The Canadian government announced its plans for a copyright review in December 2017, tasking the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology with the review. That report has been in the drafting stage for several months and is expected before the summer. In an effort to dampen concerns that Canadian Heritage would play a diminished role in the review, the responsible ministers asked the Industry committee to ask the Heritage committee to conduct a review on remuneration models for artists and creative industries. The formal request asked the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to “call upon the expertise of a broad range of stakeholders impacted by copyright to ensure a holistic understanding of the issues at play.”
News
Myths and Reality About Canadian Copyright Law, Fair Dealing and Educational Copying
Seeking to debunk many of the misleading claims on the state of Canadian copyright, fair dealing and education, I’m grateful that InfoJustice.org has published my post on the myths and realities of the current situation. The post relies on actual data presented at the recent copyright review to demonstrate how the Canadian market has experienced increased spending on licensing, e-book licensing has been a central part of the education licensing strategy, and educational institutions are paying for licences even when they retain collective licences.
My ADA Keynote: What the Canadian Experience Teaches About the Future of Copyright Reform
In late March of this year, I travelled to Canberra, Australia to deliver a keynote address at the Australian Digital Alliance’s 2019 Copyright Forum. The ADA is a leading voice on copyright issues in Australia and its annual Copyright Forum brings together government, creators, education, libraries, and the broader public to explore copyright issues. This year’s event included innovative film makers, the President of the Australian Society of Authors, European Parliament MEP Julia Reda, as well as leading academics, trade negotiators, government policy experts, and many others.
My talk focused on the Canadian copyright experience, using real data to dispel the misleading claims about the impact of Canada’s 2012 reforms. A video of the keynote has been posted to YouTube and is embedded below.
Open Banking Is Already Here: My Appearance Before the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
The Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce has spent the past month and a half actively engaged in a detailed study of the regulatory framework for open banking. The study has included government officials, representatives from Australia and the UK, and Canadian banking stakeholders. I appeared before the committee yesterday as a single person panel, spending a full hour discussing a wide range of policy concerns. My core message was that the committee debate over whether Canada should have open banking missed the bigger issue that millions of Canadians already use open banking type services despite the friction in making their data easily portable to third party providers. I recommended several reforms in response, including stronger privacy laws, mandated data portability with informed consumer consent, and consumer protection safeguards that recognizing the likely blurring between incumbent banks and third party providers.
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Signals Major Shift in Approach on Cross-Border Data Transfers
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released a consultation paper that signals a major shift in its position on data transfers, indicating that it now believes that cross-border disclosures of personal information require prior consent. The approach is a significant reversal of longstanding policy that relied upon the accountability principle to ensure that organizations transferring personal information to third parties are ultimately responsible for safeguarding that information. In fact, OPC guidelines from January 2009 explicitly stated that “assuming the information is being used for the purpose it was originally collected, additional consent for the transfer is not required.”
Recent Posts
Solomon’s Choice: Charting the Future of AI Policy in Canada 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 232: What Will Canadian Digital Policy Look Like Under the New Liberal Carney Government? 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record
