Weekly News (August 9, 2023)

Compiled by Brad McNeil and Manveetha Muddaluru with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(August 1 – August 8, 2023)

Canadian News 

• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Meta begins removing news access for Canadians on Facebook, Instagram (Globe and Mail)
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Broadcasters and publishers ask Competition Bureau to probe Meta’s news blocking (Globe and Mail)
• [CYBERSECURITY/PRIVACY] Our cyberspace invaders: Why nobody can seem to solve Canada’s massive hacking problem (Globe and Mail)
• [ACCESS TO INFORMATION] Ottawa too secretive with government contracts, business groups say (Globe and Mail)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/CENSORSHIP] Conservatives ran on similar media policy as Liberals, but now claim it’s censorship (CBC News)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Dissidents decry Hong Kong’s presence at World Police and Fire Games in Winnipeg (Globe and Mail)
• [MEDIA/INDUSTRY] BCE’s CEO calls for government assistance for struggling media sector (Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY] Cyberattack on B.C. health employer websites may have taken personal information (CBC News)
• [PRIVACY] Provincial EMR use was non-compliant with privacy laws (Penticton Herald)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] AI partnership to help Tourism Jasper’s operations (Penticton Herald)
• [DEFAMATION] N.S. Supreme Court orders YouTuber to pay $175K for defaming Egyptian civil servant (CBC News)
• [BROADCAST/TELECOM REGULATION/INDUSTRY] Rogers says former chief regulatory officer was dismissed due to performance issues (Globe and Mail)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS/INDUSTRY] Telus looks to slash 6,000 jobs worldwide in the face of a plunge in second-quarter profits (Toronto Star)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS/INDUSTRY] Bell spent $80 million on severance costs in the second quarter amid sweeping job cuts (Toronto Star)
• [INTERNET POLICY] Xplore to offer faster rural satellite internet after Jupiter 3 launch (Globe and Mail)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Shopify optimistic about ‘new shape’ of business following layoff, AI announcements (Toronto Star)
• [TRADEMARK] Hyundai settles Genesis trademark case with Toronto clothing store (Globe and Mail)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] AI might soon help people who represent themselves in court, despite ethical concerns (Globe and Mail)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] Kuno Road residents attempting to convene individual meetings with councilors over proposed cell tower (Penticton Herald) 
• [INTERNET POLICY] OPINION: Charles Finlay and David Shipley: Canada needs rules for internet-connected devices (Globe and Mail)
• [CYBERSECURITY] OPINION: Star Editorial Board: There’s a silver lining to the foreign interference furor. It’s prompted Ottawa to improve how it handles intelligence (Toronto Star)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Kate Taylor: Canada’s new culture minister will have to tackle tech bullies and copyright reform (Globe and Mail)
• [BRANDING] OPINION: Alexandra Mogyoros: The reaction to ‘X,’ Elon Musk’s rebrand of Twitter, reflects how we feel about brands (The Conversation)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Howard Winkler: ChatGPT’s ‘hallucinations’ undermine credibility and create legal trouble (Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Graham Isador: AI is coming for my job. My boss told me so (Globe and Mail)
• [SURVEILLANCE] OPINION: Joe Masoodi, Cory Searcy, and Patrick Neumann: If you work remotely, you’re likely being spied on: a disturbing new trend (Globe and Mail)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Catherin Bradbury: Is that you, dear? Why seniors may be worse at detecting voice-generated AI — and the scams that use it (Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Set L. Shuter: I went from poverty to stability in the film and TV industry — then the strike came (Toronto Star)

