Canwest covers the Conservatives' decision to scale back spam bill exceptions that were floated less than two weeks ago.
Post Tagged with: "clement"
ISP Funded Report Finds Canadian Broadband Isn’t Awful
Consultants Mark Goldberg and Giganomics released a new report this week on the state of Canada's broadband infrastructure. Commissioned by Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, and Telus, it states as its purpose to "confirm or disprove whether Canada faces a real problem in terms of broadband infrastructure." Given the sources, there is never much doubt that it will conclude that Canada is doing well and that studies that reach a different conclusion must surely be flawed. Indeed, the report claims that "we are a broadband leader, scoring in the top ten or better for most international broadband rankings or measures, despite facing greater geographic challenges than most others."
Yet reading the report, you are hard pressed to find anything resembling a leader. For example, on broadband speed (download only, the report does not address upload speed), it points to reports from ITIF (10th), Akamai (14th), and OECD (25th). On price per Mbps, it cites reports from the OECD (which it argues is flawed, 28th) and ITIF (21st). On broader e-readiness, it points to reports from LECG/NSN (7th), the Economist/IBM (9th), and the ITU (19th). There may be varying definitions of leadership, but I'm pretty sure none would qualify Canada as a leader based on these reports.
Clement Says No Legal Block To Using Apple iTunes Gift Cards For Apps
In recent months there have been several reports on consumer frustrations with Applei iTunes gift cards, which in Canada cannot be used for applications or games. Apple's response has been that there are legal reasons for the restrictions. I've never been able to figure out what those might be and […]
Lobbyist Pressure Focused on Watering Down Anti-Spam Bill
The introduction last spring of Bill C-27 – the Electronic Commerce Protection Act – represented the culmination of years of effort to address concerns that Canada is rapidly emerging as a spam haven. Industry Minister Tony Clement’s anti-spam bill has steadily made its way through the legislative process, with the Standing Committee on Industry likely to conduct its final "clause by clause" review over the next two weeks.
Although support for anti-spam legislation would seemingly be uncontroversial, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that various business groups have mounted a spirited attack against the bill, claiming requirements to obtain to user consent before sending commercial email will create new barriers to doing business online. The Conservative MPs on the committee have remained supportive of the bill, yet Liberal MPs have expressed growing concern about some of the bill’s provisions.
A close examination reveals that the bill sets reasonable limits for online marketing consistent with laws found in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. In fact, there are four major caveats to the consent requirement.
Canadian Anti-Spam Deal Far From a Done Deal
Appeared in the Toronto Star on October 5, 2009 as Canadian Anti-Spam Bill Far From a Done Deal The introduction last spring of Bill C-27 – the Electronic Commerce Protection Act – represented the culmination of years of effort to address concerns that Canada is rapidly emerging as a spam […]
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