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  1. Communications Governance Observatory
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  4. Newsletter: September 15, 2020

Newsletter: September 15, 2020

Posted on September 22, 2020
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Weekly News (September 15, 2020)
Compiled by Emmanuel Appiah with Sara Bannerman
McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(September 8-14, 2020)

Canadian News
  • [DEFAMATION/ANTI-SLAPP] Supreme Court ruling stresses right to sue to protect reputation (The Globe and Mail)
  • [CULTURAL POLICY/DIGITAL NEWS]  Heritage minister takes hard line against Facebook’s ‘bullying’ (National Post)
  • [INTERNET REGULATION] Court allows CRTC to lower small internet providers’ rates (Canadian Press via CBC News)
  • [INTERNET REGULATION] Teksavvy won’t pay Bell, Rogers until they give refunds (The Toronto Star)
  • [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Judge drops by protest camp at Saskatchewan legislature that he ruled on last week (National Post)
  • [PRIVACY/PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Class-action lawsuit alleges Google has turned Canadians’ electronics into tracking devices (Canadian Press via MSN News)
  • [PRIVACY]  RCMP in Saskatchewan not following Clare’s Law that can warn about violent partners, citing privacy issues (The Globe and Mail)
  • [TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION] Exclusive: Canada looks set for a fight over C$1 billion compensation for Huawei gear (Reuters)
  • [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION]  Opinion: The Ford government should not appeal ruling on gas-pump stickers (The Toronto Star)
  • [SURVEILLANCE/NATIONAL SECURITY/PATENT] Chinese firm amasses trove of open-source data on influential Canadians (The Globe and Mail)
  • [PRIVACY/COVID-19] The public knew about a COVID-19 outbreak at Maple Lodge Farms. So how is it that a Mississauga business, where 61 employees have been infected, has not been identified? (The Toronto Star)
  • [PRIVACY/COVID-19 DATA] Opinion: Health data collected during the coronavirus pandemic needs to be managed responsibly (The Conversation)
  • [PRIVACY/COVID-19] Opinion: A national COVID-19 tracing app can’t work if Canadians don’t have access to it (The Toronto Star)
  • [INTERNET REGULATION] Louder voices needed for faster internet service (Canadian Press via Northern Ontario Business)
  • [ACCESS TO INFORMATION]  Province ponders tying accountability to northern municipal funding (Canadian Press via National Observer)
  • [ACCESS TO INFORMATION]  Saskatchewan won’t release cost of school repairs (Canadian Press via National Observer)
International News
  • [PRIVACY] Facebook may have to stop moving EU user data to US (The Associated Press via Seattle Times)
  • [PRIVACY] Facebook Appeals Move to Curb EU-U.S. Data Transfer (The Wall Street Journal)
  • [PRIVACY] Swiss official airs concerns about data privacy in US (The Toronto Star)
  • [HATE SPEECH] A neo-Nazi threatened Jewish and Black journalists. He faces five years in prison. (The Washington Post)
  • [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/FACIAL RECOGNITION] Portland Passes Strongest Facial-Recognition Restriction in U.S. Ban on use of technology in public spaces is a first, experts say (The Wall Street Journal)
  • [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CYBERSECUITY] The Cybersecurity 202: Powerful new cyber board accused of improper marketing strategy (The Washington Post)
  • [PERSONAL INFORMATION/UNLAWFUL SEARCH & SEIZURE] Swept up in the federal response to Portland protests: ‘I didn’t know if I was going to be seen again’ (The Washington Post)
  • [CENSORSHIP/FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/ DEFAMATION] Seoul Cracks Down on Dissent Against North Korea (The Wall Street Journal)
  • [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/US ELECTIONS] Exclusive: Microsoft believes Russians that hacked Clinton targeted Biden campaign firm – sources (Reuters)
  • [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/ELECTIONS] Uganda seeks to register online bloggers ahead of election (The Toronto Star)
  • [DEFAMATION] Opinion: The Justice Department is not the president’s private law firm (The Washington Post; Similar story at The New York Times)
  • [CENSORSHIP/MISINFORMATION] Opinion: James Freeman: Silicon Valley Values; Skepticism of government is great, but some governments deserve more than others (The Washington Post)
  • [PRIVACY/PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Europe Feels the Squeeze as Tech Competition Heats Up Between U.S. and China (The New York Times)
  • [PRIVACY/HEALTH DATA] Health Data After Covid-19: More Laws, Less Privacy (The Wall Street Journal)

