NAFTA Emails Flood Gov’t — In the final stretches of NAFTA negotiations, opponents of modern copyright rules in trade agreements are pulling out all stops. From Canada, Blacklock‘s reports, “The Department of Foreign Affairs says it’s received tens of thousands of emails over NAFTA talks. About half originated from Open Media, an advocacy group one critic accused of using auto-email forms easily manipulated to manufacture a ‘grassroots backlash’.”
The Shaming of Geoffrey Owens and the Inability to see Actors as Laborers, Too — From Michael Schulman of the New Yorker: “As egregious as the story was, it was a fitting subject going into Labor Day weekend. We don’t tend to think of actors as laborers, despite the robust unions that represent them—Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA.”
Opinon: Artists make magic for us, let’s be sure they’re all compensated — Tommy Thayer, lead guitarist for KISS, writes in support of the Music Modernization Act, which as of this morning has over 70 cosponsors in the Senate. Says Thayer, “It is critical that the act pass through the Senate without obstacle or delay. I would ask our Senators and everyone else considering this act to understand that for every hour a musician stands on stage in front of fans, there are thousands of hours spent practicing and rehearsing. Every hit song heard on the radio or streaming represents countless hours of work, creative effort and even failure before finding that perfect lyric, melody or guitar riff. It’s finally time to put a law in place ensuring that all music creators and recording artists – past, present and future – are fairly compensated for the music (and the magic) that we all continue to enjoy.”
Online immunities for Internet platforms under NAFTA — “While it is not objectionable for Internet platforms to have some immunity for damage claims where they act as passive, neutral intermediaries and are not aware and have no reason to be aware that their actions are causing damages, it would be a major extension of the law and contrary to the public interest to grant Internet platforms the types of immunities provided for by the CDA. In fact, even Google and other Internet platforms have recently acknowledged that such protection is not required for the Internet to flourish.”
With Canada’s economic future in the balance, NAFTA negotiators may be talking about Super Bowl ads — “Canadians, it seems, were desperate to see those much-hyped American advertisements during the Super Bowl telecast, and the CRTC obliged. Now the agency’s unusual decision to ban the substitution of Canadian ads during the game — and other issues around Canada’s sweeping regulation of culture — may be holding up down-to-the-wire NAFTA negotiations.”
New Balance is watching you — “On September 6, the first day of New York Fashion Week, the sportswear giant will set up a booth in Soho with cameras facing out in every direction, scanning the hoards of people walking the streets of the city…The company has worked with the marketing agency VML to develop technology specifically designed to identify people who don’t look like everybody else.”