Weekly Newsletter: August 2, 2022

Weekly News (August 2, 2022)

Compiled by 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.

(July 26 – August 1, 2022)

Canadian News 

·         [BROADCASTING POLICY] U.S. raises trade concerns with Canada over online-streaming bill (Globe and Mail)

·         [BROADCASTING POLICY/PUBLIC BROADCASTING] Des producteurs inquiets des nouvelles licences de Radio-Canada (Le Devoir)

·         [TELECOM POLICY] CRTC needs to do a better job regulating telecoms, experts say (Toronto Star)

·         [TELECOM POLICY] How should you be compensated in the event of a similar Rogers debacle? Some say it shouldn’t be up to your provider to decide (Toronto Star)

·         [TELECOM POLICY] Panne du 8 juillet : Imprévisible et sans précédent, maintient Rogers (La Presse)

·         [TELECOM POLICY/COMPETITION] Rogers, Shaw extend merger deadline to end of year (Financial Post)

·         [CYBERSECURITY] Canada’s major arts and culture organizations fall victim to cyberattack (CYBERSECURITY] Tim Hortons proposes settlement in class-action suits over data-tracking app (CBC) / Violation de la vie privée : Tim Hortons conclut un projet de règlement (Le Devoir)

·         [COMPETITION] Consolidation putting the crypto sector on antitrust watchdog’s radar (Financial Post)

·         [CYBERSECURITY] ‘Big Brother vibes’: Spy agency ditches job ads after mixed reviews from focus groups (National Post)

·         [COPYRIGHT] Rated Arrrrr: Why piracy is the high-stakes fight hurting Hollywood far more than the streaming war (Globe and Mail)

·         [INTERNET ACCESS] If you live in the GTA, Quebecor could soon be your ISP as it snaps up small internet and TV provider VMedia (Toronto Star)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] OPINION: Alang: Kylie Jenner and her 360 million followers force Instagram to pause its plans (The Star)

International News

·         [PRIVACY] House and Senate on collision course over child privacy (Washington Post)

·         [PRIVACY] Pelosi in a bind as California leaders object to federal privacy bill (Washington Post)

·         [PRIVACY/ONLINE HARMS] Privacy watchdogs criticise proposed EU online child pornography rules(Reuters)

·         [ONLINE HARMS] Visa could be liable in suit over child sexual abuse material on Pornhub, other sites (Washington Post)

·         [PRIVACY] ICE’s use of data brokers to ‘go around’ sanctuary laws under fire (Washington Post)

·         [CYBERSECURITY] Secret Service’s ‘ludicrous’ deletion of Jan. 6 phone data baffles experts (Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS] Hulu reverses policy, will use cable standards for political ads (Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM REGULATION] Kenyan ministers rally around Meta’s Facebook after watchdog’s ultimatum (Reuters)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] ‘Operating With Increased Intensity’: Zuckerberg Leads Meta Into Next Phase (NYT)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] In a 3rd test, Facebook still fails to block hate speech (Globe and Mail)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] How Tencent has weathered a tech crackdown by being invaluable to China’s censors (Globe and Mail)

·         [PRIVACY] A Cyberattack Illuminates The Shaky State of Student Privacy (NYT)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Elon Musk countersues Twitter ahead of new October trial date (Washington Post)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Twitter security director says former employees viewed various Saudi accounts. (NYT)

·         [MEDIA FREEDOMS] Russia’s media regulator moves to revoke the license of Novaya Gazeta, an independent news outlet. (NYT)

·         [PRIVACY] Ireland to appoint new commissioners to data privacy regulator (Reuters)

·         [FREEDOM OF SPEECH] Renowned journalist arrested in Guatemala’s political crackdown (NPR)

·         [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/PRIVACY] How Streaming Stars Pay the Price of Online Fame (NYT)

·         [DEFAMATION/MEDIA REPRESENTATION] OPINION: Wemple: A court’s ruling against Sandmann doesn’t vindicate media outlets (Washington Post)

(July 26 – August 1, 2022)

Federal Court of Canada

  • [COPYRIGHT] Bell Media Inc. v. Macciacchera (Smoothstreams.tv) (2022 FC 1139)

Canadian Heritage

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Office of the Privacy Commissioner 

YouTube

Microsoft

Meta

CRTC

Broadcasting Decisions

  • 2022-199 – Findings regarding market capacity in the Squamish radio market – Public record: 1011-NOC2021-0375
  • 2022-198 – Findings regarding market capacity in the Newmarket radio market – Public record: 1011-NOC2021-0378
  • 2022-197 – Findings regarding market capacity in the Sarnia radio market – Public record: 1011-NOC2021-0377

Telecom Decisions

  • 2022-202 – Canadian Administrator of VRS (CAV), Inc. – Application requesting video relay service funding for 2022 – Public record: 8665-C209-202105288
  • 2022-194 – Forbearance from the regulation of high-capacity / digital data services interexchange private line services on certain additional routes – Public record: 8638-S1-01/98
  • 2022-181 – Updates to the Canadian International Mobile Subscription Identify Assignment Guideline – Public record: 8621-C12-01/08

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that judgment in the following leave applications will be delivered at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Thursday, August 4, 2022. This list is subject to change.

  • [PUBLICATION BAN/PRIVACY]  R.R. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Newfoundland and Labrador, et al. (N.L.) (Criminal) (By Leave) (40110)

Senate of Canada

  • No further sitting days this week; next sitting day: September 20, 2022

Canadian House of Commons

  • No further sitting days this week; next sitting day: September 19, 2022

CRTC

The CRTC is not planning on issuing any decisions, regulatory policies and reports in the week of 1 to 5 August 2022. This is subject to change without notice.

Public Consultations

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