Mike De Souza
CanWest News Service
Sunday, January 06, 2008
OTTAWA -- The average Canadian might not think twice about taping his or her favourite show on television, using a personal cellphone overseas or listening to music on a newly-purchased CD.
But industry officials and observers say that each activity is being threatened by existing copyright regulations and the Conservative government's pledge to "modernize" Canada's laws with a new piece of legislation that could make these and other related everyday consumer habits illegal.
"There are a growing number of people who recognize that this legislation will directly touch what people can do with their own personal property," said Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.
"Even though you may have purchased your CD or a DVD or a cell phone or an electronic book, what you can do with those things... can be limited by the law, and you can actually become an infringer if you seek to make use of those in ways that the owner (of creative rights) doesn't want you to."
In December, Geist set up a group on the social networking website Facebook to stop Industry Minister Jim Prentice's from introducing legislation to reform Canada's copyright laws. Nearly 40,000 people have joined the group, many of them fearing the government is on the verge of copying the 1998 U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The U.S. legislation makes it illegal to tamper with a digital lock that was designed to prevent someone either from: copying of music or other material from a CD; viewing a DVD on a player outside its designated region or country; or using a cell phone overseas with the phone company of your choice instead of your Canadian provider, Geist explained.
The Americans have made an exception for people who want to unlock a cell phone that is restricted for use on the network of the company that sold it, but he said it is still illegal in the U.S. to distribute the software that is required to unlock the phone for use with another service provider.
Geist also noted that in schools or libraries, the U.S. laws would prevent students from making copies of material they use for research purposes.
But he and some industry stakeholders have acknowledged that Canada should adopt some elements of the U.S. legislation that offer flexibility for the "fair use" of intellectual property. They say that under the existing laws in Canada, a person could be sued for producing a parody of a politician based on real images, sound or video, or even for recording a television program.
The restrictions recently prompted the popular on demand Internet video site, YouTube.com, to remove a parody of the former president of the CBC appearing at parliamentary hearings because of a complaint from the speaker of the House of Commons.
Jay Thomson, the assistant vice president of broadband policy for Telus, said the existing laws in Canada are also preventing his company from launching a new digital television recording service that would allow subscribers to tape their favourite shows for later viewing on a network server without having to use a VCR or Personal Video Recorder device.
"I'm certain that the vast majority of Canadians don't know that when they tape a program for later viewing using a PVR or even VCR that that is a copyright infringement in Canada, and they're potentially subject to a lawsuit for undertaking that activity," Thomson said. "It's not against copyright law in the U.S., it's not in Australia, it's not in Japan or the UK, and it's been going on for decades here and shouldn't be a copyright infringement (here) either."
Thomson said Telus cannot launch this service until the government updates Canada's copyright laws.
"Instead of taping Boston Legal on their PVR that they paid $400 for and are trying to figure out how to use, they would be able to have a much more economical approach," he said. "The business case hasn't been worked out yet because the legal issues still have to be resolved but for example, maybe they'd pay a small monthly fee to rent space on the provider's server."
But Thomson does not agree with adopting U.S. copyright laws which could force Internet Service Providers to take down websites or online material of their clients based on allegations of a copyright violation before it is heard in court.
"We don't think that that system should apply in Canada, because it gives too much power to rights holders," he said. "It turns them into judges and juries."
Prentice indicated that he would not give interviews about the legislation until it is introduced in the Commons, likely at the end of January or early February. But he has insisted that he wants to find a balance between protecting the rights of creators and consumers.
"As we look to the future and having Canada on the cutting edge of an economy where we intellectualize property and commercialize it, it's important that we have a copyright regime which is cutting edge," Prentice said in an interview on CBC radio which was taped in December, but was broadcast last Thursday. "What I hear from a lot of the people who want to invest in Canada is their desire to make sure that we have modern copyright laws that protect intellectual property. At the same time, we have to balance the interests of consumers and therein lies the challenge."
While the government has suggested that it wants to bring Canada in line with existing international treaties on copyright rules, Prentice indicated he is prepared to hold extensive discussions in Parliament to ensure his legislation strikes the right balance.
But Geist said that it would be possible to bring Canada in line with its international obligations without adopting the stringent rules of the U.S. He noted that many prominent Canadian artists, such as Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies are part of a coalition that has spoken out against stringent copyright rules and law suits against fans because of the potential damage to their careers and reputation.
Thomson said he's eager to see the legislation move forward to open doors for the industry but doesn't want to see it go as far as the U.S.
"Everyone is interested in finding a way to address rights holders' interests and consumers' interests in a balanced way and we're all hopeful that the legislation will do so," Thomson said. "If it doesn't then it's going to quite controversial."
