Tag rogers v bell: which is worse

Tell the government your cell phone contract sucks

The CRTC (admittedly not the government per se) is accepting public consultations, via internet! Since my readers evidently use the internet, and most likely are beholden to some evil Bell or Rogers contract, they may be interested in this. Here’s the background from the CRTC:

The CRTC decided to develop a mandatory Wireless Code to help consumers make informed choices about wireless services. Once completed, the Wireless Code will provide a clear and consistent list of terms and conditions that wireless companies will need to include in their contracts.

So what they’ve done, in the throes of their new consumer-friendly ‘tude, is to to develop a spiffy new website (well, not really spiffy, kinda boring actually) so that you can give them your opinion about wireless contracts. They may even listen! So go tell them your contract sucks.

CRTC kills the Bell-Astral deal, but Bell is going over daddy’s head to mommy – UPDATED

colourful

Not in the cards. For now.

Good news for a Friday! Well, unless you’re a fan of media conglomeration I guess. The CRTC has flat out rejected Bell’s request for approval of their planned buyout of Astral. Not hemming and hawing like they usually do, but just stone-cold giving Bell the finger. But Bell won’t take this decision lying down, they’ve got plans! Evil, nefarious plans!

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Hot government regulatory hearing action!

it's purdy

THE FUTURE IS BEING DECIDED THIS WEEK, PEOPLE!!! Ok, that’s a bit hyperbolic, as is my habit. But the CRTC hearings on the Bell purchase of Astral Media that are happening this week in Montreal are extremely important for the future of broadcasting in this country. And more importantly for me, they will undoubtedly have a massive impact on the internet for computers. Let’s break down the hearings with the handy FAQ format that all the kids love.

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Hot SCC copyright action!

Nice house

This week at the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) is a HUGE one for copyright, and by extension for internet law. Today and tomorrow, appeals are being heard in five cases that will shape copyright law for years to come. Or until C-11 gets passed and that mess makes it to the Court. ANYWAY, Geist has a basic summary for you about some of the issues that are being heard. Here’s another one. And another. Sure, one more.

The big cases for the internet are SOCAN v. Bell, where the Court will decide if iTunes snippets for preview are fair dealing or not, and if they aren’t they then would be subject to a tariff (payment to the artist). There’s also Rogers v. SOCAN about streaming music and whether it’s “communications to the public” under the Copyright Act (which is important because it would then be protected as copyright in that stream, and subject to royalty payments). Finally, ESAC v. SOCAN (sensing a trend here?) will decide if music in video games downloaded over the internet should be subject to, you guessed it, royalty payments. (The other two cases are about copying works for use in the classroom and remuneration for music in movies and TV. Yawn.)

These are such an important two days in the copyright and internet law world I thought about live blogging the hearings. But I’m not insane (well…). You can watch the hearings here. Yay for an open Supreme Court! But dammit they need some onscreen graphics or something. Even I’m kind of clueless as to who’s who, or even what case is being heard.

UPDATE – good Tweeters to follow along the hearings: Geist, Hayes, Glick, me. #SCCcopyrightpentalogy