Columns

The Upcoming Budget and the Implications for Canadian Tech Policy

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will unveil the government’s much-anticipated budget this week amidst widespread speculation that it will feature sizable spending cuts and significant reorganization of major government programs. While changes to old age pension eligibility, the CBC, as well as government departments and programs will attract the lion share of attention, my weekly technology column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the budget choices could have major implications for technology policy.

The government has telegraphed some measures, including an initiative to recast the National Research Council into a service focused on providing assistance to business rather than an entity emphasizing basic research. Changes to the NRC may be just the starting point as the budget’s fine print could include some important clues about where the government is headed on the digital economy.

March 27, 2012 — 8 comments — Columns

Ottawa Foregoes Bold Vision on Telecom

After months of delay, Industry Minister Christian Paradis unveiled the government’s telecom strategy last week, setting out the details of the forthcoming spectrum auction and tinkering with longstanding foreign ownership restrictions. Spectrum allocation and auctions, which focus on the availability of frequencies used to provide wireless services, involves fairly technical questions that few outside the industry follow closely. Yet the impact of spectrum policy has far reaching effects on consumers, since the right policies can foster greater competition, better services, and lower prices.

While the headlines have focused on changes to the foreign ownership rules, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) echoes my initial post on the decision by arguing the government’s policy choices are rather timid.

March 22, 2012 — 7 comments — Columns

Copyright Bill Hits the Home Stretch: C-11 Clause by Clause Review Today

Days after the Conservative government introduced its copyright reform bill in June 2010, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore spoke out in support of the legislative package by notoriously labeling critics as “radical extremists” who should be confronted until “they are defeated.” This week, the copyright bill hits the home stretch as the Bill C-11 legislative committee conducts its final “clause-by-clause” review.

The bill has been a subject of debate for nearly 20 months and over the course of that period, there has been a surprising role reversal. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that Moore’s vision of strong support from copyright lobby groups has been replaced by demands to overhaul the legislation with a broad array of extreme measures, while the supposed critics – library groups, educators, consumer associations, and individual Canadians – have endorsed much of the legislation with only requests for modest changes to the controversial digital lock provisions.

March 12, 2012 — 5 comments — Columns

All Your Internets Belong to US, Continued: The Bodog.com Case

Imagine a scenario in which a country enacts a law that bans the sale of asbestos and includes the power to seize the assets of any company selling the product anywhere in the world. The country tests the law by obtaining a court order to seize key assets of a Canadian company, whose operations with hundreds of employees takes a major hit. The Canadian government is outraged, promising to support the company in its efforts to restore its operations.

That is the opening of my technology law column this week (Toronto Star version, homepage version) which continues by noting this scenario became reality last week, though the product was not asbestos and the Canadian government has yet to respond. The case involves Bodog.com, a Canadian-owned online sports gaming site and the country doing the seizing was the United States. Supporting online gaming operations will undoubtedly make governments somewhat squeamish, but the broader implications of last week’s seizure touch on millions of websites and Internet companies who now find themselves subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

March 6, 2012 — 30 comments — Columns

Catching Up on Lawful Access Columns

With so much focus this week on Bill C-11 and ACTA, I’ve neglected to post two recent columns on lawful access. The first piece (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) focuses on the potential for compromise in the legislation, with particular attention to the issue of maintaining court oversight for subscriber […]

March 2, 2012 — 4 comments — Columns