Professor Robert Howell, of the University of Victoria, has authored a new book with Irwin Law entitled .

The book deals, broadly speaking, with the administration and regulation of telecommunications and broadcasting under the control of the CRTC and its predecessor agencies. It explores the regulatory framework in place for traditional media like telephone, radio, television, cable, and satellite communications, yet follows the trend of digitization and its relevance to telecommunications as a whole.

The publisher notes: "the nature and breadth of digitization has juxtaposed other areas of law and imbued them with substantial significance and relevance to telecommunications as a whole. This trend is reflected in this important new book by one of Canada's leading specialists in the field."

The book includes a forward by Justice Marshall Rothstein of the Supreme Court.

has taught at the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria since 1980. His research focus is intellectual property law and policy, telecommunications law and policy, and private international law. He has published several books on intellectual property law and currently sits on the Board of the British Columbia Law Institute, the principal law reform entity in British Columbia.

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Earlier this month, the released a new set of papers that critically analyse the failings and contradictions of the international copyright system.

The papers were presented at the of CopySouth held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the end of June 2010.

All of the papers examine various ways in which the copyright system impacts on the lives of people in the global South where more than 75% of the world’s population lives. Among the themes and topics examined in the ten papers that are now available: North-to-South cultural flows, cultural diversity, copyright and music (written by two musicians), the Google book settlement, file sharing, as well as various aspects of the economics of the international copyright system and who benefits from its current operation.

The CopySouth Research Group is a transnational and interdisciplinary group of activists and academics from around the world. Their common engagement is the impact of the international copyright system on human culture and society in a global scale.

Among the CopySouth researchers is Osgoode Hall alumni , senior lecturer at Kent University and formerly a journalist at the Toronto Star. Mr. Story’s paper critically examines the Google books settlement, in particular how it can be understood in the larger context of access to knowledge.

The papers offer different perspective on the international copyright system and are recommended reading for anyone with an interest in copyright, media or globalization.

The papers can be viewed at:

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The United Kingdom’s coalition government has asked telecommunications regulator Ofcom to certain parts of the Digital Economy Act 2010 which would force ISPs to block access to websites that enable copyright infringement.

Culture minister Jeremy Hunt that while he has “no problem” with blocking copyright-infringing websites in principle, the government is concerned that the legislation as passed will not be practically workable. The announcement represents a victory for ISPs and users’ rights advocates, who have that the Act will force ISPs and their users to shoulder the costs associated with enforcing infringement claims. 

The embattled and controversial was passed in April 2010 after being pushed through without much debate in the . Notably, the Act creates a “graduated response” system whereby users can have their internet service shut off if they are caught repeatedly downloading copyrighted material (ss. 3-16). The Act also to issue “Blocking Injunctions” which require ISPs to block access to a location on the internet that “is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright.” While both aspects have been in the British media, it is the latter power which has been sent to Ofcom for review.

Among the terms of reference for Ofcom to assess are:

• Is it possible for access to the site to be blocked by internet service providers?
• How robust would such a block be?
• Can specific parts of the site be blocked?
• What would it cost ISPs to implement such blocks?

As with the Canadian Bill C-32, the Digital Economy Act 2010 has become a hot political issue. The Bill in the waning hours of the Labour government with the aid of the Conservative party. However, the current coalition government has appeared less eager to enforce the legislation, which the Liberal Democrats originally .

The review may have been spurred by the results of the initiative held last summer. The populist project invited members of the public to comment on which laws were unnecessary and deserved to be abolished. The Digital Economy Act 2010 was reportedly one of the most commented-on and least-liked pieces of legislation. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg commented in the government press release that "although reform of the Digital Economy Act did not form part of the coalition agreement, we have listened to the views expressed. The government will look at whether we have the right tools for the job in addressing the problem of online copyright infringement.”

A foreshadowed the difficulties that may plague the enforcement of the Act. Judge Colin Birss of the Patent County Court that enforcement schemes which rely on tracking users’ IP addresses will be fraught with legal difficulty. IP addresses attach to internet accounts rather than individual users, and consequently whenever a single account has multiple users (such as a family connection or an unsecured wi-fi hotspot) it will be difficult to meet the evidentiary burden required to prove copyright infringement. The Digital Economy Act 2010’s graduated response scheme relies heavily on tracking IP addresses and shutting off internet access at the account level.

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In one of the sleaziest moves to hit the internet in a while (and that is a very low bar), online dating site Gotham Dating Partners Inc. that it plans to take the information from up to 340 million public Facebook profiles and create dating profiles for each and every user – without their consent. The site is on aggregating all of the public information that can be gleaned from Facebook without “friending” users and use it to create their own database to supplement their network of dating sites. The move has and exposed the personal security risks that come with sharing private information online.

