ICANN’s non-Latin domain approval

I’ve been wanting to say something about the ICANN non-Latin script domain approval move for a bit now, but found myself unsure of what to say. “Yay,” seemed trite, and “It’s about time,” is just more of my usual snark.
I think it’s a no-brainer for people with any sence of global justice issues to agree [...]

CRTC issues net neutrality ruling

And here it is.
I won’t have time to fully parse the policy decision till tonight, but my initial impression is that it’s a feeble gesture in the right direction (that being net neutrality), clad in nationalist bombast (“Canada is the first country to develop and implement a comprehensive approach to [...]

Privacy vs. Data: Electronic Medical Records (EMR)

My province, British Columbia, is one of many jurisdictions currently in the process of implementing eHealth, which is basically a large scale, provincially-coordinated  implementation of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
And I’m gonna come out and say it: I’m a privacy advocate who is pretty much in favour of government-administrated EMRs.
(Of course, there is a catch…)
I [...]

My copyright consultation submission

Jumping on the blogger bandwagon, I am posting the text of my copyright consultation submission here. Nothing much here that others haven’t said better already, but it seems like this type of public recording may be a good idea.
-Greyson

To Whom it May Concern,
Thank you for providing this special opportunity for Canadians to make our voices [...]

Caron’s LAC Modernisation message: huh?

(aka the blog post wherein I probably blow any and all future chances of working in government…)
Making the rounds of Canadian LIS (and presumably archives) listservs today has been Librarian and Archivist of Canada Dr. Daniel Caron’s “Message from the Librarian and Archivist of Canada: Modernization.”
As far as messages go, it’s kind of an odd [...]

Are hate speech laws unconstitutional?

There’s been lots of press coverage this morning of a fairly confusing issue: The Canadian Human Right Tribunal has ruled that Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act is unconstitutional, as it contravenes Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
What does this mean?
Good question. In short, it means that the CHRT [...]

Hark – PubMedCentral Canada on the horizon!

Thanks to Dean Giustini for the original heads-up on this:
In a press release titled “Canada joins international effort to provide access to health research,” the NRC (parent organization of CISTI, the de facto Canadian national library of science & medicine)

PubMed Central repository will open new pathway to Canadian health research
July 06, 2009, [...]

Unicorns don’t exist; net neutrality is just distastefully fair

The top story on the CBC News website this evening is “Net Neutrality doesn’t exist, CRTC told.“
Laugh or cry?
Internet congestion is inevitable and net neutrality does not exist, Canada’s internet regulator was told Monday at hearings on how internet providers control and manage internet traffic and speed.
But here’s the best part:
Congestion is a natural occurrence [...]

Canadian DTCA Charter Challenge Indefinitely Adjourned…and a tree falls in the forest

The News
In the middle of financial turbulence, potential bankruptcy, and a storm of management changes, CanWest Global has decided to seek indefinite adjournment of their court case challenging Canadian restrictions on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs.  In summary, CanWest was alleging that the ban on certain types of DTCA was infringing on their freedom [...]

CIHR using OSS for learning modules

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) recently unveiled three knowledge translation learning modules, the first of their new CIHR Online Tutorial courses.
I don’t know much about the background or driving force behind creation of these modules, but from the website it looks like the plan is to develop learning tutorials in several categories, with [...]