Weekly News (February 8, 2022)

Compiled by Kyle Wyndham-West, Bradley McNeil, Fizza Kulvi, Meaghan Wester, and Nick Gertler 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.

(February 1- February 7, 2022)

Canadian News 

• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Government heads back to drawing board with online harm bill after negative reaction in consultations (CBC)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Rebooted broadcast bill includes exemption for user-generated content (The National Post)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Arts sector welcomes broadcasting bill as critics remain concerned about government interference online (The Globe and Mail)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY] Nouvelle loi sur la radiodiffusion, sans les youtubeurs (Le Devoir) 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] MPs vote to call GoFundMe to testify at Commons committee on convoy protest (CBC)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: DIAS Jerry Dias: a moment of endless possibilities for gig workers (The Star)
• [JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES] «La parfaite victime» déroge aux normes journalistiques de Radio-Canada (Le Devoir)
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] Pas de «congédiement déguisé» pour Pascale Nadeau, tranche le tribunal d’arbitrage (Le Devoir)
• [POLICY] [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] OPINION: VON FINCKENSTEIN AND PETER MENZIES A lighter touch is needed for the government’s online harms bill (The Globe)
• [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: ALANG Time to draw the line on dangerous misinformation (The Star)
• [PRIVACY] OPINION: COSH Letting down Clare (The National Post)
• [CULTURAL SECTOR] OPINION: LOWRIE Long road to recovery for Quebec’s cultural sector after COVID-19 shutdowns (CBC)

International News

• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/LABOUR] App store clampdown sails through key vote, marking lawmakers’ latest antitrust win (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY] IRS halts plan to require facial recognition for logging in to user accounts (CNN)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Congress weighs giving regulators more tools to fight price gouging, scams (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Censoring row as Spotify pulls more than 100 Joe Rogan episodes (The Telegraph)
• [ANTITRUST] Senators are pushing to bring tech giants to the negotiating table with publishers (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CYBERSECURITY] Biden administration weighing new rules to limit TikTok, foreign apps  (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Apple avoided the Washington techlash for years. Now it’s at the center of the bull’s eye (Washington Post)
• [ANTITRUST] State officials urge SEC to probe if Apple misled investors on nondisclosure rules (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY] A federal privacy watchdog is poised to come back from the dead (The Washington Post)
• [CENSORSHIP] ‘Fight Club’ No Longer Ends With a Whimper in China Following Explosion Over Censorship; Chinese video platform quietly restores 1999 cult film’s conclusion, but 2005’s ‘Lord of War’ still comes with new, harmonious ending (Wall Street Journal)
• [PRIVACY / ONLINE HARMS]  OPINION: BELLA Pam and Tommy, sex tape pioneers, changed the Internet forever. They didn’t ask for it (The Washington Post)
• [FREEDOM OF SPEECH] OPINION: MCGRATH Book aims to shine light on Romanian role in the Holocaust (Miami Herald)
• [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: GIROUX Banning books and ideas meant to ban democracy itself (The Spec)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: KLEPPER AND ORTUTAYA year after Trump purge, ‘alt-tech’ offers far-right refuge (The Times-Tribune)

(February 1- February 7, 2022)

Supreme Court of Canada

• Appeal heard: [PRIVACY/SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY] Eugene Ndhlovu v. Her Majesty the Queen (Alta.) (Criminal) (By Leave) (39360)

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

• Appearance before the Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on their Study of the Collection and Use of Mobility Data by the Government of Canada
• Commissioner appears before parliamentary committee examining the government’s collection and use of cellphone data for public health purposes

Microsoft

• Online civility improved in past year and is the best it’s been since 2016, new Microsoft research shows

YouTube 

·        Celebrating Black History Month with YouTube

Amazon

• Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Results

CRTC

News Releases:

• Telecom order 2022-26 [2022-02-04 11:00:00] Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff application: Bell Canada, TN 7641
• Telecom order 2022-25 [2022-02-04 11:00:00] Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff applications: Bell Aliant, a division of Bell Canada, TN 556 and Bell MTS, a division of Bell Canada, TN 843 
• Broadcasting decision 2022-24 [2022-02-02 11:00:00] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – Sept-Îles and Aguanish, Quebec – Application to amend the broadcasting licence for the French language radio station CBSI-FM Sept-Îles, in order to operate a new transmitter to rebroadcast the programming of its national network service ICI Radio-Canada Première

Senate of Canada

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: February 8-11, 2022
  • Legal and constitutional affairs: February 9, 2022: Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material

Canadian House of Commons

• Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The house sits all week
  • Industry: February 8, 2022: Ongoing work of the CRTC
  • Heritage: February 9, 2022: Challenges Related to the Recovery of the Arts, Culture, Heritage, and Sport Sectors, Which Have Been Deeply Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic 

CRTC

Anticipated releases for the week of 7 to 11 February 2022
The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions and/or regulatory policies in the week of 7 to 11 February 2022. This is subject to change without notice.

Broadcasting Decisions:

• TELUS Communications Inc.

Complaint by TELUS Communications Inc. against TLN Media Group alleging undue preference and disadvantage Public record: 2020-0428-2

• Lewis Birnberg Hanet, LLP

Addition of REVOLT TV to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution Public record: 2021-0792-9

Telecom Decisions:

• Revocation of basic international telecommunications services licences

When and how communications service providers must provide paper bills Public record: 1011-NOC2020-0081

Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Open Public Consultations

• Extension of Temporary Regulation which establishes subsections 18(11) and (12) of O. Reg. 329/04 (General) under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA) (Reply comments due April 6, 2022)
• Proposed Regulations to enable individual access to personal health information held in the provincial Electronic Health Record (EHR) through Ontario Health (OH) (Reply comments due March 22, 2022)

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