Weekly Newsletter for October 17, 2023

Weekly News (October 17, 2023)

Compiled by Ian Steinberg with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(October 11 – 17, 2023)

Canadian News 

• [BROADCAST REGULATION] Bell Media seeks appeal to CRTC’s renewal of broadcast licences (Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/COPYRIGHT] Federal government considering copyright law changes for AI-generated work (National Post)
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Ottawa should accommodate Google’s C-18 concerns, urges group representing Canada’s major publishers (Globe and Mail)
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT/HATE SPEECH] Ottawa announces special envoy on antisemitism and pledges new law on online hate (Globe and Mail)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/IMMIGRATION] How Canada is using AI to catch immigration fraud — and why some say it’s a problem (Toronto Star)
• [TECH PROCUREMENT/ARRRIVECAN] ArriveCan audit expands as Auditor-General says border agency never told her about RCMP probe (Globe and Mail)
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Hamilton halts Meta advertising in support of federal Online News Act (Hamilton Spectator)
• [JOURNALISM] CBC tells journalists to not call Hamas ‘terrorists’ in leaked memo(National Post)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] He’s the first-ever chief AI officer at a Canadian university: How ChatGPT is changing post-secondary (Toronto Star)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] York U student unions urged to retract statement about Hamas attack on Israel (Toronto Star) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/PRIVACY] Opinion: Wendy H. Wong: Who owns data about you? (Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY/JOURNALISM] Opinion: Donovan Vincent: Trans rights to unpublish their pre-transition life (Toronto Star)

International News

• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CONTENT MODERATION] US Supreme Court temporarily blocks order curbing Biden social media contacts (Reuters)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/CONTENT MODERATION] EU asks Musk’s X for information on hate speech and ‘illegal content’ related to Israel-Hamas war (AP)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/CONTENT MODERATION] Australia Fines X for Not Providing Information on Child Abuse Content (New York Times)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/CONTENT MODERATION] U.S. lawmaker seeks answers from Meta, X, Google, TikTok over Israel-Hamas false content (Reuters)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CONTENT MODERATION] Social Media Users Accuse Facebook and Instagram of Suppressing Pro-Palestinian Posts (New York Times)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Biden to cut China off from more Nvidia chips, expand curbs to dozens of countries (Reuters)
• [CENSORSHIP] Trump has narrow gag order imposed on him by federal judge overseeing 2020 election subversion case (AP)
• [PRIVACY] Colorado court upholds Google keyword search warrant which led to arrests in fatal arson (AP)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CONTENT MODERATION] Hamas vows to broadcast hostage executions. Tech firms can’t stop them (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/CONTENT MODERATION] X Fumbles First Big Musk-Era Test of Content Policies After Israel Attack (Wall Street Journal)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] As Red States Curb Social Media, Did Montana’s TikTok Ban Go Too Far? (New York Times)
• [MISINFORMATION] A flood of misinformation shapes views of Israel-Gaza conflict(Washington Post)
• [MISINFORMATION] Fact or Fiction? In This War, It Is Hard to Tell. (New York Times)
• [MEDIA INDUSTRY/LABOUR] Hollywood studios break off strike talks with actors, who slam ‘bullying tactics’ (AP)
• [ANTITRUST] What Google’s antitrust trial means for your search habits (AP)
• [PRIVACY] New Laws on Kids and Social Media Are Stymied by Industry Lawsuits (New York Times)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/DEEPFAKE] A fake Biden video shows the limits of Meta’s deepfake policies (Washington Post)
• [CONTENT MODERATION] Mediation fails between Meta and Kenyan moderators, rights group says (Reuters) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Chinese search engine company Baidu unveils Ernie 4.0 AI model, claims that it rivals GPT-4 (AP)

(October 11 – 17, 2023)

