopf, internet, legislation, michael geist, photography, political, privacy, russell mcormond
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The pandemonium being generated around the upcoming copyright legislation has been tiring. Although I think it’s fabulous that users are taking an interest in and being represented for copyright issues, I wonder whether the loudest of them have done enough study into the issues of copyright. With my own focus of copyright on the visual arts alone (excluding New Media and interdisciplinary arts), I feel that I am sufficiently prepared to tackle the issues with my peers after a few years of study. Not to diminish the importance of user rights, but how many of the users who are complaining have an understanding of the issues in addition to being aware of the issues? Theirs are ones which spread across several disciplines and, as I have noted before, they can’t all be treated the same way.
At this point, I am more concerned about all of the rumours flying around the copyright legislation than the legislation itself. This op-ed post at the CCC pretty much encapsulates my feelings about the pandemonium, and sets me off to wondering again. This time, it’s whether any of the users who have been rallied to fight for fair copyright will actually take the time to read and analyse the proposals…or if they will simply take the word of the Michael Geist & co. No matter how just the cause, blind acceptance is a dangerous thing.
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Michael Geist and Howard Knopf blog about the Access Copyright v. Staples case. I haven’t been following the case closely enough to provide my own perspective of the case, but this will certainly be an interesting one to watch.
Tags: access copyright, copyright, howard knopf, law suits, michael geist, staplesIf you have been following copyright news, you probably already know that Deirdre McMundry has written an article on why a copyright bill is imminent. Howard Knopf looks at the claim that “Canada is known for having the weakest copyright protection in the G8″, and gives an analysis of where Canadian copyright protection is stronger than it is in the US.
Tags: Canada, copyright, howard knopf, legislation, propaganda, US