By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Grokster Loses Copyright Case
Americans are still weighing the impact of today's Supreme Court essentially ruling against Grokster and other file sharing services. "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement," wrote Justice David Souter in the majority opinion. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Publishers' Group Asks Google to Stop Scanning Copyrighted Works for 6 Months
As this article describes it, "The Association of American Publishers has asked Google to stop scanning copyrighted books published by the association's members for at least six months while the company answers questions about whether its plan to scan millions of volumes in five major research libraries complies with copyright law." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Canada Introduces New Copyright Bill
I am off to the SeaChange conference in Saint John this afternoon where the topic of discussion will be governance and society. While rubbing shoulders with our society's self-proclaimed leaders I will be pondering the wandering (and withering) future of democracy in this country and elsewhere. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Overkill on Copyright Law
This editorial is typical of the reams of criticism piled on recent legislation passed in the United States, Attached as a little-noticed rider to a bill allowing families to filter offensive content, the new measure imposes harsh penalties on people copying and distributing movies. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Upcoming Copyright Clash
Survey article (PDF) describing the issues and the factions surrounding the coming debate on copyright reform in Canada. This one call-out puts the debate into a nutshell: "Copyright extension effectively constitutes a massive transfer of wealth from the public to a select group of copyright holders such as Disney." The question, from where I sit, is: will the interests of the Canadian public at large be able to withstand the rather substantial lobbying power that companies like Disney hold over our politicians. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Government Statement on Proposals for Copyright Reform
Two Canadian departments, Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage, have issued an important joint statement on legislation to be proposed covering copyright and file sharing in Canada. The document addresses short term concerns (with longer term items being subject to a consultation process). More...