The Canadian government has launched another attempt at reforming the Canadian Copyright Act, to bring it in line with the digital age. The last major overhaul of the legislation occured more than 10 years ago, and since then several attempts to introduce revised legislation were stymied, either by public opposition, or more often, intervening elections (Canada has held federal elections in 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008, and commentators are watching for another in the fall of 2009). The current public consultation process runs from July 20 to September 13, 2009.  It is hoped that this process will permit Canadians to weigh-in (again) on copyright issues such as user rights, ISP-liability, file-sharing, piracy and downloading. The process also serves a useful political function: it permits the government to neutralize the copyright issue in the event of a snap fall election.

Calgary – 13:30 MST