Weekly Newsletter for September 10, 2024

Weekly News (September 10, 2024)

Compiled by Brad McNeil with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(September 05 – 10,  2024)

Canadian News

• [PRIVACY] Federal Court of Appeal sides with privacy watchdog in long-running Facebook case  (Globe and Mail) 
• [ACCESS TO INFORMATION] Canada’s Information Commissioner chastises National Defence for ‘unacceptable’ response to records request (Globe and Mail) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/DIGITAL SERVICE TAX] Business lobby group warns Ottawa’s digital services tax could ‘imperil’ trade talks  (Globe and Mail) 
• [ONLINE HARMS BILL] Ottawa poised to make changes to speed through online harms bill, source says (Globe and Mail) 
• [DISINFORMATION] Meet the right-wing Canadian influencers accused of collaborating with an alleged Russian propaganda scheme (CBC) 
• [ONLINE STREAMING ACT] Postmedia Studios to tap news archives for new generation of content (Financial Post) 
• [PRIVACY] Drones helped in big Vancouver arrest. It’s time for policy scrutiny, researchers say (City News Halifax) 
• [ONLINE HARMS BILL] OPINION: Barbara Kay: Canadians can’t allow the online harms bill to snuff out free speech (National Post) 
• [ONLINE HARMS BILL] OPINION: Terry Newman: Brazil bans Twitter, Trudeau dreams of the same for Canada (National Post) 
• [JOURNALISM] OPINION: Peter Menzies: The government is taking a puzzling approach to newspaper subscriptions (Globe and Mail) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/ONLINE HARMS BILL] OPINION: Peter Carey: Jordan Peterson’s forced ‘re-education’ should worry millions of Canadians (National Post) 
• [COMPETITION] OPINION: David Olive: he courts have decided that Google is a monopolist. Is it time to break the company up?  (Toronto Star) 

International News

• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATION] Apple, Google must pay billions in back taxes and fines, E.U. court rules (Washington Post) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Brazilians Take to Streets to Protest Ban on Elon Musk’s X (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Telegram chief Durov condemns his arrest but promises to ‘improve’ (Washington Post) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION/ONLINE HARMS] How Telegram Became Criminals’ Favorite Marketplace (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Russia throttles YouTube, popular with kids, celebrities and dissidents (Washington Post) 
• [DISINFORMATION/ELECTIONS/ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Russia’s election influence efforts include ‘U.S. voices,’ officials say  (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/MILITARY] Sixty countries endorse ‘blueprint’ for AI use in military; China opts out (Reuters) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATION] Europe just gave Silicon Valley fresh ammo in its deregulation push (Washington Post) 
• [CENSORSHIP] Malaysia shelves web traffic re-routing plan after censorship concerns (Reuters) 
• [CELLPHONE BAN] Australia plans social media minimum age limit, angering youth digital advocates  (Reuters) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/COMPETITION]  Google is a monopoly and judges want to fix that. Outcomes are hard to predict.  (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] A.I. Isn’t Magic, but Can It Be ‘Agentic’?  (New York Times) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/ENCRYPTION] Telegram changes its tone on moderating private chats after CEO’s arrest (The Verge) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/DEEPFAKES]  A.I. Can Now Create Lifelike Videos. Can You Tell What’s Real?  (New York Times) 
• [COMPETITION] British competition regulator objects to Google’s ad tech practices (CNBC) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION/ONLINE HARMS] When TikTok’s Algorithm Turns Deadly  (New York Times) 
• [COPYRIGHT] An appeals court upholds a ruling that an online archive’s book sharing violated copyright law (Associated Press) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATION]  AI employees voice support for California regulation bill  (The Hill) 
• [SEARCH ENGINE COMPETITION]  OpenAI search engine has a ways to go to topple Google  (Washington Post) 
• [PRIVACY] Texas Sues for Access to Records of Women Seeking Out-of-State Abortions (New York Times) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/ELECTIONS] AI update led Amazon’s Alexa to appear to favor Harris over Trump  (Washington Post) 
• [DISINFORMATION/ELECTIONS] The Putin Propaganda Chief Who the U.S. Says Is Now After American Minds (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/COMPETITION]  Google’s Next Antitrust Battle (New York Times) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATION] US proposes requiring reporting for advanced AI, cloud providers (Reuters) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/PRIVACY] Amazon Wants Your Palm and TSA Wants Your Face. What Saying Yes Will Mean. (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/ELECTIONS] TikTok Expands Its ‘How to Vote’ Resources Ahead of the Election (New York Times) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: The Editorial Board: Social media firms must clean up their messes (Globe and Mail) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION]  OPINION: Alexander B. Howard: The End of Impunity for Tech Giants (New York Times) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Mary Anastasia O’Grady: Elon Musk Fights for Free Speech in Brazil (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/COMPETITION] OPINION: Andy Kessler: Is the Google Breakup Coming? (Wall Street Journal) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: David Ignatius: No Manhattan Project for AI, but maybe a Los Alamos  (Washington Post) 
• [FREEDOM OF THE PRESS] OPINION: A.G. Sulzberger: How the quiet war against press freedom could come to America  (Washington Post) 

