Archive for December, 2022

10 ____ by Francis Mariani (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2icY6zq

The Year in Review: Top Ten Law Bytes Podcast Episodes

This week’s Law Bytes podcast features a look at the year in review along with some guesses at what lies ahead. Yesterday I highlighted the top ten posts on this site and the series of looking back wraps up today with the most streamed or downloaded Law Bytes podcast episodes of the year. Bill C-11 once again leads the way, though there are episodes on privacy, security, Bill C-18, the invocation of the Emergencies Act, and copyright. It is notable that the top episode of the year featured clips from the disastrous Bill C-11 clause-by-clause review in which MPs voted on over 100 amendments without public disclosure of their content, explanations, or debate.

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December 22, 2022 4 comments Podcasts
Top 10 by Theen Moy (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/qc4kGL

The Year in Review: Top Ten Posts

This week’s Law Bytes podcast features a look at the year in review along with some guesses at what lies ahead. Before wrapping up for the year, the next two posts will highlight the most popular posts and podcast episodes of the past year. Today’s post starts with the top posts, which have a strong Bill C-11 emphasis alongside posts on Bill C-18, online harms, and the Rogers outage during the summer.

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December 21, 2022 3 comments News
Musk Twitter takeover by duncan cumming https://flic.kr/p/2nW7efB (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Elon Musk’s Twitter Linking Restrictions May Have Been Short-Lived, But Bill C-18 is Based on a Similar Approach to Links

The dismantling of Twitter over the past six weeks has been incredibly distressing for millions of users who have come to rely on the platform. From the mass layoffs to journalist suspensions to this weekend’s seemingly short-lived policy blocking some links to rival services, it has been a head-spinning stretch since Elon Musk assumed ownership of the service in late October. In response, many have established a presence on various alternatives: you can now also find me on Mastodon, Post, and Substack. As Twitter users promote these alternatives, on Sunday the company briefly unveiled a new policy that involved removing “accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames for the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post.” From an operational perspective, this would have meant blocking some links to rival platforms big (Facebook, IG), growing (Mastodon), and small (Post).

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December 19, 2022 8 comments News
Handwriting Text 2023 Loading. Concept meaning Forecasting the future event by Jernej Furman (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2iMaREk

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 151: The Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy and What Lies Ahead in 2023

Canadian digital law and policy in 2022 was marked by legislative battles over Bills C-11 and C-18, the Rogers outage, stalled privacy and AI reform, copyright term extension, and a growing trade battle with the U.S. over Canadian policies. For this final Law Bytes podcast of 2022, I go solo without a guest to talk about the most significant trends and developments in Canadian digital policy from the past year and to think a bit about what may lie ahead in 2023.

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December 19, 2022 3 comments Podcasts
Hepfner Facebook post and Twitter post, https://www.facebook.com/lisahepfnerMP/posts/pfbid029RTDZHA7hTJTZAg8KYztaMtZAYC1WTFdtSRbfKrnaXnsmoZo3AdGtYZnC6tv1sgDl, https://twitter.com/lisahepfner/status/1593679961398906880

The Bill C-18 Fallout: Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner Equates Linking to News Articles on Facebook to Theft

Last month, Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner shocked Canadian online news outlets by stating that “they’re not news.They’re not gathering news. They’re publishing opinion only.” The comments sparked instant criticism from news outlets across the country, leading Hepfner to issue a quick apology. In the aftermath of the comments, Hepfner said nothing for weeks at Heritage committee studying Bill C-18. That bill passed third reading yesterday – I posted on the embarrassing legislative review – and Hepfner was back at it. Rather than criticizing online news outlets, this time she targeted the Internet platforms, saying the bill would make it “harder for big digital platforms like Facebook and Google to steal local journalists’ articles and repost them without credit.” 

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December 15, 2022 13 comments News