Newsletter: April 13, 2021

Weekly News (April 13, 2021)

Compiled by Emmanuel Appiah, Meaghan Wester, and Nick Gertler with Sara Bannerman, Fenwick McKelvey, Guillaume Dandurand, Marek Blottière, and Kevin Morin

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

This week’s newsletter includes additional links to articles made available through Factiva via McMaster and York respectively.

The Communications Governance Discussion Group meets every few weeks by Zoom.  Email organizer Derek Hrynyshyn <derekh@yorku.ca> for details.

(April 7^th – April 12^th, 2021)

Canadian News

• [PRIVACY/DATA BREACH] Massive Facebook data breach affecting millions of Canadians was not reported to federal privacy watchdog (National Post; McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY/DATA BREACH] Fuite sur Facebook : êtes-vous en danger? (La Presse)
• [PRIVACY] Le géant du web Google visé par une action collective (Le Journal de Montréal)
• [DEFAMATION] Galloway lawsuit seen as test of new B.C. law (Toronto Star; McMaster; York)
• [DEFAMATION/ANONYMITY]  La liste de dénonciation « Dis son nom » a fondu des deux tiers (La Presse)
• [PATENT] Canadian court rejects appeal by Google Canada in long-running patent case (The Globe and Mail; McMaster; York)
• [PATENT] IP experts say Ottawa’s proposed regulations could harm their business and drive up patent costs for domestic innovators (Globe and Mail; McMaster; York)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/DATA COLLECTION] Black and Indigenous riders are ‘grossly overrepresented’ in TTC transit enforcement data, report finds (Toronto Star; McMaster; York)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Des tubes anglophones à profusion et, surtout, passéistes (La Presse) [CYBERSECURITY] Des clés cellulaires de Huawei au fisc québécois (Le Journal de Montréal)
• [COPYRIGHT] Music royalties are a hit among yield-hungry investors (The Globe and Mail; McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: Claudiu Popa: The coronavirus pandemic has forced parents’ hands on data collection and privacy issues  (The Conversation via National Post; McMaster; York)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Clamen and Chu: Sex workers’ rights aren’t yet protected under law (The Ottawa Citizen)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/LIBEL] OPINION: J. Michael Coel: China is using our legal systems against us (The Conversation via National Post; McMaster; York)
• [PATENT] OPINION: Linda McQuaig: Throwing money at Big Pharma won’t guarantee vaccine supply (Toronto Star; McMaster; York)

International News

• [PLATFORM REGULATION] New UK regulator set to curb big tech’s power over news publishers (Reuters; McMaster; York)
• [VACCINE PASSPORT/PRIVACY] U.K., EU Face Privacy Criticism for Covid-19 Passport Plans (Wall Street Journal; McMaster; York)
• [VACCINE PASSPORT/PRIVACY] We tested the first state ‘vaccine passport.’ Here’s what worked — and didn’t. (The Washington Post; McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] EU watchdog probing Facebook data breach (Toronto Star; McMaster; York)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/PRIVACY] Apple to start enforcing new app privacy notifications in coming weeks (Reuters via Yahoo! Finance)
• [PRIVACY/DIGITAL ADS] P&G Worked With China Firms To Dodge Apple’s Privacy Rules (Wall Street Journal; McMaster; York)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CHILDREN] Lawmakers Slam Instagram Version for Children (Wall Street Journal; McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] Commerce Secretary Raimondo defends census privacy method (Associated Press News; McMaster; York)
• [AI/ALGORITHMIC BIAS] Facebook Releases Data Set To Assess Bias in Algorithms (Wall Street Journal; McMaster; York)
• [INTERNET REGULATION] Baidu defeats U.S. shareholder lawsuit over China internet law compliance (Reuters; McMaster; York)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Florida GOP passes bill to assess political bias on campus (Associated Press via ABC News; McMaster; York)
• [HATE SPEECH] Arkansas is finally set to pass a hate crimes law — but critics call it ‘hate crimes lite’ (The Washington Post; McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] Consumer privacy push in Florida limps forward (Associated Press via U.S. News; McMaster; York)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] National Archives won’t be allowed to restore Trump’s tweets on the platform (The Guardian)
• [CYBERSECURITY] Suspected China Hack of Microsoft Shows Signs of Prior Reconnaissance (Wall Street Journal; McMaster; York)
• [GIG ECONOMY] Uber says it supports a minimum insurance standard for gig economy workers (The Guardian)
• [PRIVACY/AI] The People in This Medical Research Are Fake. The Innovations Are Real. (The Wall Street Journal; McMaster; York)
• [SURVEILLANCE / AI OPINION: Michael Chertoff & N. MacDonnell Ulsch: AI companies are enabling genocide in China (The Washington Post; McMaster; York)