International News

• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Islamic group suggests that member nations downgrade ties with countries that allow Quran burnings (AP News)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] China’s Tech Distress Grows as U.S. Chip Sanctions Bite (Wall Street Journal)
• [SURVEILLANCE] After Feeding Explosion of Facial Recognition, China Moves to Rein It In (Wall Street Journal)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] African tech startups take aim at AI ‘colonialism’ (Reuters)  
• [PRIVACY] Meta Platforms seeks to stop privacy breach fine in Norway (Reuters)
• [PRIVACY] Iraq blocks Telegram app, cites personal data violations (Reuters)
• [HARMFUL CONTENT] Meta, Google and YouTube ‘profiting’ off posts for bogus women’s health cures in Kenya (The Guardian) 
• [DEFAMATION] India’s top court temporarily halts conviction of opposition leader for mocking Modi’s surname (Toronto Star)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Rights group denounces Tanzanian government for detaining critics and urges freedom of expression (AP News)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Hong Kong government to appeal against court’s refusal to ban popular protest song (AP News)
• [PRIVACY/ADVERTISING] Meta Offers to Seek Consent for Highly Personalized Ads in Europe (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PRIVACY] Hacking group plans system to encrypt social media and other apps (Washington Post)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY] China Wants Children to Spend Less Time on Their Smartphones (New York Times)
• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH] Trump’s Lawyers Argue Protective Order Would Violate His Free-Speech Rights (Wall Street Journal)
• [DEFAMATION] Judge tosses Trump’s defamation suit against writer who won sexual abuse lawsuit against him (AP News)
• [PRIVACY] Utah law requiring age verification for porn sites remains in effect after judge tosses lawsuit (AP News)
• [BRANDING/HATE SPEECH] Adidas gives Yeezy sneaker sales a silver lining via donations to anti-hate groups, some. US Jews say it’s making best of bad situation (National Post)
• [HATE SPEECH/CONTENT MODERATION] TechScape: Why Elon Musk is taking trying to mute anti-hate-speech group (The Guardian) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Thomson Reuters reports higher second-quarter revenue as it pushes forward generative AI tools (Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY] Crypto’s Next Craze? Orbs That Scan Your Eyeballs. (New York Times) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Google and Universal Music negotiate deal over AI ‘deepfakes’ (Financial Times)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Disney creates task force to explore AI and cut costs – sources (Reuters)
• [PRIVACY] Google fails to end $5 billion consumer privacy lawsuit (Reuters)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/PRIVACY] Zoom’s privacy tweaks stoke fears that its calls will be used to train AI (Washington Post)
• [COPYRIGHT] Agence France-Presse pursues copyright case against X, formerly known as Twitter (CTV News)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Dungeons & Dragons tells illustrators to stop using AI to generate artwork for fantasy franchise (Globe and Mail)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Chatbots sometimes make things up. Is AI’s hallucination problem fixable? (AP News)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Turns out there’s another problem with AI – its environmental toll (The Guardian) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Big Tech Rallies and Channels Its New Momentum Into A.I. (New York Times)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Google says AI systems should be able to mine publishers’ work unless companies opt out (The Guardian) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Movie extras worry they’ll be replaced by AI. Hollywood is already doing body scans (NPR News)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] ‘Training My Replacement’: Inside a Call Center Worker’s Battle With A.I. (New York Times)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] As investors barrel into AI start-ups, bubble fears grow (Washington Post)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] A.I.’s Inroads in Publishing Touch Off Fear, and Creativity (New York Times)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] AI Set to Upend Staff Search at Ad Firms (Wall Street Journal)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] AI-Ready Data Centers Are Poised for Fast Growth (Wall Street Journal)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/HATE SPEECH] OPINION: Michael Levitt: ‘X’ marks the spot of Jew hatred (Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/ELECTIONS] OPINION: Odanga Madung: AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa (The Guardian) 

(August 1 – August 8, 2023) 

Supreme Court of Canada:

• The Supreme Court of Canada has today deposited with the Registrar judgments in the following leave applications.
  • [DEFAMATION] (Dismissed) Rebel News Network Ltd. v. Al Jazeera Media Network (Ont.) (Civil) (By Leave) (40108) – The application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Number C69203, 2022 ONCA 79,  dated January 28, 2022, is dismissed with costs in accordance with the tariff of fees and disbursements set out in Schedule B of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • [DEFAMATION]  (Dismissed) Ezra Levant and Rebel News Network Ltd. v. Brendan DeMelle (Ont.) (Civil) (By Leave) (40109) – The application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Number C69202, 2022 ONCA 79, dated January 28, 2022, is dismissed with costs in accordance with the tariff of fees and disbursements set out in Schedule B of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 

• Statement by the CRTC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Vicky Eatrides, on cellphone services competition milestone 

Google 

• Court dismisses state AG claims about Google Search 

Microsoft 

• The next frontier in elections: Microsoft supports the Council of State Governments’ Election Technology Initiative 

Twitter 

• Building the future of X 

Facebook

• Groundbreaking Studies Could Help Answer the Thorniest Questions About Social Media and Democracy 

Supreme Court of Canada:

• Judgments to be Rendered in Leave Applications: 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 10, 2023. This list is subject to change.
  • [FREEDOM OF RELIGION/FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Trinity Bible Chapel, et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario, et al. (Ont.) (Civil) (By Leave) (40711)  
  • [FREEDOM OF RELIGION/FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Brent Smith, et al. v. Attorney General of British Columbia, et al. (B.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) (40622)  

Senate of Canada

• Planned and Possible Sitting Days: The Senate will not sit during the week August 7 to 11, 2023. The Senate is adjourned until September 19, 2023.

House of Commons

• Planned and Possible Sitting Days: the House of Commons will not sit during the week of August 7 to 11, 2023. The House is adjourned until Monday, September 18, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). 

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of 7 to 11 August 2023:
  • Broadcasting Decisions:
    • Applications by various licensees to renew the broadcasting licenses for various radio and TV stations
• Upcoming Hearing:
  • September 8, 2022 – Gatineau Quebec
    • To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2022-183, View hearing documents (2022-183)
• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Consultation on amendments to the Patent Rules – Planned: Aug 7, 2023 to Sept 8, 2023 
• Consultation on Conditions of Licence relating to the Provision of Service within the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Subway System (until August 8, 2023)

Canadian Heritage

• Engagement sessions with Canadian book publishers and book industry stakeholders – Planned: May 30, 2023 to Sept 29, 2023 

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