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

CRTC Uncovers New Rogers Net Neutrality Violation

The CRTC has written to Rogers Communication following the identification of yet another violation of the Commission’s Internet traffic management policy. Rogers has announced plans to drop its traffic throttling practices, but the CRTC wants the new issue addressed immediately. I discussed the role of the CRTC in putting an […]

March 2, 2012 — 1 comment — Columns

Crafting Copyright Policy to Create a Competitive Advantage

Last month, the Hill Times ran a special section on copyright and new media. I contributed an op-ed (Hill Times version, homepage version) that linked copyright reform with the government’s emphasis on the Canadian economy. The column noted that one metric for assessing the effectiveness of copyright reform is to consider whether the bill uses the flexibility at international law to establish a competitive advantage when compared to our trading partners. The answer with Bill C-11 – even without the SOPA-style amendments sought by copyright lobby groups – is a mixed bag.

February 6, 2012 — 5 comments — Columns

Keeping Score of Canada’s Spectrum Auction

Reports indicate that Industry Minister Christian Paradis could unveil the government’s spectrum auction and telecom foreign ownership policies this month. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) provided a preview of some the key issues. While interest in spectrum auction policy is typically limited to telecom companies and business analysts, all Canadians have a stake in this decision. The available spectrum – known as the 700 MHz spectrum – opens up a host of possibilities for new innovation, competitors, and open Internet access. It is viewed as particularly valuable spectrum since it easily penetrates walls, making it ideal for delivering wireless high-speed Internet services.

Auctioning the spectrum raises a host of critical policy choices.

February 2, 2012 — 15 comments — Columns

The Day the Internet Fought Back

Last week’s Wikipedia-led blackout in protest of U.S. copyright legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is being hailed by some as the Internet Spring, the day that millions fought back against restrictive legislative proposals that posed a serious threat to an open Internet. The protests were derided by critics as a gimmick, but my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes it is hard to see how the SOPA protest can be fairly characterized as anything other than a stunning success. Wikipedia reports that 162 million people viewed its blackout page during the 24-hour protest period. By comparison, the most-watched television program of 2011, the Super Bowl, attracted 111 million viewers.

More impressive were the number of people who took action. Eight million Wikipedia visitors looked up contact information for their elected representatives, seven million people signed a Google petition, and Engine Advocacy reported that it was completing 2,000 phone calls per second to local members of Congress.

The protest launched a political earthquake as previously supportive politicians raced for the exits. According to ProPublica, the day before the protest, 80 members of Congress supported the legislation and 31 opposed. Two days later, there were only 63 supporters and 122 opposed.

The SOPA protest ranks as the largest online action to date, but it was foreshadowed by similar developments around the world.

January 24, 2012 — 74 comments — Columns