Columns

Random Government Takedown Demands Point to Need for Policy

Given the enormous popularity of social media, establishing a foothold on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other popular websites has become a top priority for most organizations. The same is true for the federal government, which last year released a lengthy policy document that established the rules for departmental engagement with “Web 2.0” sites and tools.

The policy document encourages officials to use the sites “as an efficient and effective additional channel to interact with the public”, noting that the Internet offers opportunities for public consultation, recruitment, collaboration, and the provision of government services.

The government acknowledges that there are risks, however. These include potential misuse of government content or the possibility of negative perceptions associated with official use. While the document establishes a myriad of rules and guidelines for use of these services, it surprisingly does not consider how to respond to the negative risks.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the absence of policy direction may be partially to blame for recent revelations of government department demands to Google to remove certain content from its search database or websites. The haphazard manner in which these demands have occurred demonstrate the dangers of proceeding in an ad hoc manner in which officials race to demand the removal of lawful content without uniform policies or guidelines.

October 9, 2012 — 6 comments — Columns

Privacy Commissioner Should Disclose the Identities of Privacy â€œLeakersâ€

Last week, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart released the results of a disturbing new study conducted by her office that found many leading websites “leaking” personal information. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the study, which came on the heels of similar findings by researchers in the United States, found that one in every four websites examined suffered from privacy leaks that included disclosing names, email addresses, postal codes, and location data to third party advertisers (in the interests of full disclosure, I am a member of the Stoddart’s external advisory board).

The study only covered 25 of the most popular e-commerce and media websites in Canada, suggesting that many more organizations may be violating Canadian privacy law by failing to adequately safeguard the personal information they collect and providing users with insufficient information about how their data is used and disclosed.

October 3, 2012 — 8 comments — Columns

Copyright Lobby Demands Rollback of Recent Canadian Reforms in Secretive Trade Deal

More than ten years of contentious debate over Canadian copyright law appeared to come to a conclusion in late June when Bill C-11 passed its final legislative hurdle and received royal assent. Yet despite characterizing the bill as a “vital building block”, the copyright lobby that pressured the government to impose restrictive rules on digital locks and tougher penalties for copyright infringement is already demanding further reforms that include rolling back many key aspects of the original bill.

Unlike the last round of copyright reform that featured national consultations and open committee hearings, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes this time the lobby groups are hoping to use secretive trade negotiations to forge legislative change. Later this week, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an umbrella organization that represents movie, music, and software associations, will urge the U.S. government to pressure Canada to enact further reforms as part of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade negotiations.

September 24, 2012 — 17 comments — Columns

Setting the Stage for the Next Decade of Open Access

Ten years ago, sixteen experts from around the world gathered in Budapest, Hungary to discuss the how the Internet was changing the way researchers could disseminate their work. The group hatched a plan to “accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.”

Their basic idea was simple: the Internet could be used to freely distribute scholarly research so that anyone, anywhere could have access. Called “open access”, the authors of the first Budapest Open Access Initiative identified two ways to enhance public access to research.

September 21, 2012 — 3 comments — Columns

CRTC Places Consumers and Access at the Top of its Priority List

The Canadian communications world is focused this week on the proposed merger between Bell and Astral Media as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission holds its much-anticipated hearing on the issue in Montreal. While the merger takes centre stage, the Commission may have upstaged the process last Thursday by releasing a detailed priorities document that covers the next three years.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that with Jean-Pierre Blais installed as the new CRTC chair and the Conservatives emboldened by majority government, the Commission’s priorities send a message of change in Canadian communications policy. The days of emphasizing Canadian content rules or legislative overhauls are over, replaced by a consumer-oriented focus on affordable access to both content and connectivity services.

The CRTC priorities document identifies a single overarching objective: “ensuring that Canadians have access to a world-class communication system.” Given the myriad of policy objectives contained in both the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, the singular focus on consumer access is a subtle but important change from the approach of the previous chair, Konrad von Finckenstein.

September 10, 2012 — 4 comments — Columns