Newsletter: March 31, 2020

Weekly News (March 31, 2020)
Compiled by Leandra Greenfield with Sara Bannerman
McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(March 24-March 31, 2020)

Canadian News

• [MEDIA FUNDING] Trudeau government’s promised help for media leaves news organizations ‘profoundly disappointed’ (Toronto Star)
• [MEDIA FUNDING] OPINION: Bernhard: Our media is on the brink of mass failure (Toronto Star)
• [PATENT] Canada can ignore drug, device patents during outbreak under new law (Financial Post)
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] CBC says it’s working to restore the local TV news it shelved last week (National Post)
• [PRIVACY] Trudeau leaves door open to using smartphone data to track Canadians’ compliance with pandemic rules (CBC)
• [PRIVACY] City of Toronto denies use of cellphone tracking data, despite Mayor John Tory’s earlier comments (Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: McPhail: Civil rights precedents established during the COVID-19 crisis may be the ones we will have to live with when the emergency is past (Toronto Star)
• [FREEDOM OF INFORMATION] Freedom-of-information requests shunted to sidelines during virus crisis (National Post)
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] Linguistic minorities lack COVID-19 information, say advocates (Toronto Star)
• [PRIVACY] Canada agency delays decision on Alphabet subsidiary’s ‘smart city’ project (Financial Post)
• [PRIVACY] Toronto residents’ data improperly shared with councillor’s office in privacy breach (Toronto Star)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: Regg Cohn: Fighting COVID-19 demands full transparency. We must do better (Toronto Star)

International News

• [PATENT] OPINION: Kominers: Patent Protection Should Take a Backseat in a Crisis (Bloomberg)
• [SURVEILLANCE/PRIVACY] Lawmakers Leave Washington Without Renewing Expired Surveillance Powers (WSJ)
• [SURVEILLANCE/PRIVACY] Europe Tracks Residents’ Phones for Coronavirus Research (WSJ)
• [SURVEILLANCE/PRIVACY] Government Tracking How People Move Around in Coronavirus Pandemic (WSJ)
• [SURVEILLANCE/PRIVACY] The coronavirus is expanding the surveillance state. How will this play out? (Washington Post)
• [SURVEILLANCE/PRIVACY] In Europe, tech battle against coronavirus clashes with privacy culture (Financial Post)
• [COPYRIGHT] The ‘Blurred Lines’ Case Scared Songwriters. But Its Time May Be Up (NYT)
• [COPYRIGHT] ‘Emergency’ Online Library Draws Ire of Some Authors (NYT)
• [TELECOM POLICY] Spain postpones 5G spectrum auction due to coronavirus (National Post)

(March 24-March 31, 2020)

Canadian Heritage

• COVID-19: The Government of Canada is taking action to support the publishing and news sectors

Supreme Court of Canada

• Cases scheduled for hearing in March, April and May are adjourned, tentatively, to the month of June 2020

Supreme Court of the United States

• Comcast Corp v National Assn. of African American-Owned Media [vacated and remanded]

Microsoft

• Microsoft to join White House-led consortium to fight COVID-19

Facebook

• Keeping People Safe and Informed About the Coronavirus
• Combating COVID-19 Misinformation Across Our Apps

CRTC

News Releases:

• Telecom decision 2020-110
  [2020-03-27 11:00:00]
  Revision to relief implementation schedule for area codes 403, 587, 780, and 825 in Alberta – Public record: 1011-NOC2018-0234
• Telecom decision 2020-109
  [2020-03-27 11:00:00]
  CISC Business Process Working Group – Consensus report BPRE098b regarding changes to the Network Management Guidelines- Public record: 8621-C12-01/08
• Broadcasting notice of consultation 2020-108
  [2020-03-26 11:00:00]
  Call for comments on the amendment to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations
• Telecom order 2020-107
  [2020-03-26 11:00:00]
  Streamlined Order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff application: Bell Canada TN 7609
• Telecom decision 2020-106
  [2020-03-26 11:00:00]
  Cloudwifi Inc. – Application for an order completing the company’s registration as a competitive local exchange carrier or requiring Bell Canada to sign a Special Master Agreement for Local Interconnection – Public record: 8622-C282-201901942
• Telecom order 2020-105
  [2020-03-24 20:00:00]
  Streamlined Order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff application: Northwestel Inc. TN 1077
• Telecom decision 2020-104
  [2020-03-24 11:00:00]
  TELUS Communications Inc. and the Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. – Requests for disclosure of information filed in confidence as part of the Telecom Notice of Consultation 2019-57 proceeding, and related procedural requests – Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0057
• Telecom order 2020-103
  [2020-03-23 20:00:00]
  Streamlined Order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff application: Northwestel Inc. TN 1076
• Broadcasting notice of consultation 2020-75-1
  [2020-03-23 11:00:00]
  Notice of hearing – 12 May 2020 – Gatineau, Quebec – New deadline for submission of interventions/comments/answers: 14 April 2020

Senate of Canada

• No sitting days this week
  • Adjourned until April 21, 2020

Canadian House of Commons

• No sitting days this week
  • Adjourned until April 20, 2020

Open Public Consultations

• 2019-217 Co-development of a new Indigenous Broadcasting Policy (June 20, 2019 to Mar 31, 2020)
• Increasing High-Speed Broadband: Stakeholder and Partner Engagement (June 1, 2019 to June 20, 2020)
• Renewal of CBC’s licences (closed; Next step: Public hearing on May 25, 2020)

Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings