A couple of days ago I had a bit of a rant about police misusing (or at a minimum, appearing to misuse) authority to stifle criticism. A few minutes ago I had a nice rant about Harper’s proposed privacy changes, with an implicit text of “you can’t trust these people to handle private data correctly without strict legal oversight”. And… Read more →
Tag: canadian law
What, You Don’t Trust “Policing Services” Implicitly?
Canadians who are interested in the conditions under which it’s legal for private information and documents to be shared might want to take a good long look at Bill C-29. I’ll quote a bit from the legislative summary below, but in essence one of the things this bill says is that any documents/information the police (or anything that meets the… Read more →
Must Also Be Seen To Be Done
I had thought that three of the things that were important ideas in Canadian jurisprudence were: 1) That citizens had a right to free speech, 2) that the government in all its forms has a prescribed amount of power, with well delineated limits on where that power stops, and 3) that it was very important for the justice system to… Read more →
Oh God, that would be awesome
If I’m translating this French news story correctly, then the BQ thinks they can get Harper charged with obstruction of justice, an offence that could carry a 10 year jail sentence. I’m not holding my breath, but I am crossing my fingers. Le Bloc québécois estime que le premier ministre Stephen Harper pourrait être passible de 10 ans de prison.… Read more →
Friday Night Links
Collected from here and there about the networks, for your amusement or edification, I would really like to believe the story of Denny & Peach is a vignette that accurately captures a bit of the wonder of the world. But even if it’s a fiction, it’s a lovely little one. Also, SWORD CANE! Same thing with this “big catch” story.… Read more →
Aside
From Canada To Wal*Mart: You’ll Take Your Unions, and You’ll Like It.
Aside
so he starts to roam the streets at night
and he learns how to steal
and he learns how to fight
In the ghetto
More post-election blathering
So, low voter turnout has got people talking electoral reform again. Sadly this discussion seems to always focus on proportional representation. I say sadly because while I like the idea of every vote counting, I hate the idea of the parties deciding who sits in Parliament, not the voters. I haven’t yet seen a proposal for a system that lets… Read more →
Aside
So, I guess we’re going to have to go through that whole Canadian DMCA thing again, aren’t we? Sigh.
Still More CAN-DMCA
In my continuing effort to remake this blog into the “all Canadian copyright, all the time” blogNo, not really–it’s just that between pushing our release to GM (FINALLY), being a single parent while Trish is doing research in Ontario, and Mario Kart, it just feels that way., here are some links to the latest info: Since the legislation was introduced,… Read more →
For the record
I received this response to my “Canadian DMCA” letter from my local MP today: Dear Mr. McLaren: Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about the new copyright legislation introduced by the Conservative government yesterday in the House of Commons. I certainly share many of your concerns and assure you they will be raised during discussions in… Read more →
It’s here
A quick update on the Canadian DMCA. You can read the text of the bill now. Reuters has an early write-up that you can read. Geist also has one, but good luck getting to his site right now. I’ll include one of his five “high level points”: The digital lock provisions are worse than the DMCA. Yes – worse. The… Read more →
Tomorrow is “Conservatives sell us to US companies” day
I know you’re tired of it, but I’m going to mention the Canadian DMCA again, since it’s been announced various places that Prentice will be tabling it tomorrow. There’s some coverage at the National Post, which while using neutral language manages to present the legislation as something harmful to consumers: The new Copyright Act has been updated to reflect the… Read more →
Canadians: Once More Unto the DMCA breach
By this point you know the drill. You might be interested in following up with one of the linked organizations, though. ——————————————— ORC News | June 3, 2008 | Issue 1.3 ——————————————— Write to your MP about the new copyright bill: http://www.onlinerights.ca/get_active/copyright_for_canadians/ Dear Online Rights Canada Supporter, We understand that the government will imminently introduce legislation to amend the Copyright… Read more →
This would not happen south of the border
Most unexpectedly heartening moment: When I realized that of the twelve final selected jurors, all of whom were given the choice of swearing on a Bible or merely making an oath of affirmation, every last one of them chose the non-faith-based alternative. I did miss the usual irony of seeing people swearing to tell the truth on a book of… Read more →
