CANADA ……TO-RECYLCE OR NOT TO-RECYCLE ?

[Anonymous]

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/bustech/story.html?id=0ea363f6-f0e0-4a69-9a9f-414e4e65a4cb
Government copyright bill runs counter to emphasis on environment
The
environment is obviously one of the biggest issues of the moment. The
federal political parties are spending their summers trying to sell
Canadians on their plans for the future, provincial governments are
unveiling regulations to address waste, and municipalities are getting
into the game with increasingly sophisticated recycling programs.

As
our environmental policies move far beyond establishing emissions
standards or cleanup requirements, law and regulation are increasingly
focused on creating incentives for business to reduce polluting
activities and for consumers to adopt environmentally-friendly habits.

Given
the desire to re-orient longstanding practices, laws not traditionally
considered part of the environment file should also be examined to
determine whether they are consistent with promoting “greener”
behaviour. In fact, Parliament recently passed a new law that tries to
embed sustainable development into government policy. The notion of
“green copyright” sounds odd, yet the policy choices found in BillC-61,
Industry Minister Jim Prentice’s controversial copyright bill,
disappointingly run directly counter to the current emphasis on the
environment.

For example, Canadians trash an estimated 184,000
tonnes of old computers, cellphones, and printer cartridges each year,
with many of these items containing potentially hazardous materials
such as mercury and lead.

In response, the Ontario government
recently proposed a new electronic waste fee on consumer electronics to
encourage the recycling of older devices.

Despite attempts to
reduce e-waste, Bill C-61 establishes new barriers to the reuse of
electronics. If enacted, it would prohibit the unlocking of cellphones,
forcing many consumers to junk their phones when they switch carriers
(there are an estimated 500 million unused cellphones in the U.S.
alone).

Similarly, the U.S. version of Bill C-61 has resulted in
lawsuits over the legality of companies that offer to recycle printer
ink cartridges. In one lawsuit, Lexmark sued a company that offered
recycled cartridges and though it ultimately lost the case, the lawsuit
created a strong chill for companies set to enter that marketplace.

Bill
C-61 also creates new barriers in the race toward network-based
computing, which forms part of the ICT industry’s response to the fact
that it accounts for more carbon emissions than the airline industry.

Network-based
computing — often referred to as “cloud computing” — benefits from
the efficiencies provided by large computer server farms that are often
situated in close proximity to clean energy sources.

Network
experts argue Canada could parlay its high-speed optical networks and
environmental advantages in the north to become a global cloud
computing leader with zero carbon emissions, yet the new copyright bill
now stands in the way.

The bill prohibits companies from taking
advantage of cloud computing to offer network-based video recording
services (as are offered by some U.S. based providers). It also stops
consumers from shifting their music, videos, and other content to
network-based computers, limiting these new rights to devices
physically owned by the consumer. In fact, the bill even blocks
consumers from using network-based computer backup services — such as
the MobileMe service just introduced by Apple — since multiple
personal copies of purchased songs or videos is forbidden

[Author]

August 15, 2008 at 2:39 PM