Weekly News Roundup (June 8)
By: Brittany Green
Top Stories this Week
In an address to representatives from across the Canadian telecom industry, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission defended his stance on net neutrality, an issue on which the two countries have recently diverged.
Former CBC executive Richard Stursberg voted new president of Pen Canada (Feeedom of Expression Canada)
The non-partisan organization works to defend freedom of expression as a basic human right at home and abroad. Stursberg was voted in as the new president at an annual general meeting on Monday, succeeding novelist and academic Randy Boyagoda.
Provisions of Canada’s three-year-old anti-spam legislation that are set to come into effect July 1 will require senders of electronic messages meant to directly or indirectly encourage participation in a commercial activity (CEMs) to have the express consent of the recipients of those messages.
Top International News
Migrant workers from Myanmar face Thai defamation charges (Defamation International)
Fourteen migrant workers from Myanmar appeared Wednesday in a Thai court on criminal defamation charges brought by their employer, which they accused of grueling, illegal working conditions.
Brits have terrorism experience; Many in Canada harbour unserious views (Censorship International)
Experts in both terrorism and digital media say British Prime Minister Theresa May’s accusations that internet companies are providing a “safe space” for extremism aren’t helpful in the fight against terror attacks.
Twitter users, blocked by President Trump, cry censorship (Censorship International)
President Donald Trump may be the nation’s tweeter-in-chief, but some Twitter users say he’s violating the First Amendment by blocking people from his feed after they posted scornful comments.