(September 8-14, 2020)

Supreme Court of Canada

  • [ANTI-SLAPP] 1704604 Ontario Ltd. v. Pointes Protection Association – 2020 SCC 22 (Dismissed)
  • [ANTI-SLAPP] Bent v. Platnick – 2020 SCC 23

Federal Court of Appeal

  • [BROADBAND/INTERNET REGULATION] Bell Canada v. British Columbia Broadband Association – 2020 FCA 140

The Senate

  • The Speech From The Throne Marks The Return of Parliament

Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission

  • Canadian consumers are receiving maximum advertised Internet speeds

Copyright Board

  • Re:Sound Tariff 6.B – Use of Recorded Music to Accompany Fitness Activities (2018-2022) – 2020 CB 014-T

Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada

  • Policy Statement on Research Security and COVID-19

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

  • Op-Ed: The value of data, the values of privacy

Microsoft

  • New cyberattacks targeting U.S. elections 

Twitter

  • Expanding our policies to further protect the civic conversation

Facebook

  • Privacy Matters: Facebook Campus

CRTC

News Releases:

  • Telecom notice of consultation 2020-269-1
    [2020-09-11 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 – Changes to procedure – Public record: 1011-NOC2020-0269
  • Telecom order 2020-333
    [2020-09-10 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff application: Ontera, a division of NorthernTel, Limited Partnership TN 146
  • Broadcasting decision 2020-331
    [2020-09-09 11:00:00]
    APPROVED – Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta – Edmonton and Rocky Mountain House, Alberta – Application to amend the broadcasting licence for the Indigenous (Type B Native) radio station CFWE-FM-4 Edmonton, Alberta, to add an FM rebroadcasting transmitter in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, to serve the Sunchild and O’Chiese First Nations
  • Telecom order 2020-329; Telecom order 2020-328;
    [2020-09-08 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff application: Northwestel Inc. TN 1094, TN 1091
  • Telecom order 2020-327
    [2020-09-08 11:00:00]
    Application of the Commission’s determinations set out in Telecom Decision 2008-14 to Northwestel Inc.: development of a Regulatory Economic Studies Manual and company-specific appendices – Public record: 8638-C12-200805906
  • Telecom notice of consultation 2020-326
    [2020-09-04 11:00:00]
    Call for comments – Establishment of new deadlines for Canada’s transition to next-generation 9-1-1 – Deadline for submission of interventions: 19 October 2020 – Deadline for submission of replies: 9 November 2020
  • Telecom order 2020-325
    [2020-09-04 11:00:00]
    Shaw Cablesystems G.P. – Introduction of new wholesale high speed access services – Public record: Tariff Notice 32
  • Compliance and Enforcement decision 2020-320
    [2020-09-01 11:00:00]
    Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules Nicholson Wealth and Risk Solutions Inc. – Violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules – File number: PDR 9174-2557

Senate of Canada

  • No sitting days this week – Parliament is Prorogued. The second session of the 43rd Parliament is set to begin on September 23, 2020.

Canadian House of Commons

  • No sitting days this week – Parliament is Prorogued. The second session of the 43rd Parliament is scheduled to open at 2:00 p.m., on September 23, 2020.

 CRTC

Open Proceedings

  • CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
  • CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Anticipated releases for the week of September 8-11, 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:

  • Aujourd’hui l’Espoir
    Christian music FM radio station in Brownsburg-Chatham
    Public record: 2019-0963-1
  • Utilities Consumers’ Group Society
    Community FM Station in Whitehorse
    Public record: 2019-0961-5

Compliance and Enforcement Decisions:

  • Rogers Communications Canada Inc. – Request for a nine-month postponement of STIR/SHAKEN implementation
    Public record: 8621-C12-01/08 and 8665-C12-201507576

 Open Public Consultations: 

  • Centre for Gender, Diveristy and Inclusion Statistics (September 30, 2020)

 News,  Newsletter

Communications Governance Observatory

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