rwmtest

Whether it is SNC-Lavalin , CGI Inc ,  BCE Inc.  (which owns Bell Canada) , or CBC , there is always a lot of flag-waving from lobbiests and defenders when these corporation are doing or saying things that corporations with different addresses of their headquarters would never get away with. CBC President Catherine Tait's attempt to flag-wave recently went as far as to claim digital native companies  were imperalists . The problem with her analogy is that when it comes to post-convergence digital communications policy, it is representatives of analog-era companies like the CBC that are the foreign entities. Protecting the interests of Canadians from this imperalism is why I have called for a shift of funding away from the CBC to Canadian creators. We need to put the policies which the CBC and Bell promote in a proper context. Taxing Internet connectivity, or digital media distribution companies, to subsidize analog-era broadcasting  is about as legitimate as ...

The following was sent to the contacts listed on the Bell Media press release from 2016 . Ever since this deal it has been harder to legally stream Doctor Who in Canada. While space.ca previously offered episodes, it is now locked down and requires login via a legacy cable package. While Crave is mentioned for previous seasons after they were taken off of Netflix, a Crave subscription (even the add-on package) doesn't enable legal streaming of new episodes. Bell finally folded HBO Canada into Crave to make that content available for legal streaming, and clearly it needs to do the same with SPACE rather than driving people away from legal streaming options. I have been paying for the full seasons of Doctor Who through Google Play . Episodes are often late and in the case of the latest episode from New Years it didn't show up at all. I found the Google Play option on my own, and Space has been unwilling to even disclose this legal streaming option when asked multiple times....

I turned 50 at the end of March. I was very reflective around that time, starting to think about a future that might include retirement and pondering if I was currently where I wanted to be. Adjusting to  my new employer  starting in April hasn't always been easy, as I continue to struggle with different ideas about where priorities should be when time is limited.  Over the years at Canadiana several projects were started without clear plans for completion or ongoing maintenance, and technological debt has built up. Early in April my mother had a heart attack. Her birthday was April 14'th, and we didn't know if family was getting together for a birthday or a funeral.  When she managed to survive she was told she only had weeks or months to live - that it was unlikely she would see another Christmas. My mother's health has been declining for years, and life became harder for her after my father's death in 2009 .  Decembers had already been particularly hard ...

I started my new job at CRKN on Tuesday the 3'rd of April.  I sit at the same desk in the same cubicle as I did at Canadiana the week before, and have the same job title, but there are many differences in how I'll be doing my work. See: CRKN and Canadiana.org Merge as Combined Organization One difference is how much interaction with members and the larger GLAM community will be part of my job.  Beyond system administration and software work, I will be participating on CRKN, CARL, LAC and other committees and working groups. It is now assumed that technical staff attend ACCESS each year (I had only been to one so far).  I believe we will have many other connections with our counterparts at other institutions at conferences throughout the year, as well as working on joint projects.   The primary committee advising CRKN's board about what the technical team will be working on is the Preservation and Access Committee .  The committee hasn't been launched yet, and ...

I've been reading  articles discussing how blockchain can be used to "protect" the interests of copyright and patent holders.  While I agree this technology would be helpful, we need to recognise that this is a philosophy of "protection" that is the opposite to technological measures such as encrypted media. Blockchain provides a decentralised database technology, ensuring that records that have been added can't be faked, removed, etc without detection. While blockchain provides a level of authenticity and immutability.of the data not seen before, we are still talking about an enhanced database technology. I've discussed the flaw in copyright law a few times, which is the  outdated interpretation of Berne Article 5  used to claim that there can never be formalities with copyright such as registration. Blockchain would be a great technology to use, along with modernisation of copyright law, to solve problems ranging from the  orphaned works problem to t...

I checked Federal Budget 2018 for new support of Canadian content creators.  What I found under the title of "INVESTING IN CANADIAN CONTENT" ( Chapter 4 ) is disappointing, as it is media creation that continues the conflict of interest tie with the broadcast sector. The CMF receives funding contributions from the Government of Canada, but it advertises as also receiving "contributions" from Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors (Broadcast Distribution Undertakings, or BDUs).  CMF contributions are mandated by the CRTC, shouldn't be thought of as donations, and BDUs shouldn't be "thanked" for actually paying what they owe. CMF contributions should be thought of as a highly justifiable tax on BDUs as compensation to the public for the right-of-way and other privileges which BDUs have been granted by multiple levels of governments.  The CMF contributions page should only list the Government of Canada, with special taxes collected from BDU...

I have made an intervention to the CRTC in opposition to FairPlay Canada's so-called "application to disable on-line access to piracy sites". Summary While is is appropriate for the courts to be able to require Internet Service Providers to block access to specific “sites”, it is inappropriate for vertically integrated media distributors to be allowed to do this without a court order. These media distributors are in a conflict of interest when it comes to providing lawful online distribution of media, and their business models are known to induce copyright infringement. Given this conflict we should not only be demanding that court oversight exist prior to blocking, and not as an expensive appeal process, but that government and regulators need to reduce rather than increase the influence of broadcasters and BDUs over Canada’s digital communications networks. Read more: Tweet informing Fairplay of my intervention, as requested by the CRTC. Re-tweet if you agree with my s...