Canada: true north strong and free, and "hotbed of movie piracy", if the victim statement of Mark Christiansen, VP for Paramount Pictures, is to be believed. That's what was read at the trial of Richard Lissaman of Calgary, 21, who has become Canada's first person convicted under new movie piracy legislation. Lissaman attended the opening of "Sweeney Todd" with a concealed camera with the intent of recording the movie, and at some point mid-film, the house lights went up and Calgary police arrested him. Theatre staff were likely patrolling the theatres with night-vision gear.
Lissaman pleaded guilty and given a $1,495 fine and 12 months probation. As part of the probation terms, he is banned from any movie theatre and from owning or possessing any video-recording equipment. He got off fairly easy given that he could have received a prison sentence of up to 2 years. Previously, authorities needed to prove that a cam movie recording was intended for sale or distribution, but under new laws starting June 2007, any image recording without consent could result in jail time.
[Judge] Skene said if one compared Lissaman's crime to shoplifting, it was not like someone stealing a loaf of bread or litre or milk for personal use but like someone taking a cart of meat to be re-sold for profit.
Unfortunately, neither of those comparisons are apt. Pirating a movie is copyright infringement, not stealing. Taking a cart of meat is stealing, wherein an actual unreproducable item is taken. The defendant didn't break into the projection room and steal the film reels. I would expect this kind of deceptive doublespeak from the movie industry, but not from a provincial court judge.
While I believe this law is ridiculous and represents a scary slope of our law-enforcement being willing to work as lackeys for the movie industry, I don't defend breaking the law. However, I believe there was an error in the court's judgement. The judge is quoted "You can say he and his pals will watch the movie, but he has an item that is more supportive of taking something to be used to make a profit. It's not a simple theft of an item for personal consumption." Likely correct that the recording wasn't for personal consumption, but very likely wrong that it would be used for profit.
The nature of the movie piracy/warez scene in North America is it's done for fun and reputation, not profit. Unlike in many Asian or third world countries where pirated material is often burned to disc and sold in markets, here in North America files are exchanged freely over the Internet. There's just no market for pirated materials here. Warez groups compete for the honour being the first to release a new movie, or for releasing the best quality copy, but make no money for their time and effort.
Further, within the warez scene there is low demand for low quality cam-in-theatre recorded copies of movies. The vast majority of pirated movie distribution originates from higher quality DVD-ripped copies. Sometimes a DVD-rip will emerge even before the film is released in theatres, bearing markings of promotional copies that are sent to reviewers and industry insiders.
"We would have liked to see jail time, sending a stronger message. We hope this is just a starting point," -Virginia Jones, director of policy and legal affairs for the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association
Yes, putting this kid in jail, at taxpayers expense, is EXACTLY what we need to stop piracy. Not embracing digital distribution, making better movies, improving the theatre experience, or lowering prices, but throwing a youth in jail with the real criminals. This is what happens when industries give up on competing and turn to fear-mongering and bullying.
Two other cases of cam recording in Montreal will be back in court this December and January. For another take on this story, see Torrentfreak.
Via the Globe and Mail, the Canada Revenue Agency is stepping up an investigation into high-volume eBay sellers and whether they've reported the full amounts of their revenue. The investigation goes back to 2004, including about 10,000 people. Under scrutiny are PowerSellers, users who sell more than $3,000 a year and receive benefits from eBay for it.
The CRA's investigation has been stymied by eBay Canada because it has refused to turn over information about PowerSellers. The company argued the information was stored on parent eBay Inc.'s computers in the United States and beyond the reach of the CRA. It also argued the CRA's probe was too broad and amounted to a "fishing expedition."
The dispute landed in court and last week the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed eBay's arguments. The court ruled the company has easy access to the records "with the click of a mouse," putting them within the bounds of the CRA.
The court ordered eBay Canada to hand over the names, contact information and gross sales figures for the PowerSellers. The company said it will start turning over the material next week.
Some PowerSellers argue that the aggressive tax probe is unfair because many PowerSellers are amateurs who don't treat their activities as a business and may not have complete back records. eBay Canada seems to have resisted releasing data until there were no avenues of appeal left. It's reassuring to see that they are willing to stand up that far for user privacy. I don't defend anyone cheating their taxes, but I suspect there are worse tax cheats out there than eBay sellers. At the end of the day, you can't escape the tax man, and even if you don't treat your activites as "professional business", the CRA just might.
Richmond-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates was awarded a $40 millon contract today from the Canadian Space Agency to design and build the Radarsat Constellation Mission. The set of three Constellation satellites will provide, for the first time, continuous complete weather coverage for all of Canada, and will have a resolution of 3m, able to spot small fishing vessels. They will replace the current Radarsat-2 satellite, launched in December 2007, that MDA also built.
This comes after a government intervention last spring to block a $1.3 billion sale of MDA's satellite and robotics division to a US defence contractor.
The proposed $1.3-billion sale sparked national outrage over the loss of taxpayer-funded technology, especially Radarsat-2, which is designed to protect Canada's sovereignty.
Prentice blocked the sale in April after determining the deal was not "of net benefit to Canada."
Radarsat-2, launched in December of 2007, became an issue not only because of its importance to sovereignty, but also because under the previous contract, MDA — and not the Canadian government — actually owned the satellite.
This was the first time in 33 years that an industry minister blocked a foreign takeover. Under this new contract, which has been 2 years in the making, the Canadian government will own the new satellites.
