There has been mounting concern over the past few years over whether some of the world’s largest companies – primarily big tech – pay their fair share of taxes. This issue has arisen in countries around the world leading to new digital services taxes that primarily target the U.S. tech giants and which in turn often leads to the U.S. threatening to retaliate in response. Canada now finds itself embroiled in these battles as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has proposed a retroactive digital services tax to take effect in 2024 if by that time a newly reached OECD agreement has not taken effect. Professor Reuven Avi-Yonah is a law professor at the University of Michigan and director of the school’s international tax LLM program. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss digital services taxes, the OECD deal, and what might happen if the international agreement falls apart.
Archive for January, 2022
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 114: The Citizen Lab’s Ron Deibert on Protecting Society from Surveillance Software
The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, led by Professor Ron Deibert, has a well-earned reputation for uncovering surveillance technologies and security vulnerabilities with research and reports that attract immediate attention worldwide. Professor Deibert has won an incredible array of awards and accolades for his remarkable work, including the Order of Ontario and the EFF’s Pioneer Award. In 2020, he delivered the Massey Lectures, based on his book for the lectures, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. Professor Deibert joins the Law Bytes podcast to talk about the lab, his work, and the threat of what he calls “despotism as a service”, where spyware is used to target journalists, activists, and civil society groups.
International Association of Privacy Professionals: Michael Geist Calls for More Robust Privacy Law at the IAPP Canadian Privacy Symposium, 2018
I spoke at the 2018 Privacy Symposium hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. There, I discussed online privacy rights issues which changed with the emergence of different social media platforms and how it should be addressed. The link to the video can be found here. IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: (c) 2012 “Secure Cloud Computing” […]
Talks At Google: Professor Michael Geist – Talks at Google
I visited Google in London, UK to present at Talks at Google on June 2, 2008 as part of the Affairs of interest/ Policy Talks at Google. There, I discussed Digital Advocacy in developed and developing countries. The link to the video can be found here.
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
