Newsletter: December 10, 2019

Weekly News (December 10, 2019)

Compiled by Emmanuel Appiah with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(December 3-9, 2019)

Canadian News

• [TELECOM REGULATION] CRTC calls on Canadian telecoms to do more to fight scammers (CBC)
• [PRIVACY] Your condo board can’t let police put hidden cameras in common areas without a warrant, Ontario’s top court rules (Toronto Star)
• [BIG DATA/PRIVACY REGULATION] Time for Ottawa to get serious about regulation big tech, says new shadow minister(Financial Post)
• [PRIVACY] Why did OPP dump cellphone spy tech? (Toronto Star)
• [TELECOM REGULATION] Huawei and Canada: The story so far of the Chinese company, Meng Wanzhou’s case and a global political feud (Globe and Mail)
• [CULTURAL FUNDING] Canadian arts groups highlight disparities in funding (The Globe and Mail)

International News

• [PERSONAL INFORMATION] Cambridge Analytica deceived Facebook users, says FTC (The Guardian)
• [PRIVACY] DHS proposal to require U.S. citizens undergo airport facial scans draws fire (WSJ)
• [PATENT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY] Hong Kong poised to award city’s own patents, catch up with rest of the world in honouring innovation and creativity (South China Morning Post)
• [TELECOM REGULATION] Sprint exec messages suggest T-Mobile deal may boost prices (Associated Press)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] UN expert urges Ethiopia to stop internet shutdowns, revise hate speech law (New York Times)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Security organization warns Albania not to block freedom of expression online (The Associated Press via Toronto Star)

(December 3-9, 2019)

Federal Court of Canada

• [PATENT] Thermolec Ltée v. Stelpro Design Inc. – 2019 FCA 301 – 2019-12-04
• [COPYRIGHT] Sandhu Singh Hamdard Trust v. Navsun Holdings Ltd. – 2019 FCA 295 – 2019-12-02

Canadian Radio-television and Television Commission

News Releases:

• Joint Statement by Ian Scott, Chairperson and CEO of the CRTC, and Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC, on the First Official Cross-border Call Using STIR/SHAKEN Caller ID Authentication Framework
• CRTC steps up efforts to combat spoofed calls
• Canadians invited to participate in a survey on the mobile wireless services market
• Telecom decision 2019-398
  [2019-12-05 11:00:00]
  Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee – Application to review and vary Telecom Order 2018-437 – Public record: 8662-D78-201902312
• Telecom information bulletin 2019-396
  [2019-12-04 11:00:00]
  The Canadian revenue-based contribution regime, effective 1 January 2020
• Broadcasting regulatory policy 2019-392
  [2019-12-03 11:00:00]
  Amendment proposed by Bell Media Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Media Inc. to their condition of licence that requires prime time programming to be broadcast with described video
• Telecom order 2019-391
  [2019-12-02 11:00:00]
  Streamlined order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff application: Bell Aliant, a division of Bell Canada TN 539
• Telecom decision 2019-390
  [2019-12-02 11:00:00]
  Rogers Communications Canada Inc. – Application regarding routing of the company’s toll-free traffic destined for Bell Canada’s toll-free telephone number customers – Public record: 8622-R28-201902940

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• Tabling of the Privacy Commissioner’s annual report

Copyright Board of Canada

• Access Copyright – Post-Secondary Educational Institution Tariffs (2011-2014 and 2015-2017)
  • Reasons (December 6, 2019), Tariffs (December 7, 2019), Fact Sheet (December 6, 2019)

Canadian Intellectual Property Office

• [INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY] CIPO releases its IP Canada Report 2019

Competition Bureau Canada

• Stephanie Lamoureux appointed Senior Deputy Commissioner, Cartels and Deceptive Marketing Practices

YouTube

• A different kind of #YouTubeRewind: What you liked in 2019

 Amazon

• “Alexa, what am I holding?”

Facebook

• Driving Innovation in Data Portability With a New Photo Transfer Tool

 Twitter

•  What we have been doing to protect your privacy and data

Microsoft

• Solving the challenge of securing AI and machine learning systems
• World Childhood Foundation marks 20 years with focus on AI and child safety online

Senate of Canada

• Senate sitting days December 5^th; 1^stsession of the 43^rdParliament opened on December 5, 2019

Canadian House of Commons

• House of Commons sitting days December 5^th-13^th; 1^stsession of the 43^rd Parliament opened on December 5, 2019.

Supreme Court of Canada

Judgements to be rendered in leave applications

• [SURVEILLANCE] Thomas Duong v. Regina(British Columbia) (Criminal) (By Leave)

CRTC

Anticipated releases for the week of 9 to 13 December 2019. The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions and/or regulatory policies in the coming week. This list may be incomplete and is subject to change without notice.

Broadcasting Decisions:

Decisions relating to the following applications that were set out in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2019-127:

• Radio Diffusion Sorel-Tracy Inc.
  CJSO-FM Sorel-Tracy – Licence renewal
  Public record for this application: 2018-0810-7
• Radio du Golfe inc.
  CJMC-FM Sainte-Anne-des-Monts and its transmitters – Licence renewal
  Public record for this application: 2018-0830-5

Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Decisions: 

• Establishment of the Canadian Secure Token Governance Authority
  Public record: 8665-C12-201507576
• CISC Network Working Group – Status of implementation by telecommunications service providers of authentication/verification measures for caller identification
  Public record: 8621-C12-01/08 and 8665-C12-201507576

Open Proceedings:

Broadcasting:

• St. Andrews Community Channel Inc.- Allegation of undue preference/disadvantage – St. Andrews Community Channel Inc.v Rogers Communications Canada Inc.- Across Canada- CHCO-TV
  2019-1114-9: December 9, 2019

Telecommunications:

• Call for comments Authentication/verification measures for caller identification for IP-based voice calls – Implementation of STIR/SHAKEN framework 2019-404: December 9, 2019