The Toronto Star that Facebook has already sent Gotham a cease-and-desist letter. However, it is questionable whether Gotham’s plans are actually illegal in all jurisdictions. Halifax privacy lawyer and David T.S. Fraser that Gotham’s actions would violate Canadian privacy laws, since PIPEDA requires user consent before personal information can be published. But, in the absence of similar legislation, personal information is generally not protected by intellectual property laws and is free for the taking.

While Gotham seems like a small-time operation that is unlikely to gain any widespread success, it is not the first social media aggregator to . The incredibly creepy , for instance, collects information from around the web (including social media sites) to create detailed personal profiles of everyone it can find out about (which, as it turns out, is almost everybody). Personal data such as email addresses and credit ratings are available to anyone – for a small price.

The moral of this particular story seems to be that Internet users should be incredibly careful about what (and where) they send their personal information. In this case, setting Facebook privacy settings to only share information with friends should be sufficient to exclude aggregators like Gotham and Spokeo. Nevertheless, it seems that there is still a lack of public appreciation of the value of personal information and the true scope of the privacy risks that come with social networking online.

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In a blog  on his personal website, Mozilla global privacy and public-policy leader Alexander Fowler  that upcoming releases of Firefox will include a “Do Not Track” feature designed to stop online advertisers from tracking users. Google  the same day that it will release a browser add-on for Chrome to do essentially the same thing. These developments will bring the world’s second and third most popular web browsers into line with recent U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) calls for increased online privacy measures. In December, the FTC  that advertisers should be required to respect consumers choices in regard to opting-out of behavioural advertising.

Privacy-watchers have become increasingly concerned (,��,��) about online targeted advertising practices. Online marketers, including Google and Microsoft, track and store individual users’ browsing habits in order to serve them with ads catering to their perceived interests. The results can be  ���Ի��� for users, with the ads occasionally crossing the line from being pointed and relevant into the “get out of my head” zone. However, targeted ads are generally thought to be  than non-targeted ones, suggesting that they are here to stay.

�Ѿ������Dz��Ǵڳ��� that it will be introducing a Do Not Track feature into Internet Explorer next year. Notably, the anti-tracking technology in all three of the major browsers will rely on advertisers to respect the choices of users on the honour system. Advertisers must “opt in” to the system – paving the way for unscrupulous marketers to simply ignore users’ privacy settings.

The FTC has submitted a  to Congress that would force advertisers to comply with Do Not Track technology, loosely modelled on the popular Do Not Call list. Advertisers and web publishers have  �ٳ����, arguing that it will strip them of one of the most effective types of advertisements in an industry that is already hurting to find revenue streams.

It should be interesting to watch how this movement plays out over the next little while. Marketers argue that targeted ads are actually good for consumers since they cut down on irrelevant ads; i.e. consumers actually like being targeted. Furthermore, advertising currently provides a key revenue stream for many web publishers and if online ads cease to be effective, then those publishers will have to generate income in other ways (such as charging users directly). On the other hand, knowing that your web-browsing habits are being harvested in order to sell you things is definitely unsettling.

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In a strongly-worded letter leaked on Michael Geist’s , the CRTC has accused Rogers with failing to live up to its net neutrality obligations. The charges that Rogers’ internet traffic management policies “were not reflected on Rogers’ website and thus did not meet the requirements for prominent and clear disclosure.” It stems from a by Rogers to aggressively limit (aka “throttle”) download speeds for peer-to-peer traffic over the internet. After a slew of customer complaints to the CRTC, the Commission told Rogers that they needed to be more forthright on their bandwidth-shaping practices. This reflects that Rogers has allegedly not sufficiently updated its public policies to meet the regulatory requirements. The Commission has given Rogers until February 14 to formulate a reply.

Bandwidth throttling practices play a big part in the ongoing debate over net-neutrality, covered previously on IPilogue , and . Canadian ISPs have in the past that throttling peer-to-peer applications is necessary to relieve network congestion since a small amount of users are using a disproportionately large amount of bandwidth. that Rogers, Bell et al. are merely trying to prevent competition with arms of their business that deliver services such as video-on-demand. While peer-to-peer traffic does have legitimate uses such as distributing open source software, it is most commonly associated with media and software piracy.

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Sony Computer Entertainment America has against a number of computer hackers in an attempt to halt the proliferation of a Playstation 3 security breach. Last month two hacking groups the PS3’s technological protection measures, potentially allowing users to play pirated software on the video game console. The Japanese tech giant responded on Tuesday by asking a California court for an ex parte injunction preventing those hackers from distributing the information.

Back in December, Hacking group fail0verflow presented a novel method for compromising the PS3’s operating system at a in Berlin. US hacker George Hotz built on that method to completely bypass the PS3’s technological protection measures, allowing the console to run unauthorized programs. The exploit opens the doors for users to run pirated video games, home-brew games, and even load new operating systems like Linux. Hotz originally in the hacking world for 'jailbreaking' the Apple iPhone when he was only 17.

