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Jumpstarting the Public Sphere: Information Policy Issues for the 21st Century October 23-24, 2008
Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch
350 Robson St., Vancouver BC
Presented by the Information Policy Committee of the BC Library Association
** quick link to registration and full details: http://www.bcla.bc.ca/jumpstarting **
With debates over information policy issues all over the news, the question of who controls and who has access to information has never been more timely. Many people have heard of things like Bill C-61, TILMA, media concentration, information access, and net neutrality but may be unsure about what the implications of these terms are how they relate to information, libraries, and the public sphere.
On the evening of October 23, Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, will give a keynote address on “Why Copyright? The Fight for Canada’s Digital Future” (synopsis below). His speech will set the tone for Friday morning’s panel discussions in which presenters will give conference attendees the background information they need in order to spend the afternoon discussing issues more deeply and coming up with creative ways of defending the public sphere from privatization and corporate control.
Thursday October 23 Keynote - Synopsis:
Michael Geist http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
“Why Copyright? The Fight for Canada’s Digital Future”
In June 2008, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-61, new copyright legislation that closely followed the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The public response to the bill was both immediate and angry - tens of thousands of Canadians wrote to the Minister and their local Members of Parliament, leading to town hall meetings, negative press coverage, and the growing realization that copyright was fast becoming a mainstream political and policy i ssue. The “Canadian copy-fight”, which includes many new advocacy groups and the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group that has over 90,000 members, has attracted considerable attention from the mainstream media, with many wondering how copyright had emerged as a contentious policy issue. This talk will assess both the legislative proposals and the Canadian copyfight experience in an effort to answer the oft- asked question “why copyright?”
Friday’s speakers will be:
* Ellen Gould, Trade Analyst - speaking about TILMA and trade agreements
* Paul Holden, BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) - speaking about net neutrality
* David Loukidelis, BC Privacy Commissioner - speaking about access to information
* Leslie Regan Shade, Concordia University - speaking about telecommunications pol icy
* David Skinner, York University - speaking about media concentration
* Paul Whitney, City Librarian, Vancouver Public Library - speaking about intellectual property
Please join librarians and interested community members to discuss these pertinent issues and help come up with ideas for what you can do aboutthem!
To register for the full conference, or for more information about speakers and times, please visit http://www.bcla.bc.ca/jumpstarting.
Michael Geist’s talk is free, but registration is required (and will open October 1; please see http://www.bcla.bc.ca/geist for more information). Attendance at Geist’s talk is included in full- conference registration.
Student and low-income conference rates are available.
PLEASE NOTE: Media Democracy Day will be taking place at the Vancouver Public Library on Saturday, the 25th of October. There will be workshops about media democracy and the legendary annual Independent Media Fair.
For more information about that event, please see http://www.mediademocracyday.org. We hope you can attend both the conference and the MDD events!
Questions or comments?
Please write to Elena Bianco (ebianco@vcc.ca) or
Sabina Iseli-Otto (sio@vcn.bc.ca).
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