(September 05 – 10,  2024)

Federal Court of Appeal 

• The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the following cases:
  • [PRIVACY] Canada (Privacy Commissioner) v. Facebook, Inc. 
  • [MEDIA] Macciacchera (Smoothstreams.tv) v. Bell Media Inc. 

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

•  Statement by the Privacy Commissioner welcoming the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision on Facebook 

Competition Bureau

• Canada’s Competition Summit 2024: Competition Bureau releases details about panels and expert participants 

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Speech:
  • Nathalie Théberge to the annual conference of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA) 
• Broadcasting and Telecoms:
  • Telecom order 2024-204
    [2024-09-09 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff application: Bell Canada, TN 7695
  • Telecom order 2024-203
    [2024-09-09 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis, by majority decision, the following tariff application: Bell Canada, TN 7694
  • Broadcasting notice of consultation 2024-202
    [2024-09-09 11:00:00]
    Call for comments – Guidelines regarding consultation and engagement practices in proceedings relating to official language minority communities and official languages – Deadline to provide an intervention: 9 October 2024 – Deadline to provide an intervention from official language minority communities or their representatives: 8 November 2024 – Deadline to provide a reply: 18 November 2024 – Public record: 1011-NOC2024-0202
  • Telecom order 2024-201
    [2024-09-05 11:00:00]
    Saskatchewan Telecommunications – Tariff Notice 382 – Final approval of a tariff application – Public record: Tariff Notice 382
  • Telecom order 2024-200
    [2024-09-05 11:00:00]
    TELUS Communications Inc. – Tariff Notice 662 – Rate ratification for a tariff application – Public record: Tariff Notice 662
  • Telecom order 2024-199
    [2024-09-05 11:00:00]
    Determination of costs award with respect to the participation of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in the proceeding initiated by Quebecor Media Inc. – File numbers: 8622-V3-202306878 and 4754-738

Google

• Google competes by offering tools that deliver for both ad buyers and sellers 

Microsoft

• An update on our approach to tackling intimate image abuse 

OpenAI

• SearchGPT Prototype

TikTok

• TikTok and the Family Online Safety Institute partner to launch Digital Safety Partnership For Families  
• Continuing to protect the integrity of TikTok through the US elections

YouTube

• New tools to protect creators and artists
• A collaborative approach to teen supervision on YouTube  

Senate of Canada

• The Senate sitting and possible sitting days:  The Senate will not be sitting the week of September 9 – 13, 2024. The next scheduled sitting day is September 17, 2024.

House of Commons

• The House of Commons sitting and possible sitting days:  The House of Commons will not be sitting the week of September 9 – 13, 2024. The next scheduled sitting day is September 16, 2024.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of 9 to 13 September 2024:
  • The CRTC is not planning on issuing any decisions, regulatory policies and reports in the week of 9 to 13 September 2024. This is subject to change without notice.
• Upcoming Hearings
  • September 14, 2023 – National Capital Region
    To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-206, View hearing documents (2023-206)
  • November 20, 2023 – Gatineau, Quebec
    To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-138, 2023-138-1 and 2023-138-2, View hearing documents (2023-138)
  •  
• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Consultations:

Spectrum Management Consultations

• Consultation on a Policy, Licensing and Technical Framework for Supplemental Mobile Coverage by Satellite  – Closing date for comments: September 13, 2024. Closing date for reply to comments: October 25, 2024

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Right to Repair Consultation – Closing date for comments: September 26, 2024. 
• Consultation on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Compute – Closing date for comments: September 6, 2024  
• Improving Indigenous Access to Spectrum: Draft Indigenous Priority Window Spectrum Policy Framework – Closing date for comments: October 1, 2024 
• Consultation on a Policy, Licensing and Technical Framework for Supplemental Mobile Coverage by Satellite – closing date for comments: September 13, 2024 (closing date for reply to comments: October 24, 2024) 

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Share your thoughts on the guidelines for consultations relating to official language minority communities and official languages- Deadline: October 9, 2024 (November 8, 2024  for members of official language minority communities) 

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

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