I’m proud to be a member of both the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) and the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC). Both organizations have expressed their disappointment with Bill C-61. It’s not that hard, really, but it’s noteworthy since the bill is supposed to be “protecting artists.” The SAC is […]
copyright
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Given the tabing of Bill C-61 this week (aka “the Canadian DMCA”), I’ve decided to put the coverage in context with some practical examples and questions. Under the new legislation: It will be illegal for anyone in my house to watch a DVD on a computer, since we run GNU/Linux […]
[This post originally appeared on Techdirt.] Hockey Night in Canada is an award-winning program that airs on Saturday nights on CBC Television featuring eccentric hosts, Ron MacLean and Don Cherry. The show has been broadcast on television weekly since 1952 (Wikipedia claims it’s the “oldest sports-related television program still on […]
Facebook officially launched the Facebook Open Platform yesterday, but the question everyone is asking now is, “CPAL? What’s that?.” Matt Asay calls it a poison pill. The Common Public Attribution License (CPAL) is based on the Mozilla Public License, but with two notable changes. First, the “ASP loophole” has been […]
(Update: This has been reposted on Techdirt.) ASCAP has published a Bill of Rights for Songwriters and Composers, which, unfortunately, seems to be more like a bill of “wrongs”. Just as citizens of a nation must be educated about their rights to ensure that they are protected and upheld, so […]
Last year, Viacom sued YouTube for a billion dollars over copyright infringement. The lawsuit is problematic and the premise is weak for many reasons, but that’s for another time. The recent news is that Google has filed its response to Viacom’s recent filings. Its defence has people talking about the […]
Confession: once you start watching a cappella videos on YouTube, it’s really hard to stop. And yes, it is 3am. This video, though, is a perfect example of why our copyright laws are terribly suited for encouraging artistic expression in the 21st century. This is way too good to be […]
Today, I was sent a link to an emotional rant by Harlan Ellison about paying writers royalties. I admit that I’d never never heard the name before (not sure if I should have or not…), but, from the sounds of his Wikipedia article, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like him. […]
Last month, George Farris began a thread on the Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list questioning the license choice of Ubuntu training material. The training manuals are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license, which is non-free because it doesn’t allow commercial use. George asks, “why on earth would you not allow educational […]