Newsletter: August 18, 2020

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Weekly News (August 18, 2020)
Compiled by Emmanuel Appiah with Sara Bannerman
McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(August 11-August 17, 2020)

Canadian News

•  [DEFAMATION/ANTI-SLAPP] Supreme Court dismisses appeal of ruling to turn over documents in Steven Galloway defamation case (The Globe and Mail)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/POLICING] G20 protesters in line for cash settlement in case against Toronto Police (The Globe and Mail
• [COMPETITION/AMAZON] Federal Competition Bureau investigating Amazon in Canada (The Globe and Mail) Similar story available through National Post)
• [PRIVACY/COVID-19] Ontario ends police access to COVID-19 database after legal challenge (The Canadian Press via National Post
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/LABOUR ISSUES] OPINION: Alang: Why don’t companies like Uber want to make their drivers full employees? Because it would break their business model (The Toronto Star)
• [TELCOMMUNICATIONS/BROADBAND] CRTC providing $72-million to improve internet in 51 northern communities (The Globe and Mail
• [CULTURAL FUNDING/PUBLIC BROADCASTING] First Chinese Canadian museum opens (The Toronto Star; Similar story available with CBC News)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/CANADA-CHINA RELATIONS] Canadians in Hong Kong at risk of arrest by ‘secret police’, MPs told (The Globe and Mail)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/SECURITY BREACH] CRA expects online services back Wednesday following cyberbreaches (The Canadian Press via the Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/COVID CARE] OPINION: Ovchinnikov: A national health data infrastructure could manage pandemics with less disruption (The Conversation; Also available with The Canadian Press)
• [PRIVACY/COVID-19 APP] OPINION: Haggart: Canada’s COVID Alert app is a case of tech-driven bad policy design (The Conversation; Also available with The Canadian Press)
• [CENSORSHIP/CANADA-CHINA RELATIONS] Rules to protect Canadian WeChat users are overdue. Here’s how Trump’s TikTok ban could spark change here (The Toronto Star
• [COPYRIGHT/JOURNALISM] OPINION: Miljan: Don’t subsidize journalism, enforce copyright (Financial Post)

International News

• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH] A College’s ‘Free Speech Areas’ Face Supreme Court Review (The New York Times)
• [CENSORSHIP/BODY-CAMERA FOOTAGE] Editorial Board: D.C. must end police body-cam censorship (The Washington Post
• [PRIVACY/FACIAL RECOGNITION] Landmark UK court ruling finds police use of facial recognition unlawful (Reuters)
• [PRIVACY] French privacy watchdog opens investigation into TikTok (Reuters)
• [ANTITRUST/TELECOMMUNICATIONS] Justice-FTC Antitrust Feud Is the Wrong Kind of Competition (The Wall Street Journal)
• [PRIVACY/FIRST AMENDMENT] Facial Recognition Start-Up Mounts a First Amendment Defense (The New York Times)
• [PRIVACY/ENFORCEMENT] British Airways, Marriott Expect Smaller Fines From U.K. Privacy Regulator (The Wall Street Journal)
• [PRIVACY LAW] UPDATE 2-California posts final regulations under landmark digital privacy law impacting consumers, businesses (Reuters)
• [COPYRIGHT] Court goes where ‘no court has gone before’ for ‘Star Trek’ (The Associated Press)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/US-CHINA RELATIONS] Corporate America Worries WeChat Ban Could Be Bad for Business (Reuters)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION/ROBOCALLS] Where Robocalls Hide: the House Next Door (The Wall Street Journal)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/SURVEILLANCE] ICE Signs Contract With Facial Recognition Company Clearview AI (The Wall Street Journal)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/US-CHINA RELATIONS] Trump looked at banning further Chinese apps in addition to TikTok: Meadows (Reuters)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/US-CHINA RELATIONS]  TikTok Looks The Other Way On Underaged (The New York Times)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/CENSUS] Criticized over recent appointees, Census adds another hire (The Canadian Press via Yahoo Finance News)
• [PRIVACY/COVID-APP] I downloaded America’s first coronavirus exposure app. You should too. (The Washington Post)
• [BROADBAND/DIGITAL DIVIDE] ‘A national crisis’: As coronavirus forces many schools online this fall, millions of disconnected students are being left behind (The Washington Post)
• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH/ NATIONAL SECURITY] Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under new security law (The Guardian)
• [PRIVACY/COVID-APP] European Contact-Tracing Apps Stumble on Privacy Concerns, Glitches (The Wall Street Journal)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/RACE DETECTION] The Quiet Growth of Race-Detection Software Sparks Concerns Over Bias (The Wall Street Journal)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS] Facebook Turns to Artificial Intelligence for Help During the Pandemic (The Wall Street Journal)
• [FREEDOM OF THE PRESS] Google says Australians could lose free search services (The Washington Post)
• [CENSORSHIP] Internet blackout in Belarus leaves protesters in the dark (Reuters)
• [COPYRIGHT] Victoria’s Secret accused of stealthy copying of designs (The Guardian)

