Posts about “Politics”
It’s been almost a month since the launch of Canada’s National Do Not Call List. If you signed up on September 30th, your right to slam a deviant telemarketer will kick in this October 30th. Sweet. When will companies learn that people telemarketing is the second most hated form of privacy invasion on this planet (Door-to-door marketing holds the number one spot in my mind)? Even junk mail doesn’t seem as bad, as annoying as it is.
It doesn’t matter how many firewalls, P2P filters, script blockers, or spyware removers you use, the one giveaway to your identity on the Internet is your IP address. Those numbers will trumpet your location to whoever’s interested, which is why you’ll often see annoying ads like “Find friends in (insert your city here) now!” This lack of privacy is a huge problem for political dissidents in China, or for anyone in that country who wants to surf an uncensored version of the net.
If you’re a wannabe iPod disciple and the rumour of an iPod levy had you on your knees praying for an intervention, your prayers have been answered. Canada’s federal court told the Canadian Copyright Board they had “no authority” to impose the levy, according to this CBC News article.
Well, this is good news indeed. I already find it cheaper to buy blank CDs in the States and would hate to cross the border to buy electronic goods as well.
You may be aware of Canada’s Private Copyright Collective, the organization responsible for the ridiculous levy on blank audio cassettes and CDs. Now this collective is lobbying hard for a levy on recording devices such as MP3 players, cellphones, computers, and anything you can record with basically. Their argument is that just because you can pirate music on these devices, you should pay for it. These extortionist royalties are distributed to eligible songwriters, musicians, and record production companies (although the collective is unclear on who exactly is eligible - they don’t even have to be Canadian).
The Writer’s Guild of America are striking, but do you know why? Check out this three-minute video clip for an explanation. Or you could just watch more re-runs and hope that your favourite show will come back…eventually.
Electronic rights for authors seems a fair deal, but lets be honest - These guys are making a lot more money than writers outside of the film industry. I wonder if editors have ever gone on strike?
In a congressional hearing held on Tuesday November 6 as part of a lawsuit against Yahoo, CEO Jerry Yang and vice-president Michael Callahan were chastised for their involvement in the arrest and imprisonment of a Chinese journalist. Yahoo is currently on trial for aiding and abetting in the torture of Chinese dissidents.
In 2005, Chinese journalist Shi Tao was convicted by his government for divulging “state secrets”. Shi Tao had forwarded an email from the Communist Party warning the media not to observe the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 2004.
Some of you may know that Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Olympic Games and that the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) has been under fire for booting the impoverished out of the downtown eastside to make the streets pretty for the impending tourist influx. You may also have heard of anti-poverty activist David Cunningham, who threatened to symbolically evict all the board members of VANOC from their plush homes by camping on their lawn and performing some kind of ritual.