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
OPEN VAULT WGBH MEDIA LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES
Open Vault is an online media library and archive run by WGBH, a public TV station in Boston that contributes regularly to PBS’s primetime television line up. Open Vault is a searchable archive of media clips that students and teachers will find a valuable source of information and thought-provoking discussions.
The archive is organized by categories, such as Arts, Science and Technology and Education. Happy searching!
http://openvault.wgbh.org/subject/arts
http://openvault.wgbh.org/subject/Science+%26+Technology
http://openvault.wgbh.org/subject/Education
The archive is organized by categories, such as Arts, Science and Technology and Education. Happy searching!
http://openvault.wgbh.org/subject/arts
http://openvault.wgbh.org/subject/Science+%26+Technology
http://openvault.wgbh.org/subject/Education
SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES 11 AND 12 DRAFT IRP AND RESPONSE SURVEY
A draft version of the new Sustainable Resources 11 and 12 IRP and a link to a Response Survey have been posted.
The draft contains revised material from the Resource Sciences 11 and 12 Forests, 1997 IRP and the Agriculture Curriculum Guide and Resource Book, 1993. It also contains new material for the Sustainable Resources 11 survey course addressing Agriculture, Energy, Fisheries, Forests, and Mining at grade 11 and new material for Fisheries 12 and Mining 12. It is available for public review and response.
Input from educators, students, parents, and other education partners is welcome, and should be submitted prior to February 12, 2008, using the response form provided on the Ministry of Education web site.
The draft contains revised material from the Resource Sciences 11 and 12 Forests, 1997 IRP and the Agriculture Curriculum Guide and Resource Book, 1993. It also contains new material for the Sustainable Resources 11 survey course addressing Agriculture, Energy, Fisheries, Forests, and Mining at grade 11 and new material for Fisheries 12 and Mining 12. It is available for public review and response.
Input from educators, students, parents, and other education partners is welcome, and should be submitted prior to February 12, 2008, using the response form provided on the Ministry of Education web site.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Top School Library Things to Think About in 2008
SLJ: January 2, 2008
I was inspired by all those other lists: Dave's Top Ten Educational Stories, Stephen Abram's 30 Library Technology Predictions, Larry Ferlazzo's Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education, the products and start-ups listed the 2007 Crunchies, Mashable's New Years Resolutions for Geeks, EdTechTalk Yearly 07, and many others...
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/80019408.html
I was inspired by all those other lists: Dave's Top Ten Educational Stories, Stephen Abram's 30 Library Technology Predictions, Larry Ferlazzo's Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education, the products and start-ups listed the 2007 Crunchies, Mashable's New Years Resolutions for Geeks, EdTechTalk Yearly 07, and many others...
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/80019408.html
Popular Children's Author Named Reading Ambassador
By Bob Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 3, 2008; C01
Jon Scieszka, author of "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" and the "Time Warp Trio" series, will get the imprimatur of the Library of Congress today as the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.
"We think it's very important to have an evangelist for reading," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. The library's Center for the Book has teamed up with the Children's Book Council, a publishing industry trade association, to create the national ambassador program.
The appointment comes at a time when declines in Americans' reading proficiency and time spent reading have been widely noted -- most recently in "To Read or Not to Read," a report issued by the National Endowment for the Arts. For many reasons, including economic competitiveness, it is "a matter of crucial national importance" that young people read, Billington said.
Funding for the program is to be provided by Cheerios, with additional support from children's books publishers. Scieszka will get a $50,000 stipend for a two-year term. He will promote children's books and reading in personal appearances around the country and through the media.
Scieszka (pronounced Shess-ka), who lives in Brooklyn, is widely known not only for his best-selling kids' books but for his concern with encouraging boys to read more. He runs a nonprofit literacy program called Guys Read ( http://www.guysread.com) and has edited an anthology called "Guys Write for Guys Read." He was unavailable for comment yesterday, but told The Washington Post last summer that his experience teaching second grade for many years showed him that boys are particularly at risk for falling behind in reading skills.
Parents and teachers, he said then, need to help boys "expand their notion of what reading is" by encouraging them to read "nonfiction, science fiction, graphic novels" or whatever it takes to interest them. "They want to read about wrestling and cars," he said, but the message they get is, "Oh, no, you have to read 'Little House on the Prairie.' "
In a Q&A supplied as part of the publicity for the national ambassador appointment, Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children's Book Council, explained how the collaboration came about.
