Columns

Creator Groups Trade Short Term Gain for Long Term Pain in Bell – CTV Merger Review

This week the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will hold hearings on Canada’s biggest media and communications merger – BCE Inc. and CTVglobemedia Inc. The merger will combine the country’s biggest telecom provider, private broadcaster, Internet provider, and second largest wireless provider into a single powerhouse.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that the implications are enormous, yet in stark contrast to a similar recent merger in the United States between cable giant Comcast and broadcaster NBCU, the competition concerns will take a back seat to the â€œbenefits packageâ€ that BCE must pay to the Canadian cultural community.

January 31, 2011 — 6 comments — Columns

Jennifer Stoddart’s Shot Across the Privacy Bow

By virtually every measure, 2010 was a remarkably successful year for Canadian privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. Riding the wave of high profile investigations into the privacy practices of Internet giants Facebook and Google, Stoddart received accolades around the world, while garnering a three-year renewal of her term at home.

My regular technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that last week Stoddart used her first public lecture of 2011 to put the Canadian privacy and business communities on notice that she intends to use her new mandate to reshape the enforcement side of Canadian privacy law. Speaking at the University of Ottawa, Stoddart hinted that she plans to push for order making power, tougher penalties, and a â€œnaming namesâ€ strategy that may shame some organizations into better privacy compliance practices.

January 26, 2011 — 3 comments — Columns

Canada’s Grassroots National Digital Library Takes Shape

Last week, the European Commission released The New Renaissance, an expert report on efforts to digitize Europe’s cultural heritage. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that Europe has been particularly aggressive about its digitization efforts, developing Europeana, an online portal currently featuring more than 15 million works of art, books, music, and film, as well as the European Library, which provides access to 24 million pages of full-text scanned by 14 national libraries.

Several European countries have set very ambitious digitization goals. The National Library of the Netherlands has committed to digitizing everything – all Dutch books, newspapers and periodicals dating back to 1470. The National Library of Norway set a similar goal in 2005, setting in motion plans to digitize its entire collection that now includes 170,000 books, 250,000 newspapers, 610,000 hours of radio broadcasts, 200,000 hours of television and 500,000 photographs.

Building on those efforts, the report recommended that public domain works be digitized with public funding and be made freely available for access and re-use. It also called on lawmakers to develop policies to facilitate the digitization of works still subject to copyright protection.

Canada could have attempted something similar years ago by committing to its own national digital library. Library and Archives Canada was given responsibility for the issue but was unable to muster the necessary support for a comprehensive plan. Last year, it published a final report on its national digital information strategy, noting that it â€œbrings to a close LAC’s role as facilitator of the consultations.â€

January 19, 2011 — 2 comments — Columns

The Roadmap to a Compromise on Bill C-32

Yesterday I posted on the urgent need for Canadians to speak out on Bill C-32, with the committee examining the bill inviting email submissions until January 31, 2011. The post included links to several background posts on the bill, digital locks, and fair dealing. A more specific proposal on digital lock reforms can be found here. This week I also have a guest op-ed in the Hill Times (HT version, homepage version) that suggests that the roadmap to a compromise on Bill C-32 can be found among the various policy comments from the political parties late last year.

January 18, 2011 — 10 comments — Columns

Supreme Court Will Lead Tech Law in 2011

Predictions about the upcoming year in technology law and policy in Canada are particularly challenging given the prospect of a possible election. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that while there is no shortage of potential new laws – bills on privacy, copyright, and lawful access are all before the House of Commons – an election call before the fall would likely mean that those bills would die on the order paper.

With political uncertainty clouding even the best crystal ball, the Supreme Court of Canada is set to emerge this year as the place where much of the action will take place. Canada’s highest court has lined up a tech-heavy docket that will have a major impact Canadian law.

January 11, 2011 — 5 comments — Columns