Newsletter: January 11th, 2022

Weekly News (January 11th, 2021)

Compiled by Fizza Kulvi, Kyle Wyndham-West, Meaghan Wester, and Nick Gertler with Sara Bannerman, Fenwick McKelvey, Guillaume Dandurand, Marek Blottière, and Kevin Morin
McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(January 3 – 10, 2022)

Canadian News 

• [PRIVACY] Opposition MPs call for emergency probe of health agency’s use of Canadians’ mobile data during COVID (The National Post)
• [ACCESS TO INFORMATION] Man seeking RCMP files goes to court after national archives takes 80-year extension (The Star)
• [PRIVACY] Privacy breach: Names of unvaccinated DDSB staff accidentally shared (The Star)
• ​​[PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] How Rumble, a Toronto-based YouTube alternative, became a refuge for the MAGA crowd (with a US$2-billion valuation) (Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY] Morning Update: Canada’s spy agency warns MPs to beware of influence operations from China (The Globe and Mail)
• [PATENT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY] ‘The system worked:’ Canadian CEO of Sonos hopes his takedown of Google inspires other upstarts (Financial Times)
• [INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY] Ontario creating new intellectual property agency in effort to bring ideas to market, boost economy (The Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: Clark A government that misses Step One in transparency sparks a tizzy about ‘surveillance’ (The Globe and Mail)
• [CBC] OPINION: Paradkar: The CBC has problems. Being too woke isn’t one of them (The Star)
• [ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Naffi, et. al.: AI-powered chatbots, designed ethically, can support high-quality university teaching (National Post)

International News

• [PRIVACY] France fines Google, Facebook record €210 million over tracking online activity (WSJ)
• [CENSORSHIP] Tech giants banned Trump. But did they censor him? (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Google is manipulating browser extensions to stifle competitors, DuckDuckGo CEO says (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY] ‘I have moments of shame I can’t control’: the lives ruined by explicit ‘collector culture’ (The Guardian)
• [MISINFORMATION] Election falsehoods surged on podcasts before Capitol Hill Riots, researches find (NYT) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/PRIVACY] Come the Metaverse, can privacy exist? (WSJ)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Roblox to rebuild China app after going offline (Financial Times)
• [DEFAMATION] Freelance Writer Accuses The Atlantic of Defamation After Article Retraction (NYT) 
• [COPYRIGHT] Yes, Meghan was awarded just $1.35 in her privacy suit against a British tabloid. But that’s only part of the story. (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Albania Hires US Company to Boost Cybersecurity After Leak (US News)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Swisher: Nobody Is Stepping Up at Twitter (NYT)

(January 3 – 10, 2021)

Federal Court of Appeal

The following judgements were delivered on January 6, 2022: 

·         [PATENT] Pharmascience Inc. v. Teva Canada Innovation (2022 FCA 2)

·         [COMPETITION/PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Airbnb, Inc. v. Lin (2022 FCA 3)

Amazon

·         Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro offers professional-grade connectivity

·         Amazon and Stellantis Collaborate to Introduce Customer-Centric Connected Experiences Across Millions of Vehicles, Helping Accelerate Stellantis’ Software Transformation

CRTC

News Releases:

Broadcasting decision:

2022-3 – Interlake Mennonite Fellowship Church – Okno, Manitoba – Application for a broadcasting licence to operate an English and German-language religious (Church) FM radio station in Okno, as well as a request for an exception to the emergency alerting requirements set out in the Radio Regulations, 1986

Broadcasting regulatory policy:

2022-1 – Revised list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution – Annual compilation of amendments

Telecom order:

2022-2 – Broadband Fund Payment Order – Approval of Claim Forms – December 2021

Senate of Canada

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: No sitting days this week.

Canadian House of Commons

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: No sitting days this week. The House is adjourned until Monday, January 31, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. (EST).
• ETHI – Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics – Meeting Requested by Four Members of the Committee to Discuss their Request to Undertake a Study of the Collection and Use of Mobility Data
• • Thursday, January 13, 2022: 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (EST), Wellington Building, Room 415; Televised

Supreme Court

• The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that judgment in the following leave applications will be delivered at 9:45 a.m. EST on Thursday, January 13, 2022. This list is subject to change.
  • [VIRTUAL SPACES – ENTRAPMENT – CHILD LURING] Temitope Dare v. Her Majesty the Queen (Ont.) (Criminal) (By Leave) (39871)
  • [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION / DEFAMATION / SLAPP] Glen Hansman v. Barry Neufeld (B.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) (39796)
• The Supreme Court of Canada has scheduled the following hearings for the month of January:
  • [COPYRIGHT] Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, et al. v. Entertainment Software Association, et al. (Federal Court) (Civil) (By Leave) 39418

CRTC
The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions and/or regulatory policies in the week of 10 to 14 January 2022. This is subject to change without notice.

Broadcasting Decision:

·         Interlake Mennonite Fellowship Church
New religious (Church) FM radio station in Okno, Manitoba
Public record: 2021-0081-6

Broadcasting Regulatory Policy:

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

      Open Proceedings

·         CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings

·         CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Open Public Consultations

• Enabling the enforceability of the Building Broadband Faster Act Guideline (reply comments due January 17, 2022)
• Consultation about a 3-digit phone number for suicide prevention (reply comments due January 31, 2022)