(April 7^th – April 12^th, 2021)

Federal Court of Appeal

• [COPYRIGHT]  Google Canada Corporation v. Paid Search Engine Tools, LLC – 2021 FCA 63 – 2021-03-25

Federal Court of Appeal

• [TRADEMARK] Nintendo of America Inc. v. King of Windows Home Improvements Inc. – 2021 FC 291 – 2021-04-01

 U.S. Supreme Court

• [COPYRIGHT] GOOGLE LLC v. ORACLE AMERICA, INC.
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] BIDEN v. KNIGHT FIRST AMENDMENT INSTITUTE AT COLUMBIA UNIV.
• [BROADCASTING REGULATION] FCC v. PROMETHEUS RADIO PROJECT
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION] FACEBOOK, INC. v. DUGUID

 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Ian Scott to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology

Competition Bureau Canada

• Competition Bureau sets scope for digital health care market study

 Global Affairs Canada

• Canada renews partnership with Grand Challenges Canada to spur innovations for global health

 Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Government of Canada invests in next-generation wireless technology innovation for the industrial sector
• Minister Champagne marks the publication of the 2020 Corporations Canada C-25 diversity disclosure data report

 Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• New Privacy Tech-Know blog: Privacy Enhancing Technologies for Businesses

Google

• The U.S. and Europe should launch a trade and technology council

YouTube

• Building greater transparency and accountability with the Violative View Rate

 Facebook

• Connecting People in the US With State COVID-19 Vaccine Information

Apple

• Apple’s Find My network now offers new third-party finding experiences

Twitter

• Introducing Twitter’s Global Impact Report

CRTC

News Releases:

• Broadcasting decision 2021-127
  [2021-04-08 11:00:00]
  APPROVED – Amherst Island Radio Broadcasting Inc. – Loyalist Township, Ontario – Application to change the authorized contours of the English-language community radio station CJAI-FM Stella
• Telecom order 2021-126
  [2021-04-08 11:00:00]
  Determination of costs award with respect to the participation of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in the proceeding that led to Telecom Decision 2021-125 – File numbers: 8662- B2-201911347 and 4754-632
• Telecom decision 2021-125
  [2021-04-08 11:00:00]
  Large facilities-based Internet service providers – Application to review and vary Telecom Regulatory Policy 2019-269 regarding the application of the Internet Code – Public record: 8662-B2-201911347
• Broadcasting and Telecom regulatory policy 2021-124
  [2021-04-06 11:00:00]
  Amendments to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, and the Discretionary Services Regulations
• Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom decision 2021-123
  [2021-04-06 11:00:00]
  STIR/SHAKEN implementation for Internet Protocol-based voice calls – Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0404

Senate of Canada

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The Senate is adjourned until Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT).

Canadian House of Commons

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: Monday, April 12-16^th, 2021

     Upcoming Committee Meetings

• [CHPC] (April 12, 2021) Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage: Challenges and Issues Faced by the Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• [ETHI] (April 12, 2021) Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics: Protection of Privacy and Reputation on Platforms such as Pornhub
• [CACN] (April 12, 2021) Special Committee on Canada-China Relations
• [INDU] (April 13, 2021) Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology: Competitiveness in Canada
• [CHPC] (April 16, 2021) Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage: Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts

CRTC

 Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Anticipated releases for the week of April 12^th-16^th, 2021

The CRTC plans to issue no decision and/or regulatory policy in the coming week. This list may be incomplete and is subject to change without notice.

         Regulatory Policies

Broadcasting
2021-3 – Revised list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution – Annual compilation of amendments

 Public Hearings

• To consider the broadcasting application listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2021-36 – View hearing documents (2021-36) (March 30, 2021)

Open Public Consultations:

• Access to Information Review Public Engagement  https://atiareview.ca
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission: 2019-217 Co-development of a new Indigenous Broadcasting Policy
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission: Video Relay Service Review (March 11- May 9, 2021)