The Canadian Pirate Party is official, registered, and running 10-12 candidates in the current federal election. The recent debate over usage-based billing convinced at least one of its candidates of its potential appeal to voters. They are unabashedly an issue-based party, whose platform deals with intellectual property, privacy, net neutrality, and government access/openness. [more inside]
posted by kevinsp8 on Apr 20, 2011 - 13 comments

The Canadian government has introduced new copyright legislation, which is supposed to strike a balance between the rights of authors and the rights of users. Internet guru Michael Geist weighs in.
posted by anothermug on Jun 2, 2010 - 28 comments

Canadian Recording Industry Faces $60 Billion Copyright Infringement Lawsuit. [more inside]
posted by findango on Dec 7, 2009 - 46 comments

Canada's Bill C-61 is being zombified as talks begin this week in Vancouver to attempt a dialogue on public opinion. But it's okay, cause they're using twitter this time. [more inside]
posted by tamarack on Jul 21, 2009 - 16 comments

A proposal for the monetization of the file sharing of music from the Songwriters and Recording Artists of Canada. "Most Canadians are aware that the Internet and mobile phone networks have become major sources of music. What they may not know is that songwriters and performers typically receive no compensation of any kind when their music is shared or illegally downloaded... We believe the time has come to put in place a reasonable and unobtrusive system of compensation for creators of music in regard to this popular and growing use of their work."
posted by tranquileye on Jan 29, 2008 - 38 comments

The Contrarians is a CBC radio program about the things you can't say. Stream it live Tuesday mornings at 9:30 or Wednesday nights. Past topics include feminism, peace keeping, hip-hop and (caution: irony) copyright reform .
posted by Capn on Aug 9, 2006 - 17 comments

Canadian musicians protest file-sharing lawsuits. The Barenaked Ladies, Broken Social Scene, Sloan, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, and many other Canadian artists have formed a coalition to protest the hard line taken by the recording industry against file-sharers, and call for copyright reform. Is there a better way to protect intellectual property rights than suing file-sharers?
posted by Johnny Assay on May 5, 2006 - 35 comments

What if Canada's ruling party was ousted because of copyright reform? Sarmite Bulte, Canadian MP and incumbent in the January 23 election, has been getting a lot of press in the "blogosphere" as of late - too bad it's all negative. Ms. Bulte, the primary backer of Bill C-60, a copyright reform bill, is accused of taking a lot of money from industry lobbyists. She may not be Tom Delay, but in a minority government where every seat counts, Bulte's loss could swing the minority government from the Liberals to the Conservatives - based on an issue that has hardly any newspaper coverage.
posted by GuyZero on Jan 11, 2006 - 257 comments

Lobby Now! Alan McLeod, Canadian Lawyer, writes "Make sure you are heard as Canada decides to revamp its Copyright Act." He goes on to encourage Canadians to contact the Heritage Minister and weigh in as the Copyright rules in Canada may be about to change.
posted by stevengarrity on Apr 14, 2004 - 1 comment

In response to Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruling that file sharing was legal in Canada (previously discussed here), Federal Heritage Minister Helene Scherrer has stated that "As minister of Canadian Heritage, I will, as quickly as possible, make changes to our copyright law".

The problem is that Canadian copyright law has been going through a slow and thoughtful reformation process. Since the unveiling of A Framework for Copyright Reform in 2001, a lot of progress has been made in updating the laws to reflect the needs and concerns of content producers, and the public domain. Now, however, it seems that all of this work may be bulldozed by Helene Scherrer, who declared her intentions at the Juno Awards last night.
posted by Jairus on Apr 3, 2004 - 11 comments

Why the RIAA's lawsuits aren't worth moose droppings. Tech Central Station columnist Jay Currie explains how Canada's copyright law, which instills the right to copy music in exchange for levies on blank media, renders the RIAA's legal precedent against file-sharers useless up north.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Sep 13, 2003 - 14 comments

Canada proposes $21/gig levy on portable MP3 players (PDF link) Canada's Copyright Board wants a levy on music devices with nonremovable hard drives, such as the iPod. We already have a levy on blank CDs and tapes, which will also rise. In Canada, it's legal to copy music you don't own, so these levies are used to compensate artists for lost revenue. A per-gig levy seems ill-conceived to me. The Archos Jukebox already goes up to 20 gigs ($400 tax on a $550 product!) and these devices won't be getting any smaller.
posted by Yogurt on Mar 11, 2002 - 23 comments

A quick break from all the WTC stuff... Considering the recent events, it's probably been overlooked. Canada is proposing a Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues which is similar to the DMCA in the US. All comments on it have to be received by Sept. 15th. You can read the EFF Alert, for more information.
posted by Jairus on Sep 14, 2001 - 2 comments

The DMCA, a flawed law responsible for such things as the lawsuit against 2600 and adobe's attempt to prosecute Dmitry Sklyarov is spreading! Canada is starting hearings into its own version of the US's DMCA! Where will all this end? Via /.
posted by bytecode on Jul 28, 2001 - 5 comments