Month: November 2011

PIPA / SOPA are evil, Part 1

I’m still working on sorting out my own thoughts on the U.S.’s (latest) attempts to destroy the internet as we know it – SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act, the House bill) and PIPA (Protect IP Act, the Senate’s bill). I am actually trying to read them instead of trusting other people’s interpretations, but fuck, they’re long-winded and boring. Like most laws! In the meantime, I found this excellent video that explains things (though with an obvious perspective) in easy to understand terms, and with some fun graphics. Shoot that pirate flag! Enjoy.

Google FAIL

Sometimes victory means a few setbacksPretty slow news week in the world of internet law in Canada. Apparently we can’t have a big CRTC decision every week. Tragic, really. So let’s have a little fun. We’ve got some internet news that’s not law-related out of Google, as yesterday they announced that they are killing off seven Google products due to suckiness. Let’s take a look at the products you won’t miss after the jump.

Continue reading

Open internet, hell yeah!

All bits are equal - fucking AThere was a big win today for the open, free internet we’ve come to know and love. The United States Senate rejected a law that would have overturned the net neutrality rules established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year. The vote was completely along party lines, with all the Democrats voting to reject, so that should tell you what side of this debate you should be on.

Now, I’m supposed to be talking about internet law in Canada around here, so after the jump I’ll figure out some way to bring this all back home.

Continue reading

Kill Bill C-11 Volume 3.14159…: Make me a mash-up, Mister!

Start Trek:TNG clips + Patrick Stewart’s gay role from Jeffrey = comedy gold. Well, to us geeky types anyway. But is it legal? Under Bill C-11, yes! Well, sort of. As usual, these things are complicated. Join me after the jump for part 3 of my Bill C-11 series to see what you have to do if you want to create and post on YouTube that “Rebecca Black’s Friday Night Lights” video you’ve always dreamed of.

Continue reading