Newsletter: May 18, 2021

Weekly News (May 18th, 2021)

Compiled by Fizza Kulvi and Emmanuel Appiah with Sara Bannerman, Fenwick McKelvey, Guillaume Dandurand, Marek Blottière, and Kevin Morin

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

The Communications Governance Discussion Group meets every few weeks by Zoom.  Email organizer Derek Hrynyshyn <derekh@yorku.ca> for details.

(May 11 – May 17, 2021)

Canadian News

• [BROADCAST REGULATION/FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Heritage Minister defends Bill C-10, as committee awaits Justice Minister to address concerns (Globe and Mail) (McMaster; York)
• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH/BROADCAST REGULATION] Charter review finds no freedom of speech infringement with amended broadcasting bill (Globe and Mail) (McMaster; York)
• [BROADCAST REGULATION/FREEDOM OF SPEECH] Guilbeault ignored own officials on C-10: documents (National Post) (McMaster; York)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY/CULTURAL FUNDING] Le Bloc propose son aide pour accélérer l’adoption de C-10 (Le Devoir)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY/CULTURAL FUNDING] Projet de loi C-10: le combat s’annonce long (Le Devoir)
• [MEDIA GOVERNANCE/ FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Timothy Denton: Contre le contrôle des propos de chacun par la Loi sur la radiodiffusion (Le Devoir)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] OPINION: Alexandre Sirois: Du calme, les vidéos de chats sont là pour de bon ! (LaPresse)
• [BROADCAST REGULATION/FREEDOM OF SPEECH] Navneet Alang: Let’s make big tech pay for CanCon’s brighter future (Toronto Star) (McMaster; York)
• [BROADCAST REGULATION] OPINION: Peter Menzies: Not all of Canada’s creative communities will benefit from Bill C-10 (Toronto Star) (McMaster; York)
• [BROADCAST REGULATION] OPINION: Campbell Clark: Bill C-10 and the two solitudes of internet broadcasting (Globe and Mail)
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING/COPYRIGHT] CBC loses lawsuit against Tories (National Post) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] Watchdog closes file against political parties; Privacy commissioner
  (National Post) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY/FACIAL RECOGNITION] Privacy Commissioner calls for bill to include tougher regulation of facial-recognition technology (Globe and Mail) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] Snowden sonne l’alarme sur la collecte de données: Le célèbre lanceur d’alerte était en visioconférence jeudi à l’Université Concordia (Journal de Montréal)
• [CYBERSECURITY] Fuite de données à la Place 0-5: Québec ordonne la fermeture de l’accès à des services numériques (La Presse)
• [PRIVACY/MEDIA GOVERNANCE] Services de garde; Legault envisage de rapatrier les données personnelles (La Presse)
• [PRIVACY/PLATFORM REGULATION] Pornhub visé par une enquête fédérale (Le Devoir)
• [PATENT/COVID VACCINE] OPINION: Shree Paradkar: Canada’s refusal to waive intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines should be a crime against humanity (Toronto Star) (McMaster; York)
• [ACCESS TO INFORMATION/COVID DATA] OPINION: Gary Mason: The public has the right to access all Covid-19 data (Globe and Mail)
• [CULTURAL FUNDING] Arts endowments are worth millions. So why can’t organizations draw on them to survive the pandemic? (Globe and Mail) (McMaster; York)
• [PATENT] Canadian company wins COVID-19 vaccine deal with Bolivia – and WTO support(Globe and Mail)

