LibertyVoice

The Canadian Federation of Students has issued a press release disclosing a disturbing incident just prior to last night's townhall in Toronto.  CFS says that students attempted to distribute a flyer outlining the organization's position on fair copyright outside the townhall.  The students involved were approached by private security guards who threatened to remove them from the hotel if they continued to do so.  The CFS decided to distribute the flyers specifically because of the limited number of speaking slots and the fear that they would not be called upon to speak (they were not).  It is hard to understand how distributing relevant materials outside a public, government-run townhall is viewed as grounds for ejection.  As the chair of CFS-Ontario notes, "it is ironic that while students are concerned that new legislation may allow copyright owners to lock up information, the government is locking up its own consultations."

Update: NDP MP Olivia Chow reports that she faced the same threats when she tried to distribute documents outlining Charlie Angus' position on copyright.

"The town hall that didn't invite the town."

Peerialism, the company set to provide the revolutionary P2P technology behind the new Pirate Bay, has announced that it is doubtful that it will do any business with Global Gaming Factory. GGF are supposed to buy Peerialism, but CEO Johan Ljungberg said that’s doubtful since the company has no money.

In the past few years, interesting conversations about new media and innovation have taken place at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival. Voting for the panels to be featured in 2010 is taking place until September 4 — here are a few proposals that we think will yield interesting discussions:

A panel titled “Reading ReInvented: Can You Steal this Book?” organized by Jason Schultz at the UC Berkeley School of Law seeks greater clarity on the future of the book — a topic in serious need of attention from the smart and creative in light of Amazon’s remote deletions on the Kindle, concerns with Google Book Search, and more. The panel proposal includes some interesting, open-ended questions, including “Who owns what we read?” and “What will libraries look like?”

For independent filmmakers — particularly remixers — there appear to be a number of fun and informative panels on fair use and free speech. For the interactive branch of SXSW, “The Parody Home Companion: DIY Fair Use Determinations” features a panel of experts that will screen submitted clips, rate their adherence to the Code of Best Practices for Fair Use, and discuss tips for incorporating others’ media into a video. On the business/distribution end, there’s an interesting SXSW Film panel proposed by Patricia Aufderheide at the Center for Social Media titled “Remix Goes Mainstream: Making Mashups Pay.” The panel seeks to cover all aspects of mixed-video art, and how to “make money, get distribution and stay legal.” Both panels address DMCA takedowns and seem likely to consider other important angles as well: copyright, licensing and permission, DMCA anticircumvention rules, and more.

Folks innovating in startups should consider “Privacy and Free Speech: It’s Good for Business,” organized by Nicole Ozer at the ACLU of Northern California. The panel seeks to offer an experienced perspective on the privacy and free speech issues that may lie hidden until a lawsuit, user revolt, or government inquiry comes crashing down on a growing business.

We also asked for people’s favorite panel proposals on Twitter — so here are some other honorable mentions:

• There’s Gold in Those Archives: Long-Long-Tail Filmmaking
• Hyperlocal Focus: Growing A Vibrant Community Media Ecosystem

Herbert Rusche, the co-founder of the German Green Party and former member of the German Parliament, has joined the Pirate Party. Rusche praises the party for its open structure and its efforts to protect people’s privacy and fundamental rights. Those issues, he says, are the ones established parties fail to address.

Take a look at this Wired article.   
That article is a few weeks old, but was referred to in this post from yesterday about Apple’s upcoming announcements.
I’ve thought for years that the touch screen tablet form factor was a winner – the problem is that the price has always been too high, and the performance never that [...]

A music trade body has kept secret the results of asking 1,800 young people how much they would pay for a limitless download service. UK Music chief executive Feargal Sharkey told OUT-LAW Radio the information was commercially sensitive.

Henrik Pontén, lawyer for Sweden’s Anti-Piracy Bureau (Antipiratbyrån), is celebrating following the seizure of a server containing around 10,000 movies. He is describing the haul as the biggest ever in Sweden’s history, probably the largest in Europe, and set to disrupt supplies to The Pirate Bay.

Lots of coverage this morning on the remarkable Facebook settlement, which represents a major success for Canadian privacy and CIPPIC (which launched the case). The best source of information on the forthcoming changes come from the Privacy Commissioner's letter to CIPPIC. Podcast of the press conference available here.

Today, in response to an inquiry by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Facebook announced plans to enhance user privacy over the next year. Some of these plans address third party applications, like quizzes and games, that have access to a lot of your personal information.
Wondering what this is all about? Concerned about your privacy on [...]