Hedy Fry Bill C-61 Calgary roundtable interview

Hon. Dr. Hedy Fry Bill C-61 Calgary roundtable

Hon. Dr. Hedy Fry came to Calgary for a Bill C-61 roundtable discussion yesterday (Aug 5th, 2008). Here is an audio interview (mp3) (streaming audio here) with Hedy the day after the roundtable.

Hedy wants see if Bill C-61 will do more harm than good. And whether the bill is fixable by amending it or if it needs to be re-written starting with consultations with the various stakeholders (including the consumers, industries, creators, librarians, et al.) It is also good to hear Hedy understands the need for flexible fair dealing.

As the Calgary Chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada is trying to organize meetings with our Calgary MPs to talk about our Bill C-61 concerns, I concluded my interview by asking Hedy for some advices.

Well, Hedy doesn’t think the current Conservative MPs are willing to listen to our concerns at all. Now, I honestly hope the Calgary Conservative MPs will prove Hedy wrong by agreeing to meet and listen to our concerns as I still harbour some faint hope for the democratic process to work.

Hedy is looking for your Bill C-61 feedback/comments/concerns. Please leave your comments here in this blog entry or contact Hedy Fry’s office directly.

[Reporter's Disclosure: I am one of the organizer of the Calgary Chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada, so please be advised when you read this blog posting and listen to the audio interview.]

Dave Irvine-Halliday - Founder of Light Up The World

Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday, founder of Light Up The World

I have been a long time admirer of Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday, founder of Light Up The World, since I read that Dave won the 2002 Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation Award. (A news that I read from my blog friend Kevin Roberts.) And right then, I tried to interview Dave. So you can say that I have been trying to meet and interview Dave for quite some time now. (smile)

Today, I am real happy to say that I finally met and had a great chat with Dave. I will be posting my interview with him when I have finished processing the audio and video interviews. Stay tune.

P.S. Dave and I also talked about microcredit and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner). And he told me he really admires Muhammad. And I told Dave that I admire him in the same way that he admires Muhammad. Once you understand what Dave has achieved and trying to do with the Light Up The World Foundation, you will understand more.

Michael Geist, technology law expert & Canadian Copyfighter, at Kempton’s Virtual Cafe

Michael Geist is one of the leading and internationally recognized legal expert in technology law and the fight for fair copyright. It was my great pleasure to attend a copyright workshop with him as the featured speaker at University of Calgary yesterday. Michael also took time to meet with some members of the Calgary Chapter of the Fair Copyright for Canada group.

After the Calgary chapter meet up, I interviewed Michael for a few minutes. The following is my first face-to-face interview in my Kempton’s Virtual Cafe series. I hope you will enjoy them and learn as much from them as I did.

Michael Geist Interview - Part 1 of 7

Michael Geist’s impression of meeting Fair Copyright for Canada Calgary chapter members.

Michael Geist Interview - Part 2 of 7

Michael gives an update on the copyright bill.

Marie So and Carol Chyau, co-founders of Ventures in Development, at Kempton’s Virtual Cafe

It was a great delight to chat with Marie So and Carol Chyau, co-founders of Ventures in Development, after I blogged about their ventures in early March. My chat with Marie and Carol on air and off air gave me a great sense of their devotion and joy of being social entrepreneurs (helping people via a profit generating sustainable business). I really admire their effort in helping some very impoverished people in remote western China where there aren’t running water and most basic amenities.

The chat was Kempton’s Virtual Cafe’s first Skype conference call, where Marie called from Hong Kong, Carol called from Shanghai and I was in Calgary. We start our chat with my virtual cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, and Carol and Marie had some tasty yak butter tea (酥油茶) where we chat about their businesses - Mei Xiang Yak Cheese and Shokay (maker of luxury product using yak down (the Tibetan word for yak down is “Shokay”) and there personal experiences.

Please click here to listen to my chat with Marie and Carol (in mp3 audio) (or you can download or stream the program here).