The idea of some kind of children's book spokesman "had been circulating for many years," Adelson wrote, but "for it to work effectively, we had decided that the imprimatur of the Library of Congress was essential." So she got in touch with John Cole, director of the Center for the Book, which was established in 1977 as what Cole calls an "educational outreach office" to promote books, reading, libraries and literacy.
Cole forwarded the idea through channels. Billington was enthusiastic, but rejected the idea of calling the new spokesman a "children's laureate." The national ambassador, he said yesterday, is not the equivalent of the poet laureate, another literary ambassador selected by the librarian of Congress, because that program is specifically authorized by Congress.
Billington also noted the library's long engagement with young people and reading, mentioning in particular the National Digital Library Program and its American Memory Web site. "We're really in the education business," he said.
Scieszka's nomination for the new post, which Billington had to approve, came from a five-member committee of children's literature experts. Jewell Stoddard, who runs the children's section of Washington's Politics and Prose bookstore, was one of them. Scieszka was a good choice, she said, both because he's already "on a mission to promote reading among young boys" and because "he's a wonderful speaker and lots of fun."
Stoddard wasn't concerned that Scieszka would concentrate only on boys.
"Girls love his books, too," she said, "and I'm sure he'll speak for everybody."
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 3, 2008; C01
Jon Scieszka, author of "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" and the "Time Warp Trio" series, will get the imprimatur of the Library of Congress today as the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.
"We think it's very important to have an evangelist for reading," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. The library's Center for the Book has teamed up with the Children's Book Council, a publishing industry trade association, to create the national ambassador program.
The appointment comes at a time when declines in Americans' reading proficiency and time spent reading have been widely noted -- most recently in "To Read or Not to Read," a report issued by the National Endowment for the Arts. For many reasons, including economic competitiveness, it is "a matter of crucial national importance" that young people read, Billington said.
Funding for the program is to be provided by Cheerios, with additional support from children's books publishers. Scieszka will get a $50,000 stipend for a two-year term. He will promote children's books and reading in personal appearances around the country and through the media.
Scieszka (pronounced Shess-ka), who lives in Brooklyn, is widely known not only for his best-selling kids' books but for his concern with encouraging boys to read more. He runs a nonprofit literacy program called Guys Read ( http://www.guysread.com) and has edited an anthology called "Guys Write for Guys Read." He was unavailable for comment yesterday, but told The Washington Post last summer that his experience teaching second grade for many years showed him that boys are particularly at risk for falling behind in reading skills.
Parents and teachers, he said then, need to help boys "expand their notion of what reading is" by encouraging them to read "nonfiction, science fiction, graphic novels" or whatever it takes to interest them. "They want to read about wrestling and cars," he said, but the message they get is, "Oh, no, you have to read 'Little House on the Prairie.' "
In a Q&A supplied as part of the publicity for the national ambassador appointment, Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children's Book Council, explained how the collaboration came about.
The idea of some kind of children's book spokesman "had been circulating for many years," Adelson wrote, but "for it to work effectively, we had decided that the imprimatur of the Library of Congress was essential." So she got in touch with John Cole, director of the Center for the Book, which was established in 1977 as what Cole calls an "educational outreach office" to promote books, reading, libraries and literacy.
Cole forwarded the idea through channels. Billington was enthusiastic, but rejected the idea of calling the new spokesman a "children's laureate." The national ambassador, he said yesterday, is not the equivalent of the poet laureate, another literary ambassador selected by the librarian of Congress, because that program is specifically authorized by Congress.
Billington also noted the library's long engagement with young people and reading, mentioning in particular the National Digital Library Program and its American Memory Web site. "We're really in the education business," he said.
Scieszka's nomination for the new post, which Billington had to approve, came from a five-member committee of children's literature experts. Jewell Stoddard, who runs the children's section of Washington's Politics and Prose bookstore, was one of them. Scieszka was a good choice, she said, both because he's already "on a mission to promote reading among young boys" and because "he's a wonderful speaker and lots of fun."
Stoddard wasn't concerned that Scieszka would concentrate only on boys.
"Girls love his books, too," she said, "and I'm sure he'll speak for everybody."
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Canadian book readers fall behind U.S.: poll
Misty Harris
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
In this, the month of resolutions, Canadians wanting to turn a new page might find the best - and most literal - place to start is with a book.
According to a new Ipsos Reid survey, which was commissioned by CanWest News Service and Global Television, nearly a third of adults (31 per cent) across the country didn't read a single book for pleasure in all of 2007. The discouraging figure puts Canadians four points behind the U.S., where an identical poll last August showed 27 per cent of Americans hadn't picked up a book in the previous 12 months.
