The Hill Times runs a special section on copyright in its upcoming issue. I've contributed a piece on the lessons we can draw from the copyright consultation that I'll post shortly, but in the meantime there is an important interview with Industry Minister Tony Clement. Of particular note is his […]
Archive for October, 2009
Liberals Call for Better Internet and Wireless Competition, Net Neutrality
The Liberals have issued a noteworthy release calling for better competition and service for wireless and Internet services in Canada. The party says there is a real competition problem that calls for "concrete proposals to lower prices and improve cell phone and Internet service for urban and rural Canadians." The […]
The Globalive Decision: Time To Pick Competition Over Canadian Ownership
The CRTC this afternoon issued its decision on whether Globalive, a new wireless competitor about to operate as Wind Mobile, complies with the foreign ownership restrictions currently found in the Telecommunications Act. While Industry Canada previously concluded that Globalive met the Canadian control requirements for the purposes of the Radiocommunications […]
Reacting To Lawful Access: Comparing the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP
Earlier this week, I posted on the Liberals first reaction to Bill C-46, part one of the lawful access package. Rather than focusing on substantive issues, the immediate response was "what took you so long," an obvious effort to appear even tougher on crime. C-46 was sent to committee for further study on Tuesday. Immediately afterward, C-47, the other half of lawful access came up for second reading. This part of the bill is particularly problematic is it raises the prospect of mandatory disclosure of personal information without a warrant and requires ISPs to install new surveillance capabilities on their networks.
The warrantless access to information is incredibly troubling as it runs counter to a pledge from the previous Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, has only been supported a mischaracterized incident from earlier this year, and raises fundamental problems with the privacy vs. security balance. In fact, the bill goes even further than the Liberal version of the bill from years ago, by adopting an exceptionally broad definition of customer name and address information.
Once again, the reaction to the bill was telling.
Industry Committee Issues C-27 Report
The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has issued its report on Bill C-27. The report includes all the changes to the anti-spam bill, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act.
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 200: Colin Bennett on the EU’s Surprising Adequacy Finding on Canadian Privacy Law 
Debating the Online Harms Act: Insights from Two Recent Panels on Bill C-63 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 199: Boris Bytensky on the Criminal Code Reforms in the Online Harms Act 
AI Spending is Not an AI Strategy: Why the Government’s Artificial Intelligence Plan Avoids the Hard Governance Questions 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 198: Richard Moon on the Return of the Section 13 Hate Speech Provision in the Online Harms Act