MDA provides advanced information solutions that capture and process vast amounts of data, produce essential information, and improve the decision... [more]
Today a TransLink iPhone app was launched on the iTunes App Store, which was created by Vancouver's Handi Mobility. The app is near identical to the m.translink.ca web app launched last month, providing schedule information for any route or stop in the system, but it uses PhoneGap (a made in Vancouver, open source solution) to run locally on the device. This allows it to load faster than the web version, and also use phone hardware features like geolocation. Whereas the user previously had to enter a stop or route number, the app now suggests a list of stops closest to your current location.
On Translink's Buzzer Blog Handi's Igor Faletski talks about how reasonably priced data plans have enabled applications like this, and shares some stats.
Our company is focused on mobile internet and its applications. We were just waiting for the day that Vancouver could get affordable data rates so more people could access our services. Then the iPhone launched, had affordable rates, and provided a rich visual experience. Put together, we needed to make sure TransLink could get to that audience.
...
In terms of actual statistics, NextBus SMS serves up to 16,000 text messages a day. When we launched the iPhone portal, traffic to that application grew 300 percent in one month. There are more than 1000 users on it every day and the number keeps growing.
Translink is the first transit system in Canada to have produced it's own iPhone app, but other systems do have third party options. Over east in Toronto, riders of the TTC have the very attractive and functional Red Rocket. At only $1.99, it's the #2 paid app in the "navigation" category. For Montreal, there is the $0.99 STM Mobile with full schedule features but no geolocation.
Painfully-outdated bureaucracy: 1. Ride-sharing: 0.
Greg Andrews reported back in August that Toronto-based ride-sharing site PickupPal was accused of violating carpool laws in Ontario. Today PickupPal has been officially dealt a blow by the Ontario Highway Transportation Board - ridesharing in Ontario has been deemed illegal unless very specific criteria are met. The travel must be from home to work only, municipal boundaries can't be crossed, you must ride with the same driver each day, and you must pay the driver no more than once per week. PickupPal was fined just over $11,000 for facilitating a ride from Toronto to Montreal, where the driver was paid $60. This was an unfortunate win for Trentway Wagner bus company and an embarassing ruling for Ontario. Billions have been spent on carpool lanes, so in the spirit of ineffective bureaucracy let's try to keep as many people out of them as possible.
Fortunately, the Ontario Government has put up a proposed amendment to the law, which right now states that anyone offering a ride to strangers and charging a fee must have a special licence and insurance for operating a 'public vehicle.'
"Encouraging more Ontarians to carpool is part of Ontario's plan to reduce harmful emissions, ease traffic congestion and fight climate change. That is why the proposed legislation also includes measures to remove the existing red tape associated with forming carpools in Ontario," Transportation Minister Jim Bradley annouced in October.
Good intentions aside, it hasn't yet happened and PickupPal is left with a hefty fine for trying to do a good deed.
Launched in January 2008, PickupPal allows a private vehicle engaged in a transportation event (a one-way trip from A to B) to be matched... [more]
Amidst the excitement of the American election this week, the US Federal Communications Commission made a decision that is likely to lead to a new generation of wireless networking with far greater range and speed than we enjoy today. The 5-0 decision approved new uses for "white space" - portions of the electromagnetic spectrum that are unlicensed. Contemporary WiFi networking also uses unlicensed white space. The area of the spectrum in question includes space that is currently used by television, but will become empty in February 2009 as per the US digital switchover mandate. This space could have been auctioned off, as the US and Canada have done recently, licensing new spectrum space for cellular providers.
This initiative has been spearhead by the White Spaces Coalition, a group of companies including Google, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Intel, Philips, Earthlink, and Samsung. They argue that the space could be used for long distance networking of 10Mb+, and 50-100Mb for short range (compare to current speeds of about 2Mb and 11-54Mb, respectively). Such new technology could be a major boost for rural broadband, and stimulate competition against ISPs and telecom providers.
Bringing devices to market that make use of this newly freed spectrum space will take some time, perhaps they'll be ready in time for Canada's digital-only switchover date, August 31, 2011, about two and a half years after the US. This week at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Convention, the CRTC urged the federal government to assist the country's transition, saying that "We're way behind as a country. We need government involvement. We need to act fast, otherwise folks will go without their programming," Oh no, folks won't have their TV programming? Mass panic! Rioting in the streets! Seriously though, the digital transition is an expensive one for both broadcasters and viewers, and according to the CRTC, Canada is lagging behind. The US government recognizes the importantly of keeping the god-boxes running; they've offered rebates for those who have to purchase digital-conversion boxes. Will Canadian taxpayers get to pick up the tab to save their own TVs from obsolescence? Is this even a real issue in times of global economic uncertainty? Will we have to wait three years to use new faster networking devices that our American counterparts will be enjoying? Time will tell.
Interested in doing business in California? Uncertain how to develop a market presence and commercialize your technology? Wondering how to best approach this competitive market in troubling financial times?
Plan to attend one of the Alberta International Business Partnering Program (AIBPP) symposiums in Edmonton or Calgary.
Program:
Benefits to attendees:
Edmonton's symposium takes place on November 20th at 9am at Grant MacEwan College City Center Campus and you can register here. Calgary's symposium takes place the following day on November 21st at 9am at the Alberta Research Council - please register here. Plan to attend and accelerate your California market entry plans.
Ottawa-based non-profit Precarn Incorporated announced $1.9 million in funding last week to help 12 companies across Canada bring their tech products to market quicker. There's no question that the tech sector has already taken some hits from the economic slowdown in the US, as already reported on Techvibes. Good to see the industry getting some help to help ensure our technology sector keeps humming.
The 12 projects selected from 56 proposals (as detailed on the Precarn website) include:
And these were just the projects that made the cut. Very cool stuff happening.
