Book People Archive

Administrivia, and Canadian copyright

If anyone's tried to reach me at onlinebooks@[redacted]
or ockerblo@[redacted]
and gotten a "mailbox full" message, my apologies.  Copies of the "SirCam"
virus (the one that sends out itself, combined with a random document
from the victim's hard drive, as an attachment to a note claiming
that the user is sending a file and asking for advice), have been
inundating my mailboxes for the last while and filling up my mail spool.
(The Book People boxes, which are on a different system, have
*not* so far been affected).  I'm trying to clear my spool as quickly
as I can, but if you get a bounce from my own boxes, you may want to
resend.  (If you've received such notes yourself, *don't open the
attachments* or you may get infected.  You may also want to update
your virus checking software.)

On an unrelated note, though, there will be a delay in posts and
other mailing list requests that arrive after Thursday afternoon.
Mary and I will be visiting friends in Canada for a few days after
that.  I will be back on-line on Tuesday, and will take care of
accumulated mailing list posts and requests at that point.

Those of you who are in Canada for longer than we are may also
want to know about, and comment on, new copyright legislation
that the Canadian government is contemplating.  See 

   http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp01100e.html
             
for details.  Among the changes contemplated are:

  -- adding laws directed against circumvention of digital access controls
     (like the DMCA in the US, which has caused uproar here lately, and
      recently was the cause of Dmitry Sklyarov's arrest)
  -- extending copyright terms from life plus 50 years to life plus 70 years
     (this is buried in the "A Framework for Copyright Reform" document
      linked to from the page above).  Included in this proposal is the
      question of whether or not to make the extension retoractive.

These changes, and some of the others, seem to be patterned after
similar actions by the US government in recent years (some of which,
like the term extension and the DMCA, have been criticized extensively
on this list.)  I hope that Canada can find a better balance than
other countries have managed.  The government is now soliciting
written comments.  If you'd like to comment, after reading over the
proposals yourself, you can send your comments in writing, by email,
postal mail, or fax, prior to September 15.  See the site for more
details.

John Mark Ockerbloom