News

  • Music File-Sharing Appeal Concludes
    - 2005-04-20 -
    The Federal Court of Appeal heard oral arguments today in the appeal in BMG v. Doe. The Court reserved judgement. At trial, Justice von Finckenstein declined to turn over to the music industry the identities of individuals the industry alleges to have shared music files over the Internet. - CIPPIC\'s Media Advance prior to the appeal - CIPPIC\'s File-sharing Lawsuits Webpage
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  • Coalition urges an end to mass surveillance
    - 2005-04-20 -
    CIPPIC joins the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Statewatch, and others in a major worldwide initiative unveiled today to stop the development of a global registration and surveillance infrastructure. Citing numerous attacks on privacy, freedom of expression and basic human rights, the coalition is calling for an end to the gradual increase in state powers to register, track and profile individuals in the name of the so-called "war on terror". Campaign website.
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  • Vanishing anonymity a focus of discussion at CFP2005
    - 2005-04-12 -
    Together with a number of colleagues from the Anonymity project www.anonequity.org headed up by Dr. Ian Kerr of the University of Ottawa, CIPPIC director Pippa Lawson and students Alex Cameron and Catherine Thompson made presentations at this year's Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference held in Seattle, Washington. The theme of CFP2005 was "Panopticon", and the Anonymity project's one-day workshop on "Vanishing Anonymity" was a big hit among attendees.
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  • Copyright Users\' Petition Presented to Parliament, Continues to Grow
    - 2005-04-09 -
    Peter Julian, N.D.P. M.P. for Burnaby-New Westminster, has presented a petition to the House of Commons calling on the government to maintain a balanced approach to copyright revision. The petition is the first of several in an on-going campaign spear-headed by Digital Copyright Canada. CIPPIC supports this initiative, and calls on all Canadians to sign the petition.
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  • CRTC orders VoIP providers to implement 911
    - 2005-04-04 -
    The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ordered IP telephony (VoIP) providers to implement at least basic 9-1-1 service by July 3, 2005. VoIP providers must obtain customers\' express consent to 9-1-1 limitations, and must notify customers of such limitations through various means including marketing materials, contracts, starter kits, and warning stickers for customer phone sets.
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  • Canadian Government Announces Proposed Amendments to the Copyright Act
    - 2005-03-24 -
    The government of Canada has announced upcoming amendments to the Copyright Act. Key elements include amendments to implement Canada\'s obligations under the 1996 WIPO Copyright and Performers and Phonograms Treaties, to alter Canada\'s teatment of copyright in photographs, to address ISP liability issues, and to grant educational institutions and libraries limited exceptions to better make use of digital networks. - Government announcement - CIPPIC Media Release
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  • CIPPIC Responds to Government Proposals to Amend Copyright Act
    - 2005-03-24 -
    The government of Canada today released its proposals to amend the Copyright Act to address a nubmer of issues it had targeted for attention in the near term. These proposals include amendments to implement Canada\'s obligations under the 1996 WIPO Copyright and Performers and Phonograms Treaties, to alter Canada\'s teatment of copyright in photographs, to address ISP liability issues, and to grant educational institutions and libraries limited exceptions to better make use of digital networks. On the whole, CIPPIC is optimistic - read more in our Media Release.
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  • Yahoo! Joins Mozilla’s Firefox in Offering Search Engine for Creative Commons Licensed Content
    - 2005-03-24 -
    Yahoo! has added the ability to search specifically for content licensed under a Creative Commons license. The new search function gives surfers the ability to scour the web for content offered to the public under various Creative Commons licenses. Mozilla's Firefox browser has for some time now offered a Creative Commons search toolbar alongside such leading search services as Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, and Dictionary.com. The Creative Commons itself has for some time now offered its own search tool for CC licensed content. CC licenses make content usable. These search tools make that same content findable.
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  • Civil Liberties group alarmed by "lawful access" proposals
    - 2005-03-21 -
    The BC Civil Liberties Association is raising alarm about Ottawa\'s plan to facilitate police access to Canadians\' private telephone and Internet communications. "The state is attempting to offload or download the surveillance in a way that conscripts private business as agents of the police .. . This is a fundamental shift in state surveillance practice that needs to be debated fulsomely", said Micheal Vonn, Policy Director at BCCLA. BCCLA is one of several civil society representatives consulted by the federal government as it prepares to introduce legislation to update criminal laws in response to new technologies. - BCCLA News Release - CIPPIC\'s webpage on Lawful Access
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  • Creative Commons is having an impact
    - 2005-03-16 -
    A report in the Washington Post notes that over 10 million works have been licenced under the "some rights reserved" approach of Creative Commons, and that "interest in Creative Commons licenses comes as artists, authors and traditional media companies begin to warm to the idea of the Internet as friend instead of foe and race to capitalize on technologies such as file-sharing and digital copying." Under CC licences, creators can allow their works to be enjoyed and copied by others for some purposes but not others (e.g., only for non-commercial purposes). CIPPIC launched the Canadian Creative Commons licence last year. - Washington Post article - Creative Commons.ca website
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