Posted 10:36 PM by Steve
From Steve's Head

From Italy With Copyright?!?!?

Hi Everyone!

Yes, I'm finally back from my whirlwind vacation in Italy (yep, 3 1/2 weeks is still whirlwind in my mind). As it has been more than a month since I last wrote, I'm hoping that George will be more tolerant of my extensive ramblings than usual, since I would like to share some of my findings from my trip:

• Rome has enough historical sights and works of art to dull anyone's senses. I still can't believe I wandered through the Vatican Museums, blithely thinking to myself, "oh yeah, and here's another collection of 2000 year old Greek sculptures...more sarcophagi...just another amazing mosaic...uh huh...moving right along..."
• The inhabitants of Scilla, Calabria (where I spent about 2 weeks) are incredibly resilient - despite once-every-century earthquakes and tidal waves, they keep building back - then again, if you could see the view, you'd probably better understand why...
• Sicily is beautiful (and boy, can Sicilians cook!!!!!)
• Italian drivers are not as wild as they seem - after a few days, I was easily bobbing and weaving through street traffic without a scratch...I never did get brave enough to test out the Vespa and moped drivers, though. :-)
• I have no limit as to how many cannoli I can cram down my throat in 3 weeks' time! Luckily, I had to walk up 25 sets of steep stairs (I kid you not - the upper town in Scilla, where the stores and pastry shops were located, is accessible by car or by these numerous sets of stairs...some sort of ancient Italian "Buns of Marble" workout routine, I'm sure... :-) )
• The taste that I will miss most, out of all of the amazing stuff I ate during this time, is Sicilian blood orange juice - if you see any of this stuff anywhere - buy it, try it, you will not be disappointed!
• The Internet was never working in Scilla - I can't believe I actually began to miss e-mail after a while!
• Italians are incredibly gracious and generous - no matter how busy or rushed they were, despite the fact that I spoke little Italian and most likely butchered the little bit I tried to speak, everyone I approached was willing to stop, try and answer my questions, and try really hard that to ensure that I understood what information they were trying to get across. If I will come away with one lasting impression from this trip, it's this image of the Italian people.

So now that I'm back, I guess I have to get down to business...I've been saving this topic for some time, and seeing as I'm good and rested, I thought I'd provide some nice light summer reading ...about copyright! Shortly before I left for Italy, I had the pleasure of presenting a workshop together with George at the AMTEC conference in Regina. While at the conference, one of the presenters that I had the good fortune to hear was Wanda Noel, expert on Canadian copyright law and legal counsel for the Coucil of Ministers of Education on copyright matters. The Canadian government is preparing to update its copyright laws to reflect the impact of the Internet. Ms. Noel has been involved extensively in consultations with parliamentary committees and public hearing to try to ensure that the amendments are fair to users of copyright material as well as to the creators of the material. Her message to educators was make time and meet with your member of parliament - soon - in order to ensure that educational copyright needs are not ignored in these revisions. The only way that educators' voices will be heard is if educators from across the country actually speak up!

During her session, Ms. Noel was recruiting people willing to take this message to their political representatives. If you are interested in finding out more about how you can play a meaningful role, please e-mail Ms. Noel - if you want to read a little more about copyright issues in Canadian education, check out Copyright Matters, also written by Ms. Noel. And now, here's a few additional articles regarding copyright issues.

Key Case Restores Copyright Balance

Quote: "When sorting through complex copyright issues, many commentators advocate a return to first principles. In the United States, that means going back to the beginning -- to the constitution that features a copyright clause. It gives Congress the power to grant authors and inventors exclusive rights in their work for a limited time, so as to promote the progress of science and the arts...Since the Canadian constitution does not contain a similar clause, it has been left to the legislatures and courts to develop Canadian copyright first principles."

Comments: It's interesting to see how a law suit involving an art poster may have implications for digital copyright reform. How? Read on...

Backers of Distance Education Worry That a Copyright Bill May Die in the House

Quote: "College administrators are worrying that Congress, preoccupied with terrorism and the economy, won't get around to completing legislation that would give online education some of the same copyright exemptions that traditional courses have. Although the bill moved quickly through the Senate this summer, it has since been stalled in a House of Representatives committee."

Comments: It's a little old, but this piece provides a brief overview of elearning copyright issues faced by educators south of the border.

Setting Online Works Free Doesn't Please Everyone

Quote: "In the swirling debate over digital rights and intellectual property, Brahm Cohen ran into a surprising discovery as he developed a new software program in the past year: It's an uphill battle to convince people that individuals can make their work freely available over the Internet, available for folks to use however they want without any obligations."

Comments: Free, restrictions-free software available. Sounds good? Apparently, people were unwilling to use the software in question because there was "not enough legalese" on the program - people wanted more restrictions! Apart from underscoring the incredible fear present in our increasingly litigious societies (hard to see how the U.S. can be considered increasingly litigious...is there any room left?!?), this article introduces readers to organizations such as the Creative Commons.

How Copyright Became Controversial

Quote: "How did copyright become controversial? In a phrase, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Although many of the legal controversies that have swirled since its October 1998 passage trace their roots to other elements of copyright law, the DMCA created a new feature in copyright law that has crystallized why so many academics, librarians, computer users, and technology entrepreneurs object to what they regard as the overreaching nature of copyright law."

Comments: Guess which side of the fence Drew Clark is on regarding the DMCA? Is it an easy read? Not likely. Is it an interesting read? Despite it's heavy, complicated nature (well, I found it to be heavy and complicated, but copyright law is not my forté), I thought it was interesting. Clark openly identifies his position and also presents a variety of views on the DMCA. If you are interested in learning about the creation, implementation, and effects of controversial copyright legislation, read on!