Newsletter: April 27, 2021

Weekly News (April 27^th, 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. 

(April 20^th-26^th, 2021)

Canadian News

• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/CHILD PORNOGRAPHY] Supreme court won’t hear appeal of author acquittal; Child pornography (National Post)
• [BROADCASTING/SOCIAL MEDIA] Ottawa’s move to regulate video posts on YouTube and social media called ‘assault’ on free speech (National Post)
• [BROADCASTING/SOCIAL MEDIA] Uploads to social media could be regulated under proposed changes to Canada’s broadcasting law (Toronto Star)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Opinion: Fournier: Steven Guilbeault peut-il faire plus? (Le Journal de Montreal)
• [CULTURAL FUNDING] Federal budget 2021: A welcome boost for Canadian film industry, but movie theatres are forgotten (Globe and Mail)
• [TAXATION/BIG TECH] Tax on Big Tech in federal budget will bring in $3.4 billion (National Post)
• [CULTURAL FUNDING] Independent bookstores look to federal budget to help with shipping costs (Globe and Mail)
• [MEDIA GOVERNANCE/AI REGULATION] Le Canada suit les traces de l’Europe en intelligence artificielle (Le Devoir)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Quebec court upholds most of province’s secularism law, exempts English school boards (National Post)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Quebec’s Bill 21 is unfair and unjust, but ‘legal.’ The fight against it must continue (Toronto Star)
• [LANGUAGE RIGHTS] ‘Good chance’ Quebec will use notwithstanding clause to shield Bill 101(Montreal Gazette)
• [ACCESS TO INFORMATION] OPINION: Ken Rubin: Broken Trudeau promise of less government secrecy meant nothing much anyway (National Post)
• [TELECOM REGULATION] Rogers outage thrusts network reliability into spotlight amid 5G rollout (Globe and Mail)
• [TELECOM REGULATION] BCE bid $16 billion for Shaw before Rogers sealed the deal (Financial Post)
• [TELECOM REGULATION] All eyes on Cogeco after wireless ruling; Possible entry (Financial Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CONTENT MODERATION] Should Canada block websites that post terrorist content and child porn? Ottawa is considering it (Toronto Star)
• [SURVEILLANCE/POLICE] Despite concerns of skeptics, George Floyd case has sparked rush to buy bodycam technology for police (Globe and Mail)
• [DEFAMATION] Sexual harassment among the reasons author Galloway fired from UBC, court told(Globe and Mail)

  International News

• [PRIVACY] Supreme Court unanimous that FTC lacked authority to recover billions for consumers (Washington Post)
• [SURVEILLANCE] Federal court approved FBI’s continued use of warrantless surveillance power despite repeated violations of privacy rules (Washington Post)
• [BROADCAST REGULATION] FCC orders U.S. broadcasters to identify foreign-government sponsors of programs (Reuters)
• [PRIVACY] Privacy watchdog opposes European Union’s move to approve some use of facial-recognition technology (Globe and Mail)
• [SURVEILLANCE] Senators seek limits on some facial-recognition use by police, energizing surveillance technology debate (Washington Post)
• [AI] EU outlines ambitious AI regulations focused on risky uses (ABC News)
• [PRIVACY] German business groups file complaint over Apple privacy settings (Reuters)
• [COMPETITION/PRIVACY] Apple and Google ‘hold data hostage’ and stifle competition, Senate told (The Guardian) [PRIVACY] Apple’s iPhone privacy clampdown arrives after 7-month delay (Associated Press via ABC News)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/FREEDOM OF SPEECH] Apple Lets Parler Back on the App Store Ahead of Hearing (Bloomberg News)
• [PRIVACY] The government can’t seize your digital data. Except by buying it. (The Washington Post)
• [AI] Digital yuan gives China a new tool to strike back at critics (BNN Bloomberg)
• [CHILD PRIVACY] TikTok faces claim for billions in London child privacy lawsuit (Reuters)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/RELIGION] Algerian professor gets 3-year jail term for offending Islam (Star Tribune)
• [PRIVACY] Florida House overwhelmingly approves consumer privacy bill (Toronto Star)
• [CENSORSHIP] India Accused of Censorship for Blocking Social Media Criticism Amid Covid Surge (Wall Street Journal)
• [LOCATION TRACKING/NATIONAL SECURITY] The Ease of Tracking Mobile Phones of U.S. Soldiers in Hot Spots (Wall Street Journal) [ANTI-
• [CULTURAL FUNDING] N.Y. Boosts Funding for Nonprofit Arts Groups (Wall Street Journal)
• [POST-SECONDARY/AI] Student tracking, secret scores: How college admissions offices rank prospects before they apply (Washington Post)
• [BROADCASTING/COURTS] Opinion: John Doyle: The televised trial of Derek Chauvin set a prudent precedent in how it should be done (Toronto Star)
• [AI/PEACE-KEEPING] The United Nations is turning to artificial intelligence in search for peace in war zones (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Is an Activist’s Pricey House News? Facebook Alone Decides.(New York Times)
• [PATENT/VACCINE] Pfizer Uncovers Fake Vaccines Overseas as Demand Spikes (Wall Street Journal)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/PROTEST] Olympic athletes promised legal support if they protest(Toronto Star)
• [CENSORSHIP] Russian authorities suspend operations of Navalny’s offices (Associated Press News)
• [PATENT] Campaign to waive Covid jab patent highlights $26bn shareholder payouts (The Guardian)

(April 20^th-26^th, 2021)

Federal Court of Appeal

• [PATENT] Merck Canada Inc. v. Canada (Health) – 2021 FC 345 – 2021-04-20

Supreme Court of Canada

• • The Supreme Court of Canada has today deposited with the Registrar judgments in the following leave applications. (April 22, 2021):
    – [COPYRIGHT] Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, et al. v. Entertainment Software Association, et al. (F.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) (39418) (Granted)
    – [FREEDOM OF SPEECH/CHILD PORN] Procureur général du Québec c. Yvan Godbout (Qc) (Criminelle) (Autorisation) (39453) (Dismissed)

Google

• Google’s partnerships with international organizations
• Seizing the moment – A framework for American innovation

YouTube

• Reimagining video infrastructure to empower YouTube

Senate of Canada

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: None

Upcoming Committee Meetings

• Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs: Bill S-203, an Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material (April 21, 2021)

Canadian House of Commons

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: Monday, May 3^rd-7^th, 2021.

     Upcoming Committee Meetings

• [CHPC] (April 26, 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
• [CACN] (April 26, 2021) Special Committee on Canada-China Relations

CRTC

Open Proceedings 

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Anticipated releases for the week of April 26-30^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 2021-114 et 2021-114-1 – View hearing documents (2021-114) (May 27, 2021)

Open Public Consultations:

• Responsible use of AI: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/digital-government-innovations/responsible-use-ai.html
• Employment and Social Development: Mandate Commitments on the Right to Disconnect and Gig Workers (March 18 – April 30, 2021)
• 2021-9 – Call for comments – Development of a network-level blocking framework to limit botnet traffic and strengthen Canadians’ online safety – Public record: 1011-NOC2021-0009 (May 5, 2021)
• 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)
• 2021-132 – Call for comments – Imposition of an administrative monetary penalty on Bell Canada in relation to the processing and granting of access permit applications for support structures in accordance with its National Services Tariff – Public record: 1011-NOC2021-0132 (May 17, 2021)
• Canadian Heritage: Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries (May 31, 2021)
• Access to Information Review Public Engagement: Reviewing access to information – https://atiareview.ca (March 31, 2021-July 31, 2021)