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 

• Broadcasting and Telecoms:
  • Telecom order 2023-342
    [2023-10-16 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves, by majority decision, the following tariff application: Northwestel Inc., TN 1190 
  • Broadcasting decision 2023-341
    [2023-10-16 11:00:00]
    Saskatchewan Telecommunications – Across Canada – Application to renew the broadcasting licence for the on-demand service SaskTel Pay-Per-View 
  • Telecom notice of consultation 2022-147-3
    [2023-10-13 11:00:00]
    Call for comments – Telecommunications in the Far North, Phase II – Changes to procedure – Public records: 8622-S93-202008482, 1011-NOC2020-0367 and 1011-NOC2022-0147 
  • Telecom order 2023-340
    [2023-10-13 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff applications: Télébec, Société en commandite TN 548, TN 549, TN 550, TN 551 and TN 552 
  • Telecom decision 2023-339
    [2023-10-13 11:00:00]
    CISC Emergency Services Working Group – Consensus report – Updates to the wireless location accuracy benchmarks – Public record: 8669-C12-01/01 
  • Broadcasting decision 2023-338
    [2023-10-13 11:00:00]
    Moviola: Short Film Channel Inc. – Across Canada – Application to renew the broadcasting licence for the national, English-language discretionary service Rewind – Application to amend the condition of service relating to Canadian programming expenditures 
  • Broadcasting decision 2023-337
    [2023-10-11 11:00:00]
    Wild TV Inc. – Across Canada – Application to renew the broadcasting licence for the national, English-language discretionary service Wild TV, as well as the addition of a condition of service requiring the licensee to provide four-hours per week of described video

CBC

• How CBC News uses the words ‘terrorist,’ ‘terrorism’

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Government of Canada launches consultation on the implications of generative artificial intelligence for copyright

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• Privacy Commissioner seeks input on draft biometrics guidance documents
• Keynote Remarks at the Big Data & Analytics Montréal Summit 2023

Amazon

•  5 ways AWS data centers benefit local communities
• The latest updates from Project Kuiper’s satellite test mission
• Amazon makes it easier for brands to join Amazon Transparency through new interoperability features

Disney

• Disney and TikTok Announce First-of-Its-Kind Content Hub Celebrating 100 Years of The Walt Disney Company 

Google

• Google Canada Submission: Regulations Respecting the Application of the Online News Act, the Duty to Notify and the Request for Exemptions
• A policy framework to protect children and teens online

Meta

• Meta’s Ongoing Efforts Regarding the Israel-Hamas War

Microsoft

• Microsoft affirms commitment to labor principles, CWA labor neutrality agreement
• Leveraging AI capabilities to build community trust with law enforcement agencies

TikTok

• TikTok Facts: How we secure personal information and store data
• Our continued actions to protect the TikTok community during the Israel-Hamas war

YouTube

•  YouTube’s principled approach for children and teenagers

Supreme Court of Canada  

• The Supreme Court of Canada will hear the following appeals in October. Most hearings start at 9:30 a.m. ET. As the agenda is subject to change, please consult the hearing schedule for dates and times.
  • [PRIVACY] York Region District School Board v. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (Ont.) (Civil) (By Leave) (40360) 2023-10-18
  • [PUBLICATION BANS] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation v. His Majesty the King, et al. (Man.) (Civil) (By Leave) (38992) 2023-10-19

Senate of Canada

• The Senate sitting and possible sitting days: October 17 to 20 , 2023

House of Commons

• The House of Commons sitting and possible sitting days:  October 16 to 20, 2023
  • (INDU) Bill C-27 Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022 – Oct 17, 2023, 3:30pm – 5:30pm
  • (INDU) Bill C-27 Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022 – Oct 19, 2023, 3:30pm – 5:30pm

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of 16 to 20, October 2023: 
  • Broadcasting Decisions:
    • Applications by various licensees to renew the broadcasting licences for television stations
• Upcoming Hearings
  • November 20, 2023 – Gatineau, Quebec

To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-138,  2023-138-1

o    We are examining what contributions traditional broadcasters and online services need to make to support Canadian and Indigenous content.

Public hearing: November 20 to December 8, 2023.

Read the agenda

View hearing documents (2023-138)

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Consultations:

CRTC

·         Telecom

o    Review of video relay service – Final submissions 19 Oct 2023

o    Review of the wholesale high-speed access service framework – intervention deadline for parties only – 16 October 2023

o    Others

o    Telecom notice of consultation 2022-147-3: Call for comments – Telecommunications in the Far North, Phase II – Changes to procedure – Public records: 8622-S93-202008482, 1011-NOC2020-0367 and 1011-NOC2022-0147 

·         Upcoming hearings

o    The Path Forward  – November 20, 2023

o    Others

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

·         Consultation on Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence –December 4, 2023

Statistics Canada:

·         Census Data on Demand (CDOD) program consultative engagement – March 31, 2024

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat:

·         Creating Canada’s 6th National Action Plan on Open Government – Planned: Sept 1, 2023 to Oct 31, 2023

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

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