Newsletter for January 30, 2024

Weekly News (January 30, 2024)

Compiled by Brad McNeil and Kyle Wyndham-West with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(January 24-29, 2023)

Canadian News 

• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] Ontario privacy commissioner feels urgency to address ‘Wild West’ risks of AI (Global News)
• [TRADEMARK] Biden administration raises ‘concerns’ about aspects of Quebec language law  (Toronto Star)
• [PRIVACY] City of Hamilton apologizes after online privacy breach reveals personal information of dozens of public delegates (Hamilton Spectator) 

• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Althia Raj: There’s much more to the Emergencies Act ruling than a rebuke of Justin Trudeau’s government  (Toronto Star) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Muneeza Sheikh: Why I will always fight for employee rights of free speech (Toronto Star)
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Editorial Board: In case of emergency, do not break law (Globe and Mail) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] OPINION: Editorial Board: Emergencies Act use was unreasonable, judge rules. The dereliction of duty by governments was unacceptable (Toronto Star) 
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS/COMPETITION] OPINION: Calvon Goldman and Thomas Mathews: Canada should open telecom and airlines to foreign competition from friendly countries (Globe and Mail) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Christelle Tessono: Is Ottawa doing enough to protect us from the harms of artificial intelligence?  (Toronto Star) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Angela Mondou and Paul Samson: Canada needs a minister of artificial intelligence and an AI industrial policy (Globe and Mail) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Nadia Naffi: Deepfakes: How to empower youth to fight the threat of misinformation and disinformation  (The Conversation) 

International News

• [INTERNET POLICY/ONLINE HARMS] US expresses concerns over Sri Lanka’s controversial internet regulation law (CityNews) 
• [ONLINE HARMS/PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Tech CEOs will testify on kids’ safety. Here’s what to watch for. (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/COMPETITION] FTC inspects Big Tech’s AI deals (Washington Post) 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Courts may soon decide if Big Tech should be treated like a utility (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/REGULATION] Germany to approve EU’s planned AI act. (Reuters)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OpenAI’s ChatGPT Might Have Broken EU Privacy Rules, Italian Regulator Says (Wall Street Journal) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/REGULATION] Italy fines first city for privacy breaches in use of AI (Reuters)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/CYBERSECURITY] AI will make scam emails look genuine, UK cybersecurity agency warns (The Guardian) 
• [DATA PRIVACY] Lawmakers unveil bills to protect consumer data, ban ticket scalping (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/REGULATION] Taylor Swift deepfakes spark calls in Congress for new legislation (BBC) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/CONTENT MODERATION] X blocks Taylor Swift searches after fake explicit images spread  (Washington Post)
• [COPYRIGHT] The Sleepy Copyright Office in the Middle of a High-Stakes Clash Over A.I. (New York Times)
• [CONTENT MODERATION] Elon Musk Is Spreading Election Misinformation, but X’s Fact Checkers Are Long Gone (New York Times) 
• [PRIVACY] Ring camera app won’t share footage with law enforcement anymore  (Washington Post) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] College Is All About Curiosity. And That Requires Free Speech. (New York Times Magazine) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/COPYRIGHT] How Copyright Should Work in the Age of AI: Readers Weigh In (Wall Street Journal) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/COPYRIGHT/LAWSUIT] George Carlin’s Estate Sues Podcasters Over A.I. Episode (New York Times) 
• [PRIVACY] Apple’s Vision Pro is the most data-hungry gadget I’ve ever seen (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY/DATA BREACH] 23andMe Breach Targeted Jewish and Chinese Customers, Lawsuit Says (New York Times) 
• [INTERNET POLICY] Florida lawmakers vote to restrict children’s access to social media (Reuters) 
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] How One Company Hoovered Up $3 Billion in Broadband Subsidies (Wall Street Journal) 
• [DEFAMATION] OPINION: RonNell Andersen Jones: The E. Jean Carroll Verdict Exposes the Limits of Libel Law (New York Times) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Adam Lashinsky: Watch out. Companies are using ‘AI washing’ to mislead consumers. (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/REGULATION] OPINION: Eric Schmidt: How We Can Control AI; The technology’s rapid advance threatens to overwhelm all efforts at regulation. We need our best tech experts competing to rein in AI as fast as companies are competing to build it. (Wall Street Journal) 

(January 24-29, 2024)

Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services 

• Annual Report – August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2023 

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 

• Broadcasting and Telecoms:
  • Telecom order 2024-21
    [2024-01-29 11:00:00]
    Broadband Fund Payment Order – Approval of Claim Forms – January 2024 – Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0372
  • Telecom order 2024-20
    [2024-01-26 11:00:00]
    Broadband Fund – Change request – ATG Arrow Technology Group Limited Partnership’s access project in Alberta (Goodfish Lake) – Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0372
  • Telecom order 2024-19
    [2024-01-25 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves the following tariff application: Bell MTS Inc., TN 858
  • Telecom order 2024-18
    [2024-01-25 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff applications : Bell MTS Inc., TN 859; Distributel Communications Limited, TN 15 and TN 15A
  • Telecom decision 2023-78-1
    [2024-01-24 11:00:00]
    Forbearance from the regulation of high-capacity / digital data services interexchange private line services on certain additional routes – Correction – Public record: 8638-S1-01/98

Apple

• Apple announces changes to iOS, Safari, and the App Store in the European Union

Microsoft 

• Governing AI in Africa: Policy frameworks for a new frontier
• Broadening AI innovation: Microsoft’s pledge to the National AI Research Resource pilot

OpenAI

• New embedding models and API updates

TikTok

• Celebrating Data Privacy Day 2024

X (formerly Twitter)

• An update on our work to tackle Child Sexual Exploitation on X

Senate of Canada

• The Senate sitting and possible sitting days: Is not sitting January 24 to 30, 2024. Next sitting day is Feb 6, 2024

House of Commons

• The House of Commons sitting and possible sitting days: Is not sitting January 24 to 26, 2024. Next sitting day is Jan 29, 2024
  • Meetings:
    • CHPC – Jobs Cuts Announced at CBC/Radio Canada – Jan 30, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. (EST)  

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of January 24-30, 2024: 
  • The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions and/or regulatory policies in the week of 29 January to 2 February 2024. This is subject to change without notice.
  • Telecom Regulatory policy: Implementing thousand-block pooling Public record: 1011-NOC2023-0092
• Upcoming Hearings
  • 2023-369 – Notice of hearing – 8 February 2024 – National Capital Region – Deadline for submission of interventions/comments/answers: 18 December 2023
  • February 12, 2024 – Gatineau, Quebec

Notice of hearing – Review of the wholesale high-speed access service framework – Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-56, 2023-56-1, 2023-56-2, and 2023-56-3.

View hearing documents (2023-56)

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings
• February
  • February 23, 2023 – National Capital Region To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2022-331, 2022-331-1 View hearing documents (2022-331)

Consultations:

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Radiocommunication Act Exemption Order (Jammers — Royal Canadian Mounted Police), No. 2024-1 – January 29, 2024 

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• Biometrics Guidance Consultation – February 16, 2024

Statistics Canada:

• Census Data on Demand (CDOD) program consultative engagement – March 31, 2024

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

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