If BitTorrent never works then it is obvious that it is blocked. If you slow it down to something ridiculously measly, such as a few kb/s, and eventually disconnect at random intervals, it is much more annoying for the neighbor and hence funnier that way.

My ISP provides that service already. Thanks Bell Canada!

Canada DOES have relevant laws about piracy - they collect approximately 1% per blank cassette, CD, or DVD sold, put that money in a central fund, and use that fund to provide financial backing for artists. That's Canadian law. That's the solution they chose and exercised for the last ~30 years.

Not sure where you got the 1% number (it's much higher than 1%) and it only applies to blank media for music. According to the CPCC, the current levy is $0.29/CDR. That's $14.50 of the cost of a 50-pack. That's almost half the cost of the cheapest 50-pack at Futureshop.ca or 85% of the cost of the cheapest 50-pack at ncix.com.

Depending on inflation. Has there yet been a bank or currency which has lasted that long?

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was founded in 1472. So halfway there.

Um...I would disagree. Net Neutrality should (and, I believe, is generally accepted to) mean that my provider cannot screw with my traffic because it suits their interests to do so. What happens if they decide to throttle voip traffic due to 'network congestion', but the start of such throttling just happens to coincide with the launch of their own voip service? It has to be an open pipe, period.

Rogers introduced monthly caps and started throttling just after they introduced their Rogers Home Phone product. It's VOIP, but only uses Rogers' own network. Somehow I don't think this is a conincidence.

It's not questionable at all. Despite what CIRA has been lying about, it's perfectly legal to download music and movies in Canada.

Uploading is NOT legal.

Now paging the /. legal team: Your Law and Order training is required below my post.

The private copying rules only apply to music, not movies.

So Canada doesn't require that any DMCA complaints be filed under penalty of perjury, or any other mechanism to require them to be valid?

I'm very sorry for Canadians that they are vulnerable to harassment through this method. I suggest they consult with their government representatives on it.

They should also include the right to file a counter-notice, if it's not there already.

Frankly, I see that problem as one with the government, not one with your ISPs. Of course, my experience with most ISPs is that they ignore your average notice, and make an effort to avoid actually doing anything.

Canada does not have a notice-and-takedown system on the law books. Even the recent attempts to introduce a law like the DMCA in Canada did not include a notice-and-takedown system. There was a notice-and-notice system included in at least one of the proposed bills. Notice-and-notice would basically mean that the ISP forwards the email to the alleged offender.

There is no requirement for an ISP in Canada to immediately take down alleged infringing material. They may investigate on their own if they wish.

BitTorrent is a legal application used by many file-shares to swap content because of the fast and efficient manner it distributes files.
No copyright content is hosted on The Pirate Bay's web servers; instead the site hosts "torrent" links to TV, film and music files held on its users computers.

I keep seeing this phrase used and it strikes me as grammatically wrong. Shouldn't it be "copyrighted content"? Content can be copyrighted, but content can't be copyright.

With stations shifting around and a few new ones appearing, viewers will need to use the scan-channel or add channel functions to get the new/moved signals. So even those that think they're already set up have a little work left to do to see everything that their equipment can get.

Oh noes! That's terrible. Almost as if the power had gone off for long enough for their TV to lose its memory. I hope no one gets muscle strain from hitting those buttons on the remote.

Yeah, the networks really should have bombarded everyone with constant notices that the switch was coming. Oh, wait...

Anyone who hasn't got the message pounded through their thick skull by now isn't going to be helped by a delay. I live in Canada and I've had quite a few people ask me if they have to do anything for the switch. Canada's planned switching date is not until August 2011 but we see enough American ads that they think it might apply to them.

Yes. We may also hold a referendum on whether "the public" wants free food and beer vending machines in each corner.

If we had the technology to do it for a relatively small amount of money? Hell yes. We have water fountains that are free for anyone to drink from.

She went away, and back comes the HR guy himself. He was nice enough, but he tried to convince me that I had to sign it, "Why is it a problem? Everyone else here signed it." I told him that if my continued employment was dependent upon that "agreement", that I would happily clean out my desk right then and there. He went away, and that was the last I heard of it. I was serious, however, and if they'd pushed the matter I'd have walked out right then and there. As it happens, I work in an "at-will" State: sometimes that sucks, but sometimes it works in your favor.

How did at-will work in your favour? It's not like you have to give notice to quit.

a lot of Empire Loyalists left that area to come to Canada after the Civil war. Some of my ancestors included.

Were they hiding in the time between the Revolutionary war and the Civil war?