Recent Articles

The new media team at the Green Party Headquarters

Russell McOrmond
September 13, 2008 00:53

A close friend of mine was hired to be part of the team at the National Office of the Green Party of Canada (204-396 Cooper St. in downtown Ottawa). He offered to give me a tour of the office as I was already going to be downtown. By an interesting coincidence one of those new-media 'oops' events...

Keith Rose on Copyright expansion pressure at work in the US

Russell McOrmond
September 12, 2008 18:41

Keith Rose has written on his blog about ongoing pressure from special interests in the US (and their bipartisan backers in their government) to even further expand copyright domestically and globally. Interesting to me is the ongoing push by old-economy protectionists to have the government rather...

"Remember C-61" poster: technology property rights defenders!

Russell McOrmond
September 12, 2008 16:17

Along with this PDF I received the following note: The author of this literary and artistic work exercises his or her moral right to remain anonymous! ;) It's a riff off the old Reform Party/anti-gun-control campaign from 1996, "Remember Bill C-68 When You Vote" The irony is not lost on me. Bill...

Conservative party infringing copyright again?

Russell McOrmond
September 12, 2008 15:39

Thanks to Michael Geist, I was pointed to an issue where the Conservatives are being asked to take down (friendly request to avoid litigation, not part of a notice-and-take down request which doesn't apply to Canada) potentially infringing clips. See The Agenda and a note on Kady O’Malley b...

Free Software and the Canadian Federal Election 2008

Russell McOrmond
September 11, 2008 14:55

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a donor supported charity founded in 1985 and based in Boston, MA, USA. The FSF has a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users. They have sister organizations in Europe, India and Latin...

Patent system seen stifling medical breakthroughs

Russell McOrmond
September 11, 2008 14:38

The Globe and Mail reports on a new McGill study that concludes that intellectual property laws may be stifling innovation and that increased patent protection may hamper future innovation. Hat tip to Michael Geist. read more

Service providers must beware informed consumers

Russell McOrmond
September 11, 2008 14:20

CBC's Peter Nowak interviews Liberal Scott Brison, incumbent MP for Kings-Hants in Nova Scotia. Brison is now the industry critic, the Liberals' counterpoint to Minister of Industry Jim Prentice.

How one techie is thinking thus far about the Canadian General Election

Russell McOrmond
September 10, 2008 21:17

While I have had party membership in the past, I am currently not a member of any party. I'm a person with a technical background and have spent a lot of volunteer time in the last decade working on public policy in areas of technology law. If you are a fellow technical person looking for some...

CBC: Who Owns Ideas?

Russell McOrmond
September 10, 2008 14:40

A CBC Radio feature: Jim Lebans, a producer with CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks, looks at the tangled world of intellectual property and how the digital age is challenging ideas about who owns our culture.

The rise of Facebook activism

Russell McOrmond
September 10, 2008 14:31

An article by Paul Jay for CBC News features the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group, and includes quotes from telecom industry lobbiest Mark Goldberg.