Articles by: Michael Geist

Canada’s Lawful Access Bill Appears to Have Contained a Provision to Enable PRISM-Style Surveillance

As the revelations about U.S. secret surveillance continue, one of the more interesting recent articles was a Buzzfeed piece that focused on a Utah ISP that hosted a “little black box” in the corner inserted by the National Security Agency. The article describes how a Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA) warrant allowed the NSA to monitor the activities of an ISP subscriber by inserting surveillance equipment directly within the ISP’s network. The experience in Utah appears to have been replicated in many other Internet and technology companies, who face secret court orders to install equipment on their systems.

The U.S. experience should raise some alarm bells in Canada, since the now defeated lawful access bill envisioned similar legal powers. Section 14(4) of the bill provided:

July 29, 2013 — 10 comments — News

Was Nigel Wright BCE’s Source on Telecom Policy?

BCE CEO George Cope is claiming that the company approached the government with concerns about the forthcoming spectrum auction (as I note in this post, Bell has been a longstanding opponent of changes to the foreign investment rules and spectrum set-asides). BCE was particularly concerned with the potential for a […]

July 26, 2013 — 3 comments — News

A Closer Look at How Bell “Welcomes any Competitor” to the Canadian Wireless Market

Bell was in full lobby mode yesterday with major advertisements and a new website arguing against a spectrum set-aside that could open the door to Verizon entering the Canadian market. CEO George Cope’s starting point is that “Bell welcomes any competitor, but they should compete on a level playing field.” Both aspects of this statement merit closer scrutiny.

Of all the incumbent telcos, Bell has been the most persistent in trying to limit or delay the removal of foreign investment restrictions that would open the door to new competitors. For example, Bell Canada’s July 2010 submission to the government’s consultation on changes to the foreign investment rules for telecommunications argued that no changes were needed since there were no problems in the Canadian market:

July 26, 2013 — 15 comments — News

Rogers Reveals, Part Two: Broadband Internet Prices to Increase, Unlimited Plans “Short-Sighted”

While much of the focus of yesterday’s Rogers quarterly call was on the wireless sector (see part one on roaming rates), it should be noted that company executives indicated that consumer broadband Internet prices – which the OECD recently reported were among the ten most expensive in the developed economy world – will continue to increase. Moreover, the company called unlimited bandwidth offers “short-sighted” and recent price increases just one step in the efforts to monetize broadband services.

July 25, 2013 — 14 comments — News

Rogers Reveals, Part One: Threat of Regulation Driving Down Roaming Costs

In 2011, the OECD released a report that found Canadians face some of the highest wireless roaming fees in the world. Some tried to downplay the findings – the National Post’s Terence Corcoran claimed that the roaming fees actually looked pretty cheap, while Rogers pointed to several packages that it said “would rank us among the lowest cost of countries surveyed.” Yet as regulators in other countries began aggressively targeting high roaming fees – EU costs have dropped 91 percent over the past six years given regulatory initiatives – Canadian companies apparently began to fear that similar regulations could make their way here. Indeed, according to Rogers, it was necessary to get “roaming in line” or face the prospect of regulation.

July 25, 2013 — 4 comments — News