The Canadian Perspective On Copyright

flimpy writes "The CBC is running an interesting story on copyright isues in the digital age, while focusing on Canadian copyright law. The article is interesting, if light on detail, and can be found here."

Complete freedom??

[mwillems]

You say:

"Essentially, it now means that the individual legally has complete control over his or her own personal information and over what organizations may do with that information."

Except the government that is! Living in Canada, every time I enter and leave the country, every time I do anything significant with my bank, every time a cop stops me, every time I renew my car license, every time I sign a lease, every time I visit the doctor... etc... all of those times, all sorts of prive info that I do not want to divulge is divulged anyway. Canada has been quite good at giving everyone cards with magnetic strips, and more and more these are tied together. This "complete freedom" thing is a fallacy: we are monitored more and more. A speeding ticket is known instantly by my insurance company. My car lease is known to my credit card company, My credit card bills are known to almost every vendor... etc.

As a Canadian, how often must you give someone your SIN (Social Insurance Number)? And do you comply?
---

You want detail? I'll give you detail

[RhetoricalQuestion]

A full explanation of Canadian Copyright law can be found here (PDF). [ic.gc.ca]

Other interesting Canadian laws relating to intellectual property and online privacy are:

• Trademarks [ic.gc.ca]
• The Privacy Act [privcom.gc.ca] (privacy between individuals and the federal government)
• The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) [privcom.gc.ca] (privacy between individuals and the private sector

The last one is a new law, and a very good law. I strongly advise all Canadians, plus those interested in privacy to read it. Essentially, it now means that the individual legally has complete control over his or her own personal information and over what organizations may do with that information.

I've tried to get a story posted about this, but to no avail. There are so many good things about this law that I haven't been able to shut up about it for weeks.

I'll hop off my soapbox now.