Michael Geist sez,

The Canadian government will introduce its DMCA this afternoon, leaving some to wonder why a U.S. style approach to digital locks is being implemented when so many Canadians spoke out against it. The simple answer may be revealed from a former Minister of Industry chief of staff, who told a PhD candidate researching copyright policy that the Prime Minister required that the U.S.

Michael Geist sez, "With the next round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations scheduled for later this month in Lucerne, Switzerland (governments have been painfully slow this round in confirming dates, location, and agenda), the global politics behind the agreement escalated over the weekend with Indian officials acknowledging that they plan to establish a coalition of government opposed to the agreement. — Read the rest

Noah from the Canadian Federation of Students sez, "The video was released today to draw attention to the issue and build momentum for the campaign prior to the tabling of new copyright legislation next week."

This is great work.

The Fight for Fair Copyright

(Thanks, Noah! — Read the rest

Michael Geist sez, "Reports in the Canadian media confirm what was reported in the blogosphere several weeks ago – out-of-touch Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore has won the internal fight for a Canadian DMCA. The reports say the Canadian government is likely to introduce the bill next week complete with digital lock provisions that mirror those found in the U.S. — Read the rest

A study by BCS, the UK Chartered Institute for IT, concluded that the introduction of technology to developing nations disproportionately improves the happiness of women and poor people. This runs contrary to the anti-IT-development argument that runs, "The world's poor need civil rights and food, not phones and laptops." — Read the rest

Jeff Reifman writes a lovely memoir of being raised by his local Radio Shack outlets:

Beginning at age 11, I spent a lot of time hanging out at two different Radio Shack stores.

There, I discovered Leo Christopherson's Dancing Demon and his later gems Duel-n-Droids and Voyage of the Valkyrie.

Mr. Justice Peter Charleton of Ireland's High Court has ruled that ISPs can and should disconnect their customers from the net on the strength of unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement. It's not just accused infringers to be disconnected, either — their entire families will be taken off the net. — Read the rest

By Adam Savage

Good evening.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to read my speech from my new iPad.

Yep. I'm not only a humanist, I'm also an early adopter.

I want to start by saying that, to me, any discourse from me about how one can live a moral existence without religion or the church would sound improperly defensive. — Read the rest

Ever since the full text of the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) leaked earlier this week, scholars and activists have been poring over the document, finding the buried bodies. Today, Michael Geist discusses the way that ACTA makes the UN copyright agency, WIPO, irrelevant, replacing it with a private members' club composed of rich countries that get to dictate information policy to poor countries. — Read the rest

In part two of our Q&A series with Tokyo Vice author Jake Adelstein, we'll answer some basic questions about the yakuza: why people join, how they operate, and how much influence they have on mainstream Japanese culture. You will also find out why some parents might voluntarily send their kids to mobsters and how landing an innocent-seeming IT job could accidentally spiral you into a lifetime of crime. — Read the rest

You've got nine days left to file comments for Victoria Espinel, the Obama administration's new copyright enforcement czar, and her department's inquiry on how the US should best enforce copyrights. Given that the president himself has spoken out in favor of the secret and sinister Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (AKA ACTA — a punishing copyright treaty that seeks to expand the American DMCA and push it around the world), and that he plans to bring it down by executive order, without an act of Congress, this is especially urgent. — Read the rest

(Thanks, Marilyn!)

The US-based International Intellectual Property Alliance has asked the US Trade Rep to add Indonesia to its list of rogue nations that don't respect copyright. What did Indonesia do to warrant inclusion on this "301 list"? Its government had the temerity to advise its ministries to give preference to free/open source software because it will cost less and reduce the use of pirated proprietary software in government. — Read the rest

My latest Internet Evolution column, "Copyright Undercover: ACTA & the Web," talks about the absurd tea-leaf-reading exercise that we have to engage in to figure out what's actually happening with negotiations for a far-reaching, secret copyright treaty that could change the face of the web, privacy, creativity, competition, and commerce. — Read the rest

Michael Geist sez,

A brief report from the European Commission authored by Pedro Velasco Martins (an EU negotiator) on the most recent round of ACTA negotiations in Guadalajara, Mexico has leaked, providing new information on the substance of the talks, how countries are addressing the transparency concerns, and plans for future negotiations.

From Forgetomori: "After a trip of 10 minutes inside this Mandelbrot fractal (be sure to check the HD version on Vimeo), the original image you saw would be "billions and billions" of times larger than the whole Universe."

The final magnification is e.214.

Here's a lovely little Cheshire Cat papercraft to print and assemble, released a month before Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland adaptation hits screens.

Exclusive! Cheshire Cat Paper Toy in Wonderland:

(via Super Punch!)

This looks like a fun iPhone app — "addLib is an application for iPhone that edits your photos and creates infinite types of design based on educated theories."

addLib mixes the Grid System, a fractal theory, the golden ratio and the Facial Recognition System, and then creates graphic design.

Michael Geist sez,

The 7th round of ACTA [ed: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret and punishing Internet treaty under negotiation in Guadalajara] negotiations will conclude around lunch time today in Mexico. If past meetings are any indication, a few hours later the participating countries will issue a bland statement thanking the host Mexican government, discussing the progress on civil enforcement, border measures, and the Internet as well as noting the transparency discussions and the continued desire to address the issue.

Michael Geist sez,

Questions about ACTA [ed: the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret and punishing copyright treaty under negotiation in Gudalara right now] typically follow a familiar pattern – what is it, do you have evidence, why is this secret, followed by what would ACTA do to my country's laws?