*** Note: My apologies for the poor audio quality in parts of the chat. I have applied some audio magic to try to improve the listening experience but small parts of the chat are still tough to hear (drop outs and time delay, etc). Fortunately, most of the chat has good quality audio.

Mike Dillon, General Counsel of Sun Microsystems, at Kempton’s Virtual Cafe

I’ve been a regular reader of Mike Dillon’s blog “The Legal Thing” since it was launched on Aug 9, 2006. Mike, a lawyer with over 20 years experiences and Sun Microsystems‘ General Counsel, has been very generous in sharing his insights and wisdom. It was my great pleasure to chat with Mike about ideas he talked about in his blog and follow up with him on a few topics raised.

You can listen to my audio chat with Mike in mp3 format (or you can download or stream the interview here). The following are the time codes with topics, including links to the related blog entries.

00:00 - 04:54 : Welcome Mike to Kempton’s Virtual Cafe and talking about Reebok Rules and Mike’s experience of being an in-house lawyer. Mike talks about writing his own updated set of rules to include new requirements from acts like SOX.

1. This should be interesting - Mike’s first blog entry. Joining 3,000 of fellow employees at Sun and their CEO to blog. Mike also explained how he got the name of his blog from the “Reebok Rules” (PDF file).
2. Thanks, ACC - This is where Mike first linked to the wonderful “Reebok Rules” for in-house counsel. Now, I think we all have something to learn from these rules even you may not be a lawyer. You may be pleasantly surprised. Reebok Rule #15 is — Do “The Legal Thing” (see page 8 of the PDF file).

04:54 - 07:25 : Not having an office and its impact. And the tools Mike uses (including SunRay and his Treo 680).

1. Where do you work? - A few more benefits are discussed here.

07:25 - 10:54 : The work to simplify contracts at Sun.

1. Mr. Edison’s Lawyer - Check out the cool Sun Grid as well.
2. Contracts with Clarity - Check out the difference between the old contract and the new and simplified one.

10:54 - 17:51 : On patents and patent trolls. And taking internal intellectual property and open sourcing it.

1. The “Tax” On Innovation
2. On Litigation … (AZUL)
3. The NetApp Litigation
4. The NetApp Litigation (Continued)

17:51 - 20:24: About Regulation Fair Disclosure and the ground breaking blog and comment exchange between Chairman Cox and Sun CEO Jonathan.

1. Reg FD - Setting some cool example.
2. Sunlight on a Cloudy Day - Cool, a blog comment from SEC Chairman Cox.
3. Free Virtualization, and Sun’s Q2 Results - Check out the bonus at the end of the “Safe Harbor Statement”. (smile)

20:24 - 24:52 : Building and evaluating leaders. Giving and sharing.

1. Building Leaders
2. Planting seeds during the holidays - Mike talks about teaching his children the idea of giving and sharing.
3. Kiva Update - an update on the “Planting seeds” entry

24:52 - 26:44 : Sun’s Project Blackbox (modular data center). About the Google patent on similar idea.

1. During the next “big one” - has a really cool YouTube video about Sun’s Blackbox (modular data center)

26:44 - 28:51 : About Sun’s diversified workforce and “Day in the Life” videos of employees around the world. I asked Mike to see if Sun will consider posting and sharing these videos which I think are very informative presentation.

1. Working to be unnoticed

28:51 - 33:13 : The issues and benefits of allowing comments in blogs. Other companies’ request of Sun’s help with respect to blogging policies, work environment, and flexible working arrangement.

1. A Nice Decision for Bloggers - good to know it is safe to have comments (at least in California (smile))
2. FYI: Here is my entry and unsuccessful effort to help CBC. “CBC Blogging guidelines“

33:13 - 34:47 : Creating online contents under licenses like Creative Commons.

1. Have a question about licenses - ask your teenager

34:47 - 36:03 : Sun’s involvement in the Peer to Patent project

1. A Different “P2P”

36:03 - End : Mike’s experiences in blogging so far and how will he blogs in the future.

*******

Feb 25, 2008 Update: Mike has posted his thoughts of a revised version of the “Reebok Rules“, I will call it the “Sun Rules v1.0“.