(August 11-August 17, 2020)

Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission

• Over 10,100 households in northern communities to have access to improved broadband Internet service

Competition Bureau

• Competition Bureau to host first annual Digital Enforcement Summit in series of virtual events this fall
• Competition Bureau seeks input from market participants to inform an ongoing investigation of Amazon

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Order in Council responding to petitions to the Governor in Council concerning Telecom Order CRTC 2019-288
• Response by the Government of Canada to petitions concerning CRTC wholesale Internet rates 

Supreme Court of Canada

• [SEARCH & SEIZURE] (Dismissed) Greg Roy v. Her Majesty the Queen (Ont.) (Criminal) (By Leave) (39127[ANTI-SLAPP] (Dismissed) A.B. v. Steven Galloway (B.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) (39203)

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• OPC publishes new Privacy Guide for Businesses

YouTube

• An update on how YouTube supports elections

Facebook

• Keeping People Safe and Informed About the Coronavirus

Amazon

• Expanding our Tech Hubs to create 3,500 new jobs in the U.S.

CRTC

News Releases:

• Broadcasting decision 2020-276
  [2020-08-17 11:00:00]
  APPROVED – Cogeco Media Inc. – Lachute, La Sarre, Laval, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or, Quebec – Applications to renew the broadcasting licences for the French-language commercial radio stations listed in the decision.
• Broadcasting order 2020-275
  [2020-08-17 11:00:00]
  Mandatory order – Parrsboro Radio Society – Parrsboro, Nova Scotia – Pursuant to section 12(2) of the Broadcasting Act, the Commission orders Parrsboro Radio Society, licensee of CICR-FM Parrsboro, to comply at all times during the term of the licence granted in CICR-FM Parrsboro – Licence renewal and issuance of mandatory orders, Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2020-272, 17 August 2020, with the requirement set out in condition of licence 2 of Appendix 1 to that decision
• Telecom notice of consultation 2020-269
  [2020-08-14 11:00:00]
  Call for comments – Imposition of administrative monetary penalties on Iristel Inc. and TELUS Communications Inc. in relation to the routing and termination of phone calls to the 867 area code in Northern Canada – Public record: 1011-NOC2020-0269
• Telecom decision 2020-268
  [2020-08-14 11:00:00]
  Iris Technologies Inc. and TELUS Communications Inc. – Applications for final relief regarding the termination of traffic to certain 867 numbering plan area telephone numbers – Public record: 8663-J64-201806019 and 8663-T66-201805722
• Telecom order 2020-264, Telecom order 2020-263.  
  [2020-08-13 11:00:00]
  Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff application: Northwestel Inc. TN 1087  and Northwestel Inc. TN 1086
• Telecom decision 2020-260, Telecom decision 2020-259, Telecom decision 2020-258, Telecom decision 2020-257, Telecom decision 2020-256, Telecom decision 2020-255
  [2020-08-12 14:00:00]
  Broadband Fund – Project funding approval for Northwestel Inc.’s Yukon fibre project – Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0191
• Broadcasting decision 2020-254
  [2020-08-11 11:00:00]
  RENEWED – Rogers Media Inc. – Vancouver, British Columbia; Edmonton and Calgary Alberta; and Toronto, Ontario – Broadcasting licences for the OMNI television stations listed in the decision, from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021
• Broadcasting decision 2020-252
  [2020-08-11 11:00:00]
  DENIED – Durham Radio Inc. – Grimsby and Beamsville, Ontario – Application to change the authorized contours of the unlaunched English-language commercial radio station CKLK-FM.

Senate of Canada

No sitting days this week

Canadian House of Commons

No sitting days this week. Adjournment Tabling on August 19, 2020.

 CRTC

Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Anticipated releases for the week of August 17-21, 2020

The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions, regulatory policies and reports in the coming week. This list may be incomplete and is subject to change without notice.

            Broadcasting Decisions:

Decisions relating to the following applications considered under the Commission’s Part 1 process:

• Applications by various licensees to renew the broadcasting licences for various television services
• Ethnic Channels Group Limited
  Addition of RT France to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution – Public record for this application: 2020-0289-8
  Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2020-54 (8 June 2020)
• Radio Bas-St-Laurent inc.
  CFYX-FM Rimouski and its transmitter CFYX-FM-3 Rivière-du-Loup – Acquisition of assets and licence renewal – Public record: 2019-0994-6 and 2019-0602-5
  Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2020-75 (16 June 2020)
• Parrsboro Radio Society
  CICR-FM Parrsboro – Licence renewal  – Public record: 2019-0796-6

Open Public Consultations:

• Political Communications in Federal Elections (August 21, 2020 deadline)

• Call for comments – Accessibility – mobile wireless service plans that meet the needs of Canadians with various disabilities (August 31, 2020 deadline)

• Call for comments – Appropriate network configuration for disaggregated wholesale high-speed access services (September 9, 2020 deadline)