Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Copyright Litigation Threatens Innovation

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
"As unlikely as it sounds," writes the author, "the most important issue in new technology has become copyright law." No kidding. This overview article looks at the impact of a number of recent events, including the ban on screeners, a levy on streaming media, and the SCO group attack on Linux. The author observes, and I agree, that "the suits are really saying that it has become more profitable to sue the competition than to produce a better widget." I hope that policy makers take note. "With this kind of legal chill settling in on technology, it's no wonder the U.S. tech sector is mired in sluggishness and that broadband has been stalled. And in Canada, the federal government is being urged to adopt a law similar to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with the same corporate interests behind it as there were in the United States. If we want to protect Canada's high-tech industries, we had better be very careful of the copyright laws we draft."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 02:07 a.m.

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