Weekly Newsletter for February 22, 2023

Weekly News (February 22, 2023)

Compiled by Brad McNeil, Kyle Wyndham-West, and Beatrice Sunderland, with Sara Bannerman  and Fenwick McKelvey

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(February 14 -February 21, 2023)

Canadian News 

• [BROADCAST POLICY/BILL C-11] Quebec National Assembly passes unanimous motion criticizing Bill C-11, demands 11th-hour change  (The Globe and Mail)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY/C-11] Le Parti conservateur appuie la demande de Québec pour un droit de regard (Le Presse)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY] La nouvelle politique du CRTC désormais en vigueur (La Presse)
• [MISINFORMATION] Social media fuelled the ‘Freedom Convoy,’ and 4 more findings you need to know from the Emergencies Act report (Toronto Star) 
• [COMPETITION/TELECOM OWNERSHIP] Deadline for Rogers, Shaw merger extended to March 31  (Financial Post)
• [COMPETITION/TELECOM OWNERSHIP] How the Rogers-Shaw takeover deal made it past the Competition Tribunal (The Globe and Mail) 
• [COMPETITION / TELECOM OWNERSHIP] Globalive urges CRTC to suspend Rogers-Vidéotron wholesale deal (Financial Post) 
• [ISP OWNERSHIP] ‘The industry is in crisis:’ Another small internet provider sells to big telecom (Toronto Star) 
• [HARMFUL SPEECH/CENSORSHIP] Critics reject changes to Roald Dahl books as censorship (CTV News)
• [CYBERSECURITY] Canada’s New York consulate made to deactivate TikTok account it had for nearly a year (National Post) 
• [CYBERSECURITY] CSIS documents show China warned ‘Canadian friends’ of foreign-interference investigations (The Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY/ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Synthetic data puts privacy at the heart of AI projects (The Globe and Mail) 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/PRIVACY] Twitter just made an important safety feature subscriber-only. Here’s what it means for you (Toronto Star) 
• [ONLINE NEWS/BILL C-18] Opinion: Sen. Peter Harder: Passage of the Online News Act is urgent and essential for good journalism (National Post) 
• [BROADCASTING POLICY/C-11] Opinion: Rioux Soucy: C-11 et le Québec, un ver dans le fruit (Le Devoir)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Opinion: Blayne Haggart: Tech world sees trust as a weakness not a glue (Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Opinion: Abjun Gupta: Legal minefield awaits for businesses looking to use artificial intelligence (The Globe and Mail) 
• [COMPETITION POLICY] Opinion: Keldon Bester: A new golden age for competition and antitrust is taking hold – and Canada can be part of it 
• [JOURNALISM] Opinion: Robin V. Spears: Pierre Poilievre’s media-bashing foreshadows his approach to governing (Toronto Star) 
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] Opinion: Tristin Hopper: FIRST READING: Pierre Poilievre goes to war with the CBC (National Post) 

International News

• [PRIVACY / FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Supreme Court Turns Away Challenge to Warrantless Surveillance Program; Privacy groups have argued the program exposed by Edward Snowden is unconstitutional (Wall Street Journal) 
• [FREEDOM OF THE PRESS] Critics say India’s tax raid on BBC an attack on press freedom (The Globe and Mail) 
• [DISINFORMATION] Russian propagandists said to buy Twitter blue-check verifications  (Washington Post)
• [DISINFORMATION] How Dominion Voting Systems filing proves Fox News was ‘deliberately lying’ (The Guardian)
• [BIOMETRIC DATA / PRIVACY] Illinois Supreme Court Allows Big Biometric Privacy Fines  (Bloomberg Law)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / ANTITRUST] Antitrust Probe Of Apple Pressed  (Wall Street Journal)  
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / ONLINE HARMS] Congress finally wakes up to Big Tech’s failure to protect kids (Chicago Tribune)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / ONLINE HARMS]  As U.S. Supreme Court weighs YouTube’s algorithms, ‘litigation minefield’ looms (Reuters) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CDA SECTION 230] Justices Seem To Favor Shield For Tech Giants (New York Times)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CDA SECTION 230] 5 key moments from the Supreme Court’s Gonzalez v. Google arguments ; The plaintiffs got off to a rough start, but the tech giants still may not sleep easy. (Washington Post)
• [CONTENT MODERATION]  Twitter’s Slashed Work Force Is Hurting Chinese Activists  (New York Times) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION / LAWSUIT] Meta appeals Kenyan court’s decision it can be sued in Kenya (Reuters) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / ONLINE HARMS] AI porn is easy to make now. For women, that’s a nightmare. (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Elon Musk reinvents Twitter for a power user: Himself (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Opinion: Sebastian Mallaby: Why the bipartisan consensus against tech giants looks foolish  (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CDA SECTION 230] Opinion: Editorial Board: How the Supreme Court could throw the internet into chaos  (Washington Post) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CDA SECTION 230] Opinion: Mark Pernice: It’s Time to Tear Up Big Tech’s Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card (New York Times)

(February 14 -February 21, 2023)

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. EST on Thursday, February 23, 2023. This list is subject to change:
  • 40317 Glassdoor, Inc. v. Echelon Environmental Inc., Robert Rainford, John Doe (Ont.) (Civil) (By Leave)
    • Courts — Dismissal of proceeding that limits debate — Freedom of expression — Matters of public interest — Whether this Court should clarify the analytical framework for determining what constitutes an “expression that relates to a matter of public interest” — Whether expressions that are properly characterized as “online reviews” should be presumptively considered “expressions that relate to a matter of public interest”.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• A discussion on privacy: priorities, challenges and opportunities
  • Date delivered: January 25, 2023 Address by: Philippe Dufresne Event: Access to Information and Privacy community meeting

Google

• Google returns to the Munich Security Conference

Microsoft

• Making IP a force-enabler for solving big problems

CRTC

• CRTC takes action to ensure Canadians have access to reliable telecommunications services
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission appoints competition and digital expert to lead telecommunications

Telecommunications Consultations

• 2023-39 – Call for comments – Development of a regulatory framework to improve network reliability and resiliency – Mandatory notification and reporting about major telecommunications service outages – Public record: 1011-NOC2023-0039

Senate of Canada

• Planned and Possible Sitting Days: The Senate does not plan to sit this week. Next sitting day: March 7

House of Commons

• Planned and Possible Sitting Days: The House of Commons does not plan to sit this week. Next sitting day: March 6

CRTC

• Anticipated Releases for the week of February 22, 2023 to February 27, 2023:
  • Mobile wireless service plans that meet the needs of Canadians with various disabilities Public record: 1011-NOC2020-0178
• Upcoming Hearing:
  • February 23, 2023 – National Capital Region To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2022-331, 2022-331-1 View hearing documents (2022-331)

Open Proceedings

•  CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings

•  CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Public Consultations:

• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
• Consultation on the future of competition policy in Canada (Nov 17, 2022 to Feb 27, 2023
• Consultation on the Spectrum Licence Renewal Process for Wireless Communication Services (WCS) Licences (January 31, 2023 to March 14, 2023)  
• Consultation on Amending CPC-2-0-20 — Radio Frequency (RF) Fields – Signs and Access Control (January 31, 2023 to March 20, 2023) 
• Consultation on the Spectrum Licence Renewal Process for Wireless Communication Services (WCS) Licences (January 31, 2023 to March 14, 2023) 

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

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