NASTY THINGS AFOOT IN CANUCKISTAN: Chris Brand wrote in with a heads-up about a (paper!) petition being put together to combat the Evil that is the powerful and rich special interest groups regarding Copyright law in Canada. I can't urge enough that you support this. From the site:
As the petition itself says, Copyright is supposed to be a careful balance between the rights of creators and the rights of the public. The government is granting a monopoly on speech in order to achieve two specific goals - to encourage the creation of works and to ensure that the creators of works are fairly rewarded for their efforts. This restriction on freedom of speech is carefully constrained both in scope and time to ensure that it achieves these goals without unduly restricting what Canadians can say or do.
Unfortunately, it's an area of the law that your average Canadian knows very little about. They're probably unaware that everything they write is automatically protected by Copyright. They probably don't know how long Copyright lasts for. They probably don't know what the limits are on the rights granted to the holder of a Copyright. That has meant that whenever the Government has asked for opinions on changes to the Copyright Act, most of the advice they have received has come from people and organisations that hold a lot of Copyrights. They understandably would prefer to have these Copyrights last longer, have broader scope and fewer exceptions. Only the librarians and educators have traditionally put forward the view from the other side.
If you're a fellow Canadian, please head on over and help out.
CANUCKISTAN STRIKE TWO: It just gets better, dunnit? This time it's a bit of a kick in the yamsack at the Canadian Music Industry (Americans will just have to forgive us for Bryan Adams and Celine Dion -- we came up with Shania Twain, Barenaked Ladies, and Sarah Maclachlan). Save Canadian Music is dedicated to supporting the seeding and growth of musical talent in Canada. Please consider their position and help where you can.
OKAY, NOW THE BAD STUFF: This is just STINKY. Or it might only be a little smelly. Either way, I get the sense Shaw Cable (the big cable concern in Western Canada) is obfuscating a little here. Can anyone here confirm or deny that Shaw is in fact just trying to upsell a newer modem without actually promising better transfer rates?
AND THE GOOD STUFF: There's a new IRC channel being frequented by a lot if UFies, over at irc.mware.ca, in the channel #SPORKS. Like the original #userfriendly channel on Undernet, this one is UNofficial, and is started and run by UFies. It's still a small gathering, but loads of fun. Caveat: If you have a big ego or aggressive attitude, park it at the door. The channel ops will kickban anyone causing the channel grief.
That's four news items with Canadian content. I wonder if I can apply for a grant from the Federal government now? They certainly have enough of my tax money. :-/
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