by alec on December 1, 2008
Over the weekend Conservative Party members released secret recordings of an NDP caucus meeting which show that the NDP are apparently working closely with the Bloc Quebecois. The furtive Tory who recorded the conversation apparently found himself invited to an NDP caucus conference call, dialed in, and started a recording. The Dippers are now threatening legal action!
Brings back memories of Watergate, doesn’t it?
In any case, this would never have happened if the NDP had been using our Calliflower conference call service to conduct their meeting. Each individual on a Calliflower call has a personal identifier, names and photographs of the individuals are visible to every call participant, as well as their status — on or off the conference call. It’s impossible to hide in a room full of people who all know each other… or on a conference call where everyone can see everyone else.
Have one of your minions call us Jack. We’ll set you up in a jiffy!
by alec on October 14, 2008
Michael Geist has been doing some amazing work on digital issues during this election campaign.
1. Earlier in the campaign, Michael released the 2008 Copyright Pledge which simply asks candidates to agree to support balanced copyright reform. You can read the full details of the pledge on his website. As of election day, the Green Party as an entity has agreed to the pledge, as well as 90 New Democrat and 42 Liberal candidates. No support from the Conservatives or Bloc Quebecois. The Bloc’s lack of support is suprising, given the way they’ve positioned themselves as the champions of culture in Quebec.
2. Michael also compiled a summary of the various parties digital platforms. You can read that summary in today’s Toronto Star column and the various other papers where that column is syndicated. The net of it:
- Conservatives are committing to erode individual rights with a reintroduction of their controversial copyright legislation. On the positive side, they have pledged to do more to control spam, including insuring that consumers won’t be billed for unsolicited text messages.
- Liberals will work to ensure everyone has broadband access. Their position on copyright appears to be mush at this point.
- New Democrats will focus on fair copyright legislation, and net neutrality.
- Greens would reject copyright legislation based on digital locks, promote net neutrality by prohibiting service providers from discriminating based on content, and promote open source.
It seems the lines are drawn fairly clearly.
- The Liberals are, unfortunately, fighting last decade’s battle. Canada already has very near universal access to broadband networks, and rural telco’s seem to be doing an excellent job at completing access for those few that are currently outside the broadband footprint.
- The NDP and the Greens are both offering progressive digital policies.
- The Conservatives are selling-out Canadian consumers to Hollywood interests.
