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Technology Issues Ignored in Canadian Elections

Posted by michael on from the oh-canada dept.

Jem Berkes writes "Today's Toronto Star has a good article on Canadian political parties' positions on important technology issues such as Copyright reform/WIPO, spam, and privacy. With the elections only a week away, it's surprising that these important issues have attracted little or no debate. The current Heritage Committee, for instance, has recommended that Canada ratify WIPO, and few citizens (let alone politicians) are even aware of this issue."

2 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. The Green Party addresses F/OSS by JimCricket · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Green Party has some F/OSS-favoring policies, and a do-not-spam policy: http://www.greenparty.ca/index.php?module=article& view=12&page_num=27

  2. Canadian Heritage Committee report by lars-o-matic · · Score: 3, Informative

    I was a bit surprised by what I read about the positions of the Liberals, Conservatives and especially the NDP. I would have hoped for a more civil-libertarian position from them.

    Issues mentioned in the article that affect Cdns include copyright reform, a national ID card, anti-spam legislation, use of open source software by government, etc.

    Canadians pay a levy on recordable media (incl blank CD's) which supposedly is collected to compensate artists for copying (as mentioned often on /. it's legal here! with some conditions) of their work. I know no-one who believes the artists will get the money.

    re: the Canadian Heritage committee copyright report... MP Sarmite "Sam" Bulte is the 2-term Liberal candidate in MY riding & is campaigning hard for re-election. I had somehow forgotten that she chaired the Canadian Heritage committee; the report (referred to in article) has much in it that affects people in the tech / web sector. In particular, if I see her shaking hands outside the High Park TTC station again, I'll bring up some issues with her!

    • e.g.
    • ISP liability for copyrighted content;
    • licencing schemes for copyrighted educational materials.
    • names of ANY Cdn musicians who have received money from the levy I pay on DATA BACKUP MEDIA

    Many groups are unhappy with the report's recommendations, including educators.

    The report is available as PDF.

    USians and other non-Cdns may find similarities & differences with your own countries' policies illuminating.

    --
    je ne suis pas un fou