Columns

CIRA Should Give Out Domains, Not Door Prizes

CIRA, the agency that administers the dot-ca domain name, holds its annual general meeting in Toronto today. Attendees will vie for door prizes and hear from executives about the growing number of Canadian domain name registrations, the robust financial health of the organization, and a small list of corporate by-law amendments. Yet as CIRA moves into its second decade, my weekly technology law column (homepage version, Toronto Star version) argues the promise of a leading Internet voice in Canada and an active, engaged membership is gradually fading away.

Engaging Canadians was viewed as a top priority during the organization’s early years (I was a board member from 2001-06). Meetings were held in communities across the country in an effort to educate Canadians on the dot-ca and to encourage participation in Internet governance issues. The annual general meeting was webcast to ensure all Canadians could attend, even if only virtually. While CIRA never managed to become a household name – many registrants simply want their website or email to work without regard for bigger policy issues – it could count on hundreds of Canadians to vote for the board of directors, participate in consultations, and show their interest in how Canada’s domain name space should be managed.

Today, most of that interest and energy has disappeared. CIRA has been largely absent from the public policy issues of the day and few members show much interest in its governance. This year, only three people were able to muster the necessary 20 indications of member support in order to appear on a board of director ballot. In fact, one member became so frustrated with CIRA’s support for election debate that he created his own site at ciratalk.ca. Perhaps the greatest failure, however, has been the stagnation in parlaying the organization’s financial success into a bigger contribution to the Canadian Internet landscape. Rather than focusing on Canada’s domain name registration statistics, where Canada ranks in the middle of the pack as compared with other developed countries, it is worth considering how it has fallen behind other country-code domain names in allocating resources toward Internet public interest initiatives.

September 22, 2009 — 4 comments — Columns

Privacy Law Emerges as Latest Canadian Export

The recent Canadian privacy case involving Facebook attracted international attention as the world's leading social networking site agreed to implement a series of changes that will affect 250 million users. While the case is widely viewed as a significant victory for Canadian privacy, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the issue might never have been addressed but for a second, little-noticed privacy decision released two weeks later.

September 17, 2009 — 2 comments — Columns

Has Someone Hit the Delete Key on Canada’s Digitization Strategy?

Digitization of books has become synonymous over the past year with the Google Book Search project and the class action lawsuit launched in response to the search giant's efforts to create an Internet-based library consisting of millions of books. While the digitizing continues, the legal drama reached an important stage this week when a court in New York closed third-party submissions supporting or criticizing the settlement. The attention on Google Book Search is understandable, yet it has distracted from the broader question of government supported digitization efforts. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) noted that many countries have not been content to leave the digitization of their culture and heritage to Google, instead embarking on plans to create their own digital libraries.

September 12, 2009 — 3 comments — Columns

How Telco Lobbying Helped Quietly Kill Consumer Cell Phone Cost Calculator

Last week I discussed the well-known challenge faced by millions of Canadians as they sort through a myriad of cellphone pricing plans in a marketplace still lacking in robust competition. The subject of this week's technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) is that previously unreported, however, is Industry Canada officials identified much the same problem and worked for years to develop an online tool to address it.

After spending tens of thousands of dollars creating and testing an online calculator designed to help consumers select their ideal wireless plan, Industry Minister Tony Clement killed the project weeks before it was scheduled to launch. Government records suggest intense lobbying this spring by Canada’s wireless companies, who feared the service would promote lower cost plans, played a key role in the decision.

August 31, 2009 — 20 comments — Columns

Why Canada Lags on Wireless

Where does Canada stand with respect to the cost of wireless services? That question recently generated a spirited debate when the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released new figures that ranked it as the third most expensive developed country. Critics pounced on the report, calling the results ridiculous and pointing to perceived flaws in the methodology.

Given that consumers have a hard time making sense of the different plans, options, and hidden fees offered by Canada’s big three wireless providers (Rogers, Bell, and Telus), it should come as little surprise that comparisons of wireless services across dozens of countries is exceptionally difficult. Some countries charge consumers for both incoming and outgoing calls, while many others do not. Moreover, hidden charges such as Canada’s system access fee – which can add as much as 25 percent to a monthly bill – are often excluded from cost calculations.

While the debate will continue to rage, few currently hold Canada up as a model of wireless leadership. If not pricing, what should policy makers and politicians be focusing on? My weekly technology column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) argues that four main issues come to mind.

August 25, 2009 — 14 comments — Columns