What is now being broadly characterized as the apparent demise of SOPA and the Protect IP Act in the wake of Wednesday's Internet blackout is generating some interesting and varied responses. Senate Majority Leader Reed annouced this morning that the Senate vote on the  Protect IP Act will be postponed, and C/Net reports that Stop Online Piract Act (SOPA) will also be put on hold in the House Judiciary Committee.  And the NY Times reported yesterdaythat the MPAA's Christopher Dodd would welcome a summit meeting with Internet companies, and many former Congressional supporters of the bill have retracted their support.

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Yesterday's internet protests were overwhelmingly successful – it was an event of potentially historical magnitude. While the ongoing battle against expansionary (and innovation-destructive) IP legislation in the United States is nothing new, (and will continue even if these bills are defeated) there is something very different about the intensity and reach of SOPA/Protect IP Act  as its implications would extend well beyond copyright enforcement.

Was this event a one-time phenomena, or will it stand as marking a turning point in the ongoing debate about the over-expansion of restrictive copyright enforcement measures?

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Internet Filtering and Public Libraries

Tuesday, October 4^{th -} 12 noon

117 North Campus Bldg - University of Western Ontario

[slide presentation]

Canadian Copyright, DRM and eBooks: A Primer for Librarians

Thursday, November 3^rd, 2pm

Education Institute/ Ontario Library Association [info]

Current Trends in Library Education and Curriculum

Panel in Conference "Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity?"
Friday, November 18^th at the University of Toronto iSchool (details forthcoming)

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As expected, Industry Minister Christian Paradis announced this morning the reintroduction of the Copyright Modernization Act, formerly Bill C-32, now Bill C-11 . The government has also posted a FAQ, a Backgrounder, and a series of Fact Sheets.  Here are the Minister's remarks accompanying the announcement.

Here are some initial reactions from the Canadian Association of University Teachers , the Canadian Federation of Students and the Canadian Internet Pollcy and Public Interest Clinic.

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Last week I wrote about the work of the HathiTrust Digital Library, a shared repository in the U.S. which is planning to make digitial copies of selected Orphan Works available to library patrons at participating universities. On September 12th, the Authors Guild, other writers groups and several individual authors filed a suit in a U.S. Federal District Court against HathiTrust , the University of Michigan and other universities for copyright infringement.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has just released a Resource Packet explaining the issue in greater detail. According to ARL's announcement the Resource Packet on Orphan Works: Legal and Policy Issues for Research Libraries "provides general information on legal and policy issues concerning orphan works and the University of Michigan’s Orphan Works Project, an FAQ, and a legal memorandum . . . which describes the legal issues associated with making orphan works digitally available."

While the memo is based on U.S. Copyright Law, it is highly recommended reading for Canadians interested in providing broader digital access to works. Watch for a more detailed posting outlining the similarities and differences between Canadian and U.S. copyright laws in this area.

Here are some further details about the lawsuit. . .

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