Newsletter: March 8, 2022

Weekly News (March 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

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

(March 1- March 7, 2022)

Canadian News 

·         [TELECOM REGULATION] House of Commons committee doesn’t think Rogers takeover of Shaw should proceed, report says (The Globe and Mail)

·         [BROADCAST REGULATION] Des producteurs innus réclament des quotas de musique autochtone à la radio (Le Devoir)

·         [BROADCAST GOVERNANCE] APTN, CBC formalize commitment to support, develop, broadcast more Indigenous content (The Star)

·         [BROADCAST GOVERNANCE] CBC/Radio-Canada suspend sa couverture en Russie (La Presse)

·         [PRIVACY] More privacy breaches in handling of military sex misconduct settlement deal (The Globe and Mail)

·         [COPYRIGHT/PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Shopify says it has removed most ‘pirated’ content in copyright lawsuit (The Star)

·         [HATE SPEECH] Police say online harassment campaign appears to be targeting Russian Calgarians (National Post)

·         [DEFAMATION/RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM] OPINION: CAMPION-SMITH How do journalists reach those suspicious of media? First, by reporting fully and fairly (The Star)

·         [BROADCAST POLICY] OPINION: MENZIES The Heritage Minister’s push to ban RT undermines the CRTC’s independence (The Globe and Mail)

International News

·         [CENSORSHIP/PLATFORM REGULATION] Russia’s ‘fake’ news law could force more social networks to pull out of country (Washington Post)

·         [PRIVACY] Biden’s endorsement could be a game-changer for kids’ privacy legislation (Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM REGULATION/CHILDREN] Coalition of state attorneys general launches probe into whether TikTok harms children and teens (Washington Post)

·         [BROADCAST POLICY] Russian invasion raises stakes in fight over state media broadcasts (Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM REGULATION] Democrats move a step closer to breaking deadlocks at FTC and FCC (Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM REGULATION/LOBBYING] Watchdog groups call on FTC to revisit Trump-era ethics calls (Washington Post)

·         [CENSORSHIP/PLATFORM REGULATION] The real reason Russia is blocking Facebook (The Washington Post)

·         [CYBER ATTACK] The dire predictions about a Russian cyber onslaught haven’t come true in Ukraine. At least not yet. (The Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Apple pauses all product sales in Russia, citing concern for Ukraine (The Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] TikTok restricts service in Russia and Netflix stops streaming (The Guardian)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] CNN makes a $350mn bet on streaming ahead of Discovery takeover (The Financial Times)

·         [SOCIAL MEDIA] OPINION: GARNER How is the war going for Putin on social media? Not great. (The Washington Post)

·         [CYBER WARFARE] OPINION: MURPHY Ukraine war sparks revival of hacktivism (The Financial Times)

(March 1- March 7, 2022)

Government of Canada

·         The NFB’s commitment to gender parity: strong results in budget and number of films directed by women, with goals met or exceeded in most creative positions.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

·         Letter to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on their Study of the Collection and Use of Mobility Data by the Government of Canada

Copyright Board of Canada

·         CMRRA Online Music Services Tariff (Music Videos) (2014-2018)

Microsoft Blog

·         Microsoft suspends new sales in Russia

Twitter Blog

·         Building a better Birdwatch

CRTC

News Releases:

·         Broadcasting order 2022-61
[2022-03-04 11:00:00]
Exemption order respecting still image and low-motion programming service undertakings

·         Broadcasting order 2022-60
[2022-03-04 11:00:00]
Exemption Order Respecting Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings

·         Broadcasting regulatory policy 2022-59
[2022-03-04 11:00:00]
Amendments to the Exemption Order Respecting Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings and to the Exemption order respecting still image and low-motion programming service undertakings

·         Broadcasting notice of consultation 2022-58
[2022-03-03 14:00:00]
Call for comments regarding the continued appropriateness of authorizing the distribution of RT in Canada – Public record: 1011-NOC2022-0058

·         Telecom order 2022-57
[2022-03-01 11:00:00]
Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff application: Bell Canada, TN 7642

·         Telecom order 2022-56
[2022-03-01 11:00:00]
Broadband Fund Payment Order – Approval of Claim Forms – February 2022

Supreme Court of Canada

·         39851 Apotex Inc. v. Eli Lilly and Company, Eli Lilly Canada Inc. (F.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) Intellectual property — Patents — Medicines — Judgments and orders — Interest — Respondents’ pharmaceutical patent found to be valid and infringed by applicant’s generic product — Court ordering compound interest on damages awarded — Whether novel claim for “time value of money” is valid in law — What is standard of proof required to justify claims for interest damages?

Senate of Canada

·         Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The House may sit all week. 

Canadian House of Commons

·         Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The house sits all week

CRTC

Anticipated releases for the week of 7 to 11 March 2022

The CRTC is not planning on issuing any decisions and/or regulatory policies in the week of 7 to 11 March 2022. This is subject to change without notice.

Open Proceedings

·         CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings

·         CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings


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

To subscribe to this list, send an email to ncgl-news-l-join@mcmaster.ca  

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to ncgl-news-l-leave@mcmaster.ca