Newsletter: May 12, 2020

Weekly News (May 12, 2020)
Compiled by Fizza Kulvi with Sara Bannerman McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory 

(May 5 – May 11, 2020)

Canadian News

• [PRIVACY] Consumer group asks CRTC to protect privacy and regulate contact-tracing apps (The Star)
• [CULTURAL FUNDING] Heritage minister outlines distribution of $500M of arts and culture COVID-19 support (CBC)
• [SMART CITIES] Sidewalk Labs pulls out of Toronto’s Quayside project, blaming COVID-19 (Toronto Star)
• [SMART CITIES] OPINION: Haggart & Tusikov: Sidewalk Labs’ smart-city plans for Toronto are dead. What’s next? (The Conversation)
• [SMART CITIES] OPINION: Wu: COVID-19 has exposed how important smart cities are to our future, and they can’t disappear with Sidewalk Labs (The Star)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Geist: After the tech-lash; new digital policy priorities in the post-pandemic world (Globe and Mail)
• [NEWS MEDIA] Will Canada’s media survive the pandemic? Fifty papers have closed in just the last six weeks (The star)
• [PRIVACY] Long-term-care home where 66 have died on COVID-19 now investigating possible privacy breach (The Star)
• [PRIVACY] Long-term-care home where 66 have died on COVID-19 now investigating possible privacy breach (The Star)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: Wong: Technology threatens human rights in the coronavirus fight (The Conversation)

International News

• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Will Facebook’s new oversight board be a radical shift or a reputational shield? (Guardian)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] California Sues Uber and Lyft For ‘Cheating’ Drivers ad Taxpayers (NPR)
• [MEDIA OWNERSHIP] Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. agreed to a record $48 million civil penalty to settle federal probes relating to its failed bid to take over Tribune Media Co. and other alleged missteps (Wall Street Journal)
• [SPECTRUM REGULATION] OPINION: Esper: The FCC’s Decision Puts GPS at Risk (Wall Street Journal)
• [CYBERSECURITY] The Cybersecurity 202: Internet-based voting is the new from in the election security wars (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Amazon is cracking down on protesters and organizing, workers say (The Guardian)
• [PRIVACY] Curbing Coronavirus With a Contact-Tracing App? It’s Not So Simple (WSJ)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/CENSORSHIP] China’s WeChat Monitors Foreign Users to Refine Censorship at Home (Wall Street Journal)

(May 5 – May 11, 2020)

Canadian Heritage

• Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations: next steps to support the industry impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic

Competition Bureau

• Competition Bureau cracking down on deceptive marketing claims about COVID-19 prevention or treatment

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• Privacy guardians issue joint statement on COVID-19 contact tracing applications

Twitter

• Updating our Approach to Misleading Information

Facebook

• Welcoming the Oversight Board

CRTC

News Releases:

• Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2020-145
  [2020-05-05 11:00AM]
  APPROVED – Various licensees – Various locations in Quebec and New Brunswick – Applications to renew the broadcasting licences for various French-language commercial radio stations set out in the decision

Senate of Canada

• Adjourned until June 2, 2020

Canadian House of Commons

• Sitting days this week: May 11 – 15, 2020

• Upcoming committee meetings:
  o    [INDU] (May 11, 2020) Industry, Science and Technology: Canadian Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
  o    [INDU] (May 14, 2020) Industry, Science and Technology: Canadian Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

CRTC

The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions, regulatory policies and reports in the coming week. This list may be incomplete and is subject to change without notice.

Anticipated releases for the week of May 11 – May 15

• Broadcasting Decision:  
  Applications by various licensees to renew the broadcasting licences for various radio stations

Upcoming Public Hearings:

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Open Public Consultations:

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

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