In its , Sony alleges several violations of the Digital Millienium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. At this point Sony is merely restraining the defendants from distributing the crack, and an order impounding the circumvention hardware. BBC News , with Fail0verflow arguing that it was not the group’s intention to facilitate piracy, but rather to promote ‘homebrew’ video games (i.e. video games which are made by fans and are not licensed by Sony). Hotz, meanwhile, told BBC News that he believes the action “doesn’t have any basis.”

The hack was posted on Hotz’ website on January 5 and was immediately disseminated around the internet. Sony has that it will attempt to patch the security flaw by releasing online updates.

Relatively speaking, the PS3 has done quite well at withstanding hacking attempts. The game console was originally released in 2006, while some industry analysts predict the next round of consoles will be released in 2012. By contrast, the Nintendo Wii was hacked only a month after its initial release.

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On January 13^th, the 91��ɫ based research project will host a demonstration of its content management software and begin a new round of beta testing. Artmob is an initiative to develop a multimedia digital archiving system designed for Canadian arts organizations and institutions. The project is jointly led by IP Osgoode member Professor Rosemary J. Coombe, Canada Research Chair in Law, Communication and Cultural Studies,��91��ɫ; Professor Christopher Innes, Canada Research Chair in Performance & Culture, 91��ɫ; and Professor Darren Wershler, Concordia University.

The heart of Artmob is a website backend/template that is designed from the ground up to showcase archived creative works. Arts organizations can use the open-source software to generate compelling, user-friendly websites sharing collections of video, images, audio and written word. Importantly, the interface is designed to facilitate a dialogue between creators and users with regards to copyright. By incorporating some social networking features the interface encourages rightsholders to share their work on their own terms, dictating the licence the works are shared under and more. One of the main goals of the project is to encourage Canadian rightsholders to post their works online, thereby promoting public access to our cultural heritage.

If you want to get an idea of what an Artmob site looks like, two digital archive projects have already been fully completed and can be accessed online: and the Canadian Writers in Person archive, .

On January 13th from 12:30pm - 2:30pm members of the Artmob project team will offer a demonstration of the early beta version of the Artmob CMS software. The demonstration will showcase features and functionality for attributing and managing rights holder data, negotiating licences for works, generating dialogue and discussion about the creation of cultural resources and for organizing and presenting cultural resources in innovative ways. The Artmob team is inviting the IP Osgoode community to provide feedback that will enhance both the functionality of the system and the intellectual property principles behind it. The demonstration will take place in Ross S103 (91��ɫ).

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Can a blogger posting links on a website be held liable for the contents of those linked sites? This is the question that was last week when it heard Crookes v. Newton, the latest case to tackle defamation and publication on the internet. The plaintiff Wayne Crookes argues that websites should be held liable when they refuse to remove external hyperlinks to defamatory articles. If answered in the affirmative, the decision could have a on Canadian web publishing by forcing websites to be much more cautious on who they link to.

The case from a series of allegedly defamatory articles posted on openpolitics.ca and usgovernetics.com that were critical of the role Crookes, a Vancouver businessman and former Green Party campaign manager, played within the Green Party of Canada. The defendant reposted hyperlinks to the articles on his own website p2pnet.net, prompting Crookes to request that the links be taken down. When Newton refused, Crookes sued for libel.

The central question at each level of this case has been whether the act of posting of a hyperlink can in and of itself be a “publication” in the context of the B.C. Libel and Slander Act. In other words: can it be libellous to merely point visitors to an offending article? The B.C. Court of Appeal that posting links does not automatically constitute publication, but split on whether Newton had gone too far and essentially endorsed the views of the linked articles. The dissenting judge would have held that Newton was liable for at least one of the articles he linked due to the presence of language that encouraged visitors to follow the hyperlink.

The case has been closely watched by advocates and online publishers and . If Crookes is successful at the Supreme Court it will force Canadian web publishers to seriously reassess their own linking practices. CIPPIC Director David Fewer that such a ruling would have a massive chilling effect on internet participation.

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The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on Monday that it belonging to websites that were allegedly trading in pirated and counterfeit goods. The agency claims this is only an intermediate step in a larger ongoing project dubbed “Operation In Our Sites”. The announcement was timed to coincide with "", the online equivalent of Black Friday and one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.

The majority of the , including “dvdsuperdeal.com”, “thelouisvuittonoutlet.com” and “nfljerseysupply.com” appear to have been in the business of selling counterfeit DVDs and luxury clothing. Interestingly, although ICE promoted the seizures in tandem with the MPAA, the takedowns largely seem to be focussed on counterfeiting rather than file sharing.

As the New 91��ɫ Times , the takedowns come as a related bill is working its way through Congress. The could potentially make it much easier for government agencies to orchestrate seizures in the future by allowing law enforcement to obtain injunctive relief against any domain name “dedicated to infringing activities.”

In related news, three of the four founders of the notorious bit torrent site the Pirate Bay in Swedish court on Friday. Nevertheless, the site appears to , though it no longer hosts any torrent files itself.

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