Mark Evans

Bulte Defends Copyright Reform; Bloggers Respond

For anyone who questions the growing influence of blogs, check out Liberal MP Sam Bulte's editorial in yesterday's Toronto Star. After weeks of criticism from the blogosphere, Bulte finally provided her views on why she supports copyright reform. Mind you, her timing is questionable given it was published a day before the election. But, then again, Bulte participated in a $250-a-plate fundraiser organized music, movie, software and publishing industry leaders last week so optics apparently aren't her forte. Michael Geist - Bulte's biggest protagonist in the debate - quickly posted that Bulte's editorial features from material created by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. While Bulte's role in copyright reform may not be an election issue or one covered extensively by the mainstream media, popular U.S. blogs such as Boing Boing and TechDirt continue to cover the action, while local blogger Rob Hyndman also weighs in. Random Bytes, meanwhile, has a delicious post on how Bulte claims “the extremists” such as Geist are only involved in the copyright debate “because they want to download”. This comment comes from an all-candidates meeting on Goldhawk Live.