Conference Board yanks ‘piracy’ reports
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- The Conference Board of Canada has been forced to retract:
- Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Economy; National Innovation Performance and Intellectual Property Rights:
- A Comparative Analysis; and
- Intellectual Property RightsâCreating Value and Stimulating Investment.
It’s a, “stunning and positive development,” says Ottawa copyright lawyer Howard Knopf (right) on Excess Copyright.
He goes on to quote the front page of the board’s web site as saying »»»
An internal review has determined that these reports did not follow the high quality research standards of The Conference Board of Canada.
Of course, Board standards had nothing to do with it. In fact, the complete lack of them compelled it to pull the ‘reports’ and had it not been for the efforts of Ottawa law professors Michael Geist and Jeremy deBeer, there’s little doubt the documents would now be circulating around the halls of power and quoted widely by the mainstream media as though they were factual and accurate.
“Borrowing heavily from a document inspired principally by the major Hollywood studios and Big 4 record labels,” the Canadian organisation held Canada up as the file swapping capital of the world, said p2pnet yesterday.
“Geist pointed out the similarities in a paragraph-by-paragraph comparison and predictably, in a bid to try to justify the ‘findings’, the board is angrily denying his allegations,” and de Beer was commissioned by the board last spring to conduct independent research on copyright legislation, said the story.
His findings ran counter to many of the board’s conclusions and weren’t mentioned in the report, Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Economy.
Says Knopf of the board’s retraction »»»
This is in stark contrast to the reported statements only yesterday of the Conference Board’s Vice President Gilles Rheaume, who recites the now recalled report’s main conclusion:
“Basically what is happening is that we are a major laggard when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights on the Internet. That is a big issue for us,” said Gilles Rheaume, vice-president, public policy at the Conference Board. “We are the illegal file swapping country of the world – the leading country, when you look at Canada compared to other OECD countries.
“It is certainly an issue when we deal with Americans; it is something that is a sore point for them.”
One particular point should be made right away. While I am sure that there will be a lot of fall out and follow up from this unfortunate episode, I do hope that the there are no unfair repercussions for whoever at the Conference Board had the good professional sense to retain Professor Jeremy de Beer in the first place. That was a good call. That his good work was subsequently reportedly ignored was not a good call.
Geist and de Beer, “should be commended not only for their substantive work on these issues but for bravely speaking truth to power,” says Knopf, adding:
“We need more of this from other Canadian academics, who should also learn from Michael and Jeremy’s outstanding contributions here.”
Continue to stay tuned.
Excess Copyright – Conference Board Volte Face, May 28, 2009
Michael Geist – Conference Board denies Geist allegations, May 26, 2009
Jeremy deBeer – Conference Board `report` scandal escalates, May 27, 2009
p2pnet – Conference Board `report` scandal escalates, May 27, 2009
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May 28th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
The quote from the VP of the conference board of Canada can be found here, along with more of his BS:
http://www.canada.com/Canada+failure+protect+intellectual+property+hinders+innovation+Conference+Board/1636134/story.html
or here:
http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=1635882 (note this link resizes my browser, grrr.
In addition, there is an update on Dr. Geists website saying:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4009/125/
“Update: Jesse Brown interviewed Anne Golden, CEO of the Conference Board of Canada. Golden admits that the digital economy report was plagiarized. ”
Now there is the matter of the 15,000+$ they stole from the Canadian tax payers for their corporate funded propaganda reports.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
ah my post got stuck in moderator hell.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
It’s not moderator hell: it’s Akismet anti-spam hell.
Cheers!
May 28th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I stand corrected.
lol ty
May 28th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Update: Jesse Brown interviewed Anne Golden, CEO of the Conference Board of Canada. Golden admits that the digital economy report was plagiarized.
Michael Geist – http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4009/125/
May 28th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Good start guys!
May 28th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
These are today’s Canadian heros of the wild, wild internet. – these two and those who encourage them and support them by publicizing them. You know who you are (wink wink).
May 28th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I love the crack, ” Conference Boardâs Vice President Gilles Rheaume, who recites the now recalled reportâs main conclusion:
âBasically what is happening is that we are a major laggard when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights on the Internet. That is a big issue for us,â said Gilles Rheaume, vice-president, public policy at the Conference Board. âWe are the illegal file swapping country of the world – the leading country, when you look at Canada compared to other OECD countries.
âIt is certainly an issue when we deal with Americans; it is something that is a sore point for them.â ”
What ISN’T a problem for the Americans?! For cryin’ out loud, why don’t Rheaume go live with the morons if he feels they are right.
I wish I was PM right now, I’d have his ass in my office so fast and he’d be gone from the country within five minutes, declared Persona Non Grata.
I’m getting damned tired of those a**holes across the border calling us the “illegal file swapping capital of the world”, when they know for a fact that file sharing IS NOT ILLEGAL!! It’s only to them and their loony tune brethren that it is.
The fact is these guys can’t seem to grasp the world has changed and left them in the dust, so why the hell don’t they do what the dinosaurs did and that’s lay down and die.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
What scares me is that his could be the tip of the iceberg.
What other “official reports” have these guys and this Board passed out as if they had some semblence of credibility?
I am appalled.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
they need to tweek their tagline:
The Conference Board of Canada
“Insights You Can Count On”
to be plagarized and false.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
RW said: “What scares me is that his could be the tip of the iceberg.”
Oh yes. We all know this. This was just testing the waters.
You can be sure the next propaganda piece will be bigger and better.
Someone should be at the conference Friday handing out leaflets on this so that all are aware of the facts of what the Conference board did and tried to do.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Michael Geist is my hero !
May 28th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I’ve seen Howard Knopf on TV before fighting some US lobbiest about DRM. I think it was on the CBC. Needless to say, Howard Knopf came out on top.
It’s all these people as a whole who are the hero’s.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Since 3 reports were pirated (plagiarized or whatever) and distributed, I wonder if they should get a notice-on-notice from their internet service provider.
I wonder if CRIA will contact the IP authorities about this?
Maybe one of the lawyers will contact their Internet provider?
Maybe France will demand they be unplugged from the net for their 3-strikes?
Maybe under the dead copyright reform Bill they could have (and should have) been sued out of existence?
May 28th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Maybe it was preplanned, knowing how people would react and it would create waves, waves that convey the message what Canada agrees with the US on copyright issues? Maybe it was set up to take the social pressure off from the US to stop those ludicrous “Canada leads piracy” claims? Maybe the intent was to spread the word that “we want to be like you so badly we’ll even plagiarize to get you to believe us” just so the US will think “ah ok, they’re working on it and they think like we do, we can shut up now.” ?
If they had their own that was similar but not plagiarized, who would know other than those who are in support of the US methods? So now they made huge waves.
Then again, maybe they are even smarter than the what I first suggested and this was planned to illustrate the hypocrisy of those trying to push copyright reform? Maybe it was to illustrate how the pursuit of copyright reform actually breaks the laws they claim to uphold?
May 28th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
There is still copywrong reform coming in this fall though, its on the agenda. This adds fuel.
Also, read the two Montreal Gazette articles and the globe and mail articles that came out 4-hrs ago, 1-hr ago and the other 40-min ago.
These reporters need to dig deeper and also look at who and what was speaking at this conference and who is was sponsored by. Not just who commissioned it.