Clicknoise

Why the HST is a Labour Issue

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

I don't usually post about taxation or provincial politics (do I?). But being one of a sizeable community of technology workers (and workers in many other industries) who are required by law to charge 12% tax instead of 5% tax to customers/clients as of today, I felt that it ...

Posted in creative industries, culture & society, policy, political economy, technology, work | No Comments »

Copyright Town Hall Sham-bolics

Friday, August 28th, 2009

It appears that by design or chance, the big Town Hall meeting on Copyright law in Toronto yesterday was dominated by one side of the debate - that side representing the (mostly foreign-based) commercial music industry, that side seething epithets about "lawbreakers" and "pirates", that side representing a tiny minority ...

Posted in appropriation, copyright, creative industries, culture & society, file sharing, law, policy, technology | No Comments »

Open Web Vancouver

Friday, June 5th, 2009

I'm attending (and presenting at) Open Web Vancouver next week, celebrating (and problematizing) with many others the many affordances and limitations of open source and open formats in our digitally mediated world. My talk will likely be rather policy-wonkish, as a current concern of mine (and a crucial chapter in ...

Posted in conferences, drupal, events, internet, mobile, open source, policy, political economy, theory, wikia | No Comments »

Room Enough For Everyone :: Canada On the Web

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

The Tyee is carrying Michael Geist's succinct report about the upcoming hearings at the CRTC over the future of Internet regulation in Canada. Most of these proposals don't make any sense - imposing Canadian content requirements on commercial Canadian websites is dubious at best - how would web content hosts ...

Posted in creative industries, culture & society, culture industries, file sharing, freethenet.ca, internet, mobile, net neutrality, P2P, policy, political economy, technology, wi-fi | No Comments »

Vote for Fair Copyright and Culture

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

I've been brewing up a post that I'd hoped to release today, reflecting on the experience of indie music promotion and how it's changed in a very short time (2-3 years), but I'm putting that on hold, as there are more important matters to address. Specifically, the fate of creators ...

Posted in creative industries, culture & society, culture industries, internet, net neutrality, P2P, policy | No Comments »

Torrent Tracking on Open Networks 101

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Today is Northern Voice (I'm presenting tomorrow, but today is the unconference, most of which I hope to catch!), but right now I'm riveted to my laptop (poring over comments about torrent tracking) before I head out to UBC. Really good back n forth over at Nicholas Weaver's Random Thoughts ...

Posted in appropriation, conferences, critical constructivism, culture & society, file sharing, internet, law, open source, P2P, policy, SCOT, technology, torrents | No Comments »

The Internet Is Filesharing :: On ISP Levies and Creators’ Rights to Remuneration in Canada

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

I was recently asked by the Songwriters' Association of Canada (SAC) to submit a briefing on why file sharing is inevitable, and why a levy system for ISPs makes sense. (The SAC is in the process of submitting a proposal along these lines to the Canadian government, in light of ...

Posted in appropriation, art, creative industries, critical constructivism, culture & society, culture industries, file sharing, internet, law, open source, P2P, policy, social web, technology, theory | 1 Comment »

P2P in Canada

Friday, October 5th, 2007

I was interviewed this morning for Global National on the subject of P2P lawsuits by the RIAA. Every time there's some sensational story to be mined, the television media seem to jump. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I tried to stay focused on the Canadian angle, making the points that ...

Posted in file sharing, indie, labels, law, music, P2P, policy, technology | 1 Comment »

U.S. Justice Department values ISPs over people

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

Ah, I see the baldfaced ignorance of an administration that invades Afghanistan and Iraq has trickled into the sphere of Internet regulation as well (Thanks to Flo for pointing me here).. To wit: "Regulators should be careful not to impose regulations that could limit consumer choice and investment in broadband facilities" ...

Posted in culture & society, file sharing, internet, law, online communities, policy, political economy, technology | No Comments »