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Want to Keep Canadian AI Thriving?: Create a Copyright Exception for Informational Analysis
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met earlier this week with Jean-Francois Gagné, the CEO of Element AI, the Montreal-based applied artificial intelligence lab. Trudeau tweeted that the two men “talked about what Canadians are doing in AI in Montreal & across the country, and how we can keep the industry thriving.”
Does Canadian Privacy Law Apply to Google Search?
Last week, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada filed a reference with the federal court in a case that was billed as settling the “right to be forgotten” issue. Yet a careful read of the application reveals that the case isn’t about the right to be forgotten. Rather, it involves a far more basic issue: is Google’s search engine service subject to PIPEDA, Canada’s private sector privacy law? The case arises due to a right-to-be-forgotten complaint (a complainant wants search results referencing news articles they say are outdated, inaccurate, and disclose sensitive information removed from the Google search index), but the court is not being asked whether the current law includes a right-to-be-forgotten. Instead, the very application of Canadian privacy law to Google search is at stake.
The Full “Culture Exception” That Isn’t: Why Canada Caved on Independent Cultural Policy in the USMCA
In the final weeks of the USMCA negotiations, Canada signalled that a full cultural exception was a non-negotiable issue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wading in to emphasize the importance of the issue. While the resulting deal has garnered applause from many culture lobby groups (music, magazines, publishers, ACTRA), the reality is that the government did not obtain a full cultural exception. In fact, after criticizing the Conservatives for accepting exceptions to the cultural exception in the TPP (and making it a key issue in the CPTPP once the U.S. exited the agreement), the Liberal government similarly included two exceptions and agreed to an extension in the term of copyright that will have a far more damaging impact on access to Canadian culture than any proposed USMCA provision.
How Canada Surrendered Policy Flexibility for Data Localization Rules in the USMCA
The digital policy implications of the USMCA have attracted increasing attention as Canadians consider the risks that the agreement could limit future policy flexibility. In particular, the agreement restricts the use of data localization, an increasingly popular legal method for addressing public interest concerns associated with the collection of online information by mandating that data be stored within the local jurisdiction. Restrictions on data localization are not entirely new to Canada, since similar provisions are found in the CPTPP (the successor to the Trans Pacific Partnership). That means that Canada has already agreed to limits on data localization with or without the USMCA. However, the USMCA’s data localization provision differs in a significant way, suggesting that the Canadian government has agreed to an even more restrictive approach than that found in the CPTPP.
Why the USMCA Will Enhance Online Free Speech in Canada
Internet free speech is not typically an issue associated with trade agreements, but a somewhat overlooked provision in the newly-minted U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) promises to safeguard freedom of expression by encouraging Internet companies to resist pressure to remove content. My Policy Options op-ed notes the USMCA’s Internet safe harbour rule – modelled on U.S. law – remedies a longstanding problem in Canada that left large Internet platforms reluctant to leave third party content such as product reviews, blog posts, and social media commentary online in the face of unsubstantiated complaints.
Recent Posts
Want to Keep Canadian AI Thriving?: Create a Copyright Exception for Informational Analysis
October 18, 2018
Does Canadian Privacy Law Apply to Google Search?
October 16, 2018
The Full “Culture Exception” That Isn’t: Why Canada Caved on Independent Cultural Policy in the USMCA
October 11, 2018
How Canada Surrendered Policy Flexibility for Data Localization Rules in the USMCA
October 10, 2018
Why the USMCA Will Enhance Online Free Speech in Canada
October 5, 2018
Recent Columns
- Why the USMCA Will Enhance Online Free Speech in Canada
October 5, 2018 
Setting the Standard?: How the USMCA Quietly Reshapes Global Digital Trade Agreements
October 4, 2018![By Office of the President of the United States (@realDonaldTrump on Twitter) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADonald_Trump_Justin_Trudeau_2017-02-13_03.jpg](http://cdn.michaelgeist.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Donald_Trump_Justin_Trudeau_2017-02-13_03-100x75.jpg)
The USMCA and Copyright Reform: Who is Writing Canada’s Copyright Law Anyway?
October 3, 2018
Notice the Difference?: Supreme Court Rules ISPs Can Be Compensated for Copyright Costs
September 17, 2018
The First Rule of Copyright Reform: Don’t Mess With Free Speech and Net Neutrality
July 17, 2018