International News

• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION/PLATFORM REGULATION] UK unveils law to fine social media firms which fail to remove online abuse (Reuters) (McMaster; York)
• [SURVEILLANCE] U.S. Senate votes to open debate on China tech bill (Reuters) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] Facebook faces prospect of ‘devastating’ data transfer ban after Irish ruling(Reuters) (McMaster; York)
• [LIABILITY PROTECTION] Biden revokes Trump order that sought to limit social media firms’ protections (Reuters) (McMaster; York)
• [MEDIA OWNERSHIP] AT&T Seeks Tie-Up for Media Assets — Deal with Discovery would consolidate a business buffeted by cord-cutting (Wall Street Journal)
• [DEFAMATION] Venezuelan court seizes newspaper office in defamation case (Reuters) (McMaster; York)
• [GIG WORKERS] Spain adopts landmark law to protect ‘gig’ delivery workers (AP News) (McMaster; York)
• [PATENT] Beyond vaccines, UNESCO wants more global science shared (Associated Press via ABC News) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] Opinion: Perfecting Americans’ data privacy (Washington Post) (McMaster; York)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] As Congress Dithers, States Step In to Set Rules for the Internet(New York Times) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] German watchdog bans Facebook from processing WhatsApp data (Toronto Star) (McMaster; York)
• [INTERNET REGULATION] Rural Areas Are Looking for Workers. They Need Broadband to Get Them. (New York Times) (McMaster; York)
• (McMaster; York)
• [CENSORSHIP] Censorship, Surveillance and Profits: A Hard Bargain for Apple in China (New York Times) (McMaster; York)
• [INTERNET REGULATION] U.S. Emergency Broadband Benefit Will Help Families Pay for High-Speed Internet (Wall Street Journal) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] South African regulator seeking legal advice on WhatsApp’s new privacy policy(Reuters) (McMaster; York)
• [CYBERSECURITY/RANSOMWARE] Russian-speaking cyber gang threatens release of Washington police data (The Guardian)
• [CYBERSECURITY] US urged to expand ‘tool kit’ against cybercrime amid pipeline hack fallout(The Guardian)
• [PUBLIC COMMENTS/FCC] OPINION: Arner and Furchtgott-Roth: End Comment Fraud at the Cost of a Stamp (Wall Street Journal) (McMaster; York)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/FREEDOM OF SPEECH] Social app Parler is cracking down on hate speech — but only on iPhones  (The Washington Post) (McMaster; York)
• [JOURNALISM] OPINION: Frank Ching: Hong Kong becomes a fading attraction (Globe and Mail)
• [AI/GENDERED VIOLENCE] A shadowy AI service has transformed thousands of women’s photos into fake nudes: ‘Make fantasy a reality’ (The Washington Post) (McMaster; York)
• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH/RACIAL SLURS] The case for quoting the n-word in university classrooms (Washington Post) (McMaster; York)
• [PATENT/COVID VACCINE] Pfizer warns Australia a Covid vaccine patent waiver could harm supply and safety (The Guardian) (McMaster; York)
• [PRIVACY] What happens when WhatsApp’s new terms start on 15 May? (Guardian)

(May 11 – May 17, 2021)

Global Affairs

• Minister Ng signs memorandum of understanding with Chile on intellectual property and innovation issues 

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

• OPC responds to privacy complaint against three federal political parties
• Letter regarding complaint against federal political parties
• Backgrounder: Jurisdictional comparison: Privacy protections
• Backgrounder: Complaint timelines under various C-11 scenarios
• Commissioner: Reform bill “a step back overall” for privacy

CRTC

News Releases:

• Broadcasting Decision CRTC  2021-169
  [2021-05-11 11:00:00]
  DENIED – Byrnes Communications Inc. – Fort Erie, Ontario – Application to amend the broadcasting licence for the English-language commercial radio station CFLZ-FM Fort Erie, by deleting the condition of licence related to news
• Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2021-168
  [2021-05-11 11:00:00]
  APPROVED – Mohawk Multi Media – Kanesatake/Oka, Quebec – Application for authority to acquire the assets of the low-power English- and Mohawk-language Indigenous radio station CKHQ-FM and to obtain a new broadcasting licence to continue the operation of the station.

Senate of Canada

• No planned sitting days this week.

Canadian House of Commons

• No planned sitting days this week.
• Upcoming Meetings:
  [CHPC] (May 18) Bill C-10, An Act to Amend the Broadcasting Act  
  [CHPC] (May 19) Bill C-10, An Act to Amend the Broadcasting Act

Supreme Court of Canada

• [Intellectual Property/Copyright] (hearing: May 21) York University, et al. v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (“Access Copyright”), et al. (Federal Court) (Civil) (By Leave) (39222)
• The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that judgment in the following leave applications will be delivered at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 20, 2021. This list is subject to change.
• [Intellectual Property] (May 20) Nova Chemicals Corporation v. Dow Chemical Company, et al. (F.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) (39439)
• The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that judgment in the following appeal will be delivered at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Friday, May 21, 2021. This list is subject to change.
• [Freedom of Speech] (May 21) Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada St. Mary Cathedral, et al. v. Teshome Aga, et al. (Ont.) (39094)

CRTC

Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Anticipated releases for the week of May 17 to 21 2021

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:

Decision relating to the following application considered under the Commission’s Part 1 process:

• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
  Ottawa and Belleville, Ontario
  CBO-FM Ottawa and its transmitter CBO-FM-1 Belleville – Technical changes
  Public record: 2021-0158-3

Telecom Decisions:

• Xplornet Communications Inc. – Application to review and vary Telecom Regulatory Policy 2019-269 regarding disconnection
  Public record: 8662-X9-201911339
• William Robert John McQuaid, operating as MySignal.ca Solutions Inc. – Failure to become a participant in the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services Inc.
  Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0363

 Public Hearings

• To consider the broadcasting application listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2021-114 et 2021-114-1 – View hearing documents (2021-114) (May 27, 2021)

Open Public Consultations:

• Canadian Heritage: Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries (May 31, 2021)
• Access to Information Review Public Engagement: Reviewing access to information – https://atiareview.ca (March 31, 2021-July 31, 2021)
• Responsible use of AI: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/digital-government-innovations/responsible-use-ai.html
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission: 2019-217 Co-development of a new Indigenous Broadcasting Policy