victoria
Copyright Czar Vote Heads to Full Senate
The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Victoria Espinel’s nomination Thursday, paving the way for a full Senate vote to confirm the nation’s first copyright czar. No Senate vote date was set immediately for a nominee who was applauded by both the “copyleft” and the “copyright.” Espinel is expected to have a key role for the United States as it and several other countries secretly negotiate an intellectual property treaty, known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. That treaty could fundamentally alter copyright law to require ISPs to adopt “graduated response” policies to terminate internet service of repeat, copyright offenders.
Continue reading »CHEK-TV closure looms
P2P | TV:- There’s only a week to go before CHEK-TV, based in Victoria, BC’s capital, theoretically closes down after more than 50 years, p2pnet reported last month. We say ‘theoretically’ because although August 31 is the deadline, staff on the receiving end of pink slips want to save the station. Canwest Global Communications Corp says CHEK, BC’s oldest indie TV broadcaster, has to go but, “CHEK-TV employees have raised $500,000 in a Harmac-inspired bid to become owners of the Victoria-based television station where they work,” said Canwest , going on: “Staffers have pledged the money in a bid to buy the station before it closes at the end of the month.
Continue reading »CRTC secret ‘do-not-call list’ talks
Canada’s national telephone marketing do-not-call list has been a sick joke from Day One. Said p2pnet recently, “Run by Bell Canada, itself under attack for abusing its own customers , it’s administered by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), which’ll peddle it to marketeers for a nominal fee.” According to CRTC, the list is an unqualified national success . But the truth is: it’s a serious national embarrassment.
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