The good news is that the 69 per cent of Canadians who were reading in 2007 did so voraciously, with the average person in that group having dug into 20 books over the course of the year. The same number was true for Americans who had read at least one title in the previous 12 months.
Though year over year sales can't be calculated until final holiday numbers are released by booksellers, a spokeswoman for industry giant Indigo Books says early indications are nothing to frown about.
"The general sense, in a survey of our buying team, is that readership in the Canadian market is remaining steady," says Janet Eger, who notes that on Dec. 22 - their biggest selling day of the year - the company's collective locations saw an average 570 customers per minute.
Regionally, west coasters were Canada's most avid readers in 2007: among those who had read at least one book, the average B.C. dweller devoured an average 33 titles. Atlantic Canada followed at 22, Ontario at 19, Alberta at 18, Quebec at 16 and Manitoba/Saskatchewan at 15 books.
Far more uniform were the titles that attracted Canadians, with a handful of clear winners topping BookNet Canada's annual industry sales charts.
"(The Year) 2007 combined the perpetual quest for self-improvement with Harry's last hurrah," says BookNet CEO Michael Tamblyn.
"Summer was dominated by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as J.K. Rowling drew the curtain on the world's most famous wizard."
"At the same time, there was the incredible success of books that focused on either spiritual or physical well-being: The Secret (by Rhonda Byrne), You: Staying Young (by Michael F. Roizen), The Best Life Diet (Bob Greene), and Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)."
Byrne's The Secret, which was the top-selling book in Canada in 2007 (based on BNC SalesData, which does not include online sales), may have been the year's biggest surprise.
"It seems like every four years or so, a self-help book appears out of nowhere and flies off the shelf," says Tamblyn. "The Secret was this year's Chicken Soup for the Soul or Celestine Prophecy; just as surprising, just as successful."
According to the Ipsos Reid survey, fiction was the most popular genre among Canadians last year, attracting 56 per cent of those who had read at least one book. Mysteries and thrillers followed at 56 per cent, and non-fiction history books at 46 per cent.
The 1,001-person survey, conducted between Dec. 11 and Dec. 13, 2007, is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
In this, the month of resolutions, Canadians wanting to turn a new page might find the best - and most literal - place to start is with a book.
According to a new Ipsos Reid survey, which was commissioned by CanWest News Service and Global Television, nearly a third of adults (31 per cent) across the country didn't read a single book for pleasure in all of 2007. The discouraging figure puts Canadians four points behind the U.S., where an identical poll last August showed 27 per cent of Americans hadn't picked up a book in the previous 12 months.
The good news is that the 69 per cent of Canadians who were reading in 2007 did so voraciously, with the average person in that group having dug into 20 books over the course of the year. The same number was true for Americans who had read at least one title in the previous 12 months.
Though year over year sales can't be calculated until final holiday numbers are released by booksellers, a spokeswoman for industry giant Indigo Books says early indications are nothing to frown about.
"The general sense, in a survey of our buying team, is that readership in the Canadian market is remaining steady," says Janet Eger, who notes that on Dec. 22 - their biggest selling day of the year - the company's collective locations saw an average 570 customers per minute.
Regionally, west coasters were Canada's most avid readers in 2007: among those who had read at least one book, the average B.C. dweller devoured an average 33 titles. Atlantic Canada followed at 22, Ontario at 19, Alberta at 18, Quebec at 16 and Manitoba/Saskatchewan at 15 books.
Far more uniform were the titles that attracted Canadians, with a handful of clear winners topping BookNet Canada's annual industry sales charts.
"(The Year) 2007 combined the perpetual quest for self-improvement with Harry's last hurrah," says BookNet CEO Michael Tamblyn.
"Summer was dominated by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as J.K. Rowling drew the curtain on the world's most famous wizard."
"At the same time, there was the incredible success of books that focused on either spiritual or physical well-being: The Secret (by Rhonda Byrne), You: Staying Young (by Michael F. Roizen), The Best Life Diet (Bob Greene), and Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)."
Byrne's The Secret, which was the top-selling book in Canada in 2007 (based on BNC SalesData, which does not include online sales), may have been the year's biggest surprise.
"It seems like every four years or so, a self-help book appears out of nowhere and flies off the shelf," says Tamblyn. "The Secret was this year's Chicken Soup for the Soul or Celestine Prophecy; just as surprising, just as successful."
According to the Ipsos Reid survey, fiction was the most popular genre among Canadians last year, attracting 56 per cent of those who had read at least one book. Mysteries and thrillers followed at 56 per cent, and non-fiction history books at 46 per cent.
The 1,001-person survey, conducted between Dec. 11 and Dec. 13, 2007, is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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