After a two-week hiatus, my weekly Law Bytes column is back (Toronto Star version, homepage version) with some reflections on Time Magazine's selection of "You" as the person of the year. Starting from the premise that the choice may ultimately be viewed as the tipping point when the remarkable outbreak of Internet participation that encompasses millions of bloggers, music remixers, amateur video creators, citizen journalists, wikipedians, and Flickr photographers broke into the mainstream, I focus on how governments and policy makers might assess how they fit into the world of a participatory Internet and user-generated content. I argue that it can do so by focusing on the three "C’s" – connectivity, content, and copyright.
Columns
The Letters of the Law: The Year in Canadian Tech Law
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) features my annual review in law and technology with a particular emphasis on Canadian developments. This past year in law and technology has been marked by a series of noteworthy developments including the explosive interest in user-generated content (culminating in […]
Digital Info Strategy Requires Courage Before Cash
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines efforts in Canada to develop a national digital information strategy in light of a national summit on the issue held last week in Montebello, Quebec. The column notes that the good news is that many provincial governments and organizations are not waiting for Ottawa to act, citing initiatives by the Alberta and Quebec governments, Alouette Canada, Synergies, the McCord Museum, and the blossoming of user generated content.
This enormous energy suggests that digitization will flourish regardless of whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda adopt a formal strategy. However, despite the good news, the summit also left little doubt that there are immediate steps that can be taken to pave the way for even more.
In fact, I argue that the federal government would do well to resist introducing expensive new initiatives by first maximizing the benefits that can be extracted from the current set of policies and programs.
Child Pornography Blocking Plan a Risk Worth Taking
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) wades back into the Project Cleanfeed Canada debate. My last post on this issue generated considerable discussion with many valid criticisms of the ISP plans to block access to child pornography. In developing this column, I posed many of the […]
We’re All On Candid Camera
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, BBC version, homepage version) focuses on how Internet video, in combination with ubiquitous video cameras embedded in millions of cell phones, has dramatically increased the likelihood that someone, somewhere will capture video evidence of once-hidden events that can be made instantly available […]
Recent Posts
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 
Tweets Are Not Enough: Why Combatting Relentless Antisemitism in Canada Requires Real Leadership and Action 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 197: Divest, Ban or Regulate? – Anupam Chander on the Global Fight Over TikTok
