We have some of the smartest minds in the world working in all areas of computer technology. We were at one time a leader in broadband penetration and a beacon to countries with our hands off approach to the Internet. That is all changing and it boils down to, in my own personal opinion, to two things – the screwed up implementation of patents and copyright as well as federal government with no guts or foresight.

Already we are hamstrung by copyright laws that force services like Pandora and Hulu to deny us access to their services and why – because a dying entertainment industry is enforcing archaic copyright laws. To this end we have a government that is a major player in the secret backroom deals that are going into the implementation of ACTA – the next generation copyright laws that will apply worldwide.

Now we find out that while the rest of the world will be able to use all of the features of Skype on their iPhones, and soon on their Blackberries, Canadians will only be able to use the chat features. The reason why – well according to Skype it is a patent problem with them and has nothing to do with Apple.

While Mark Evans might want to not care about the so-called patent issue I want to call bullshit. Look we have three companies and one government agency involved here – Apple, Rogers (the Canadian telecom carrier), Skype and the CRTC (the Canadian regulatory body). Some-one please tell me where the hell there is a patent problem – Please – cause I really want to know; but no-one is tell us.

Chaim Haas, a public relations representative acting on behalf of Skype, said the application is available in every country in which the iPhone is on sale and in which Apple has an iTunes Store — with the exception of Canada.

Haas said this is because of patent-licence restrictions but would not elaborate except to specify that it is a patent issue related to Skype, not Apple.

Source: CBC.ca

All we get is some nebulous patent problem statement from the Skype mouthpiece. Sorry but this isn’t good enough. If you are going to be denying us a part of your regular service then we as consumers deserve to know the whole story – anything less is pure bullshit.

But then what else can we expect I guess in a country whose government seems to have forgotten how we were once leaders of the technological world. In the recent let’s stimulate the economy budget bullshit there is nothing of any substance to really help return us to a leadership position in the world. Nor does there seem to be any will in the government to withstand increasing pressures from the US entertainment industry to hijack laws that have been a model to other countries when it comes to copyright laws.

Instead we are slowly and inexorably moving into the bush league of the technological world and that really really sucks.