Newsletter: February 8, 2022

Weekly News (February 8, 2022)

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

(February 1- February 7, 2022)

Canadian News 

• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Government heads back to drawing board with online harm bill after negative reaction in consultations (CBC)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Rebooted broadcast bill includes exemption for user-generated content (The National Post)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Arts sector welcomes broadcasting bill as critics remain concerned about government interference online (The Globe and Mail)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Nouvelle loi sur la radiodiffusion, sans les youtubeurs (Le Devoir) 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] MPs vote to call GoFundMe to testify at Commons committee on convoy protest (CBC)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: DIAS Jerry Dias: a moment of endless possibilities for gig workers (The Star)
• [JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES] «La parfaite victime» déroge aux normes journalistiques de Radio-Canada (Le Devoir)
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] Pas de «congédiement déguisé» pour Pascale Nadeau, tranche le tribunal d’arbitrage (Le Devoir)
• [POLICY] [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] OPINION: VON FINCKENSTEIN AND PETER MENZIES A lighter touch is needed for the government’s online harms bill (The Globe)
• [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: ALANG Time to draw the line on dangerous misinformation (The Star)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: COSH Letting down Clare (The National Post)
• [CULTURAL SECTOR] OPINION: LOWRIE Long road to recovery for Quebec’s cultural sector after COVID-19 shutdowns (CBC)

International News

• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/LABOUR] App store clampdown sails through key vote, marking lawmakers’ latest antitrust win (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY] IRS halts plan to require facial recognition for logging in to user accounts (CNN)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Congress weighs giving regulators more tools to fight price gouging, scams (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Censoring row as Spotify pulls more than 100 Joe Rogan episodes (The Telegraph)
• [ANTITRUST] Senators are pushing to bring tech giants to the negotiating table with publishers (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CYBERSECURITY] Biden administration weighing new rules to limit TikTok, foreign apps  (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Apple avoided the Washington techlash for years. Now it’s at the center of the bull’s eye (Washington Post)
• [ANTITRUST] State officials urge SEC to probe if Apple misled investors on nondisclosure rules (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY] A federal privacy watchdog is poised to come back from the dead (The Washington Post)
• [CENSORSHIP] ‘Fight Club’ No Longer Ends With a Whimper in China Following Explosion Over Censorship; Chinese video platform quietly restores 1999 cult film’s conclusion, but 2005’s ‘Lord of War’ still comes with new, harmonious ending (Wall Street Journal)
• [PRIVACY / ONLINE HARMS]  OPINION: BELLA Pam and Tommy, sex tape pioneers, changed the Internet forever. They didn’t ask for it (The Washington Post)
• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH] OPINION: MCGRATH Book aims to shine light on Romanian role in the Holocaust (Miami Herald)
• [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: GIROUX Banning books and ideas meant to ban democracy itself (The Spec)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: KLEPPER AND ORTUTAYA year after Trump purge, ‘alt-tech’ offers far-right refuge (The Times-Tribune)

(February 1- February 7, 2022)

Supreme Court of Canada

• Appeal heard: [PRIVACY/SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY] Eugene Ndhlovu v. Her Majesty the Queen (Alta.) (Criminal) (By Leave) (39360)

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

• Appearance before the Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on their Study of the Collection and Use of Mobility Data by the Government of Canada
• Commissioner appears before parliamentary committee examining the government’s collection and use of cellphone data for public health purposes

Microsoft

• Online civility improved in past year and is the best it’s been since 2016, new Microsoft research shows

YouTube 

·        Celebrating Black History Month with YouTube

Amazon

• Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Results

CRTC

News Releases:

• Telecom order 2022-26 [2022-02-04 11:00:00] Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff application: Bell Canada, TN 7641
• Telecom order 2022-25 [2022-02-04 11:00:00] Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff applications: Bell Aliant, a division of Bell Canada, TN 556 and Bell MTS, a division of Bell Canada, TN 843 
• Broadcasting decision 2022-24 [2022-02-02 11:00:00] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – Sept-Îles and Aguanish, Quebec – Application to amend the broadcasting licence for the French language radio station CBSI-FM Sept-Îles, in order to operate a new transmitter to rebroadcast the programming of its national network service ICI Radio-Canada Première

Senate of Canada

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: February 8-11, 2022
  • Legal and constitutional affairs: February 9, 2022: Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material

Canadian House of Commons

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The house sits all week
  • Industry: February 8, 2022: Ongoing work of the CRTC
  • Heritage: February 9, 2022: Challenges Related to the Recovery of the Arts, Culture, Heritage, and Sport Sectors, Which Have Been Deeply Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic 

CRTC

Anticipated releases for the week of 7 to 11 February 2022
The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions and/or regulatory policies in the week of 7 to 11 February 2022. This is subject to change without notice.

Broadcasting Decisions:

• TELUS Communications Inc.

Complaint by TELUS Communications Inc. against TLN Media Group alleging undue preference and disadvantage Public record: 2020-0428-2

• Lewis Birnberg Hanet, LLP

Addition of REVOLT TV to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution Public record: 2021-0792-9

Telecom Decisions:

• Revocation of basic international telecommunications services licences

When and how communications service providers must provide paper bills Public record: 1011-NOC2020-0081

Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Open Public Consultations

• Extension of Temporary Regulation which establishes subsections 18(11) and (12) of O. Reg. 329/04 (General) under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA) (Reply comments due April 6, 2022)
• Proposed Regulations to enable individual access to personal health information held in the provincial Electronic Health Record (EHR) through Ontario Health (OH) (Reply comments due March 22, 2022)

Have a suggestion? Email Sara Bannerman at banners@mcmaster.ca 

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