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Rogers on the corner of Robson and Seymour by Jeffery Simpson (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/hZGAN

Rogers Releases New Policy on Disclosing Subscriber Information: Come Back with a Warrant

Rogers has updated its approach to responding to law enforcement requests for subscriber information to reflect last month’s Supreme Court of Canada Spencer decision. The company will now require a warrant for access to basic subscriber information (with the exception of life threatening emergencies), a policy that effectively kills the government’s Bill C-13 voluntary disclosure provisions. The government wants to provide full immunity for voluntary disclosure of personal information, but Canadian Internet providers and telecom companies are unlikely to provide such information without a court order given the recent decision. The Rogers update:

After hearing your concerns and reviewing the Supreme Court ruling from last month, we’ve decided that from now on we will require a court order/warrant to provide basic customer information to law enforcement agencies, except in life threatening emergencies. We believe this move is better for our customers and that law enforcement agencies will still be able to protect the public.

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July 16, 2014 — 10 comments — News
Forgotten television by the autowitch (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/nUaS

The Future of Television Review is the CRTC’s Make or Break Moment

When Canada’s broadcast regulator embarked on the third and final phase of its consultations on the future of television regulation earlier this year, it left little doubt that a total overhaul was on the table. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) raised the possibility of eliminating longstanding pillars of broadcast regulation by creating mandatory channel choice for consumers, dropping simultaneous substitution and genre protection, as well as allowing virtually any non-Canadian service into the market.

For the growing number of Canadians hooked on Netflix or accustomed to watching their favourite programs whenever they want from the device of their choosing, none of this seems particularly revolutionary. Indeed, policies that reduce options, increase costs, or add regulation run counter to a marketplace in which public choice determines winners and losers.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the CRTC seems to understand that this is a make-or-break moment since policies that worked in a world of scarcity no longer make sense in a marketplace of abundance. Yet the first batch of responses from Canada’s broadcasters, broadcast distributors, and creator community suggests that most see the changing environment as a dire threat to their existence and hope to use regulation to delay future change.

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July 16, 2014 — 1 comment — Columns
Our Beloved Phone Company by Dennis S Hurd (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/8v9Mm9

CRTC Report Confirms Yet Again: Canadian Wireless Prices Among Most Expensive in G7

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission yesterday released the latest Wall Communications Report comparing prices for wireline, wireless, and Internet services in Canada and with foreign countries. While some initial reports focused on the increased wireless pricing for light wireless users (150 minutes per month with no data or texting) that was attributed to the shift from three-year contracts to two-year contracts, the bigger story is that Canadian wireless pricing is ranked among the three most expensive countries in the G7 in every tier.

The report measures four different baskets of users and for every usage Canada is one of the three most expensive countries in the survey (other countries include the US, UK, France, Australia, Japan, Germany, and Italy).

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July 15, 2014 — 10 comments — News
FAIL! by John Pasden (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/7w4eB3

Canadians That Access U.S. Netflix May Be in a Legal Grey Zone, But They Are Not Stealing

Netflix is enormously popular in Canada with millions using the online video service. While the Canadian version of Netflix has improved the scope of available titles since it launched, there are still differences with the U.S. service, leading some subscribers to use virtual private networks to mask their address and access U.S. Netflix. Are those subscribers “stealing” something? The Globe and Mail’s Simon Houpt apparently thinks so.

This weekend he wrote a column titled Even the Content Creators are Stealing Content, which focused on content creators who unapologetically download television shows or use virtual private networks to access U.S. Netflix from Canada. Accessing the U.S. Netflix service is common in many countries including Canada (see stories on Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.). Houpt argues that accessing the U.S. Netflix from Canada deprives creators of their fair share of earnings and make the creation of future shows less likely:

Paying for the Canadian service means your money goes to whoever holds the Canadian rights for the shows on Netflix. If you’re watching the U.S. service, the rights holders – that is, those who pay the creators to make the shows you’re actually watching – aren’t getting their fair share. That means they’re less likely to help get the next round of shows or movies green-lighted, making it harder for artists to get their projects off the ground.

Yet while the legal issues associated with accessing U.S. Netflix may be in a legal grey zone, the argument that creators are not paid seems wrong.

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July 14, 2014 — 37 comments — News
Please! By Josh Hallett (CC-BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/yALRk

In Defence of Canada’s Anti-Spam Law, Part Two: Why the Legislation Is Really a Consumer Protection and Privacy Law in Disguise

My first post defending Canada’s anti-spam law focused on why spam remains a problem and how the new law may help combat fraudulent spam and target Canadian-based spamming organization. Most would agree that these are legitimate goals, but critics of the law will argue that it still goes too far since it covers all commercial electronic messages, not just fraudulent or harmful messages.

If the law were only designed to deal with harmful spam, they would be right. However, the law was always envisioned as something more than just an anti-spam bill. Indeed, when it was first introduced, it was called the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, reflecting the fact that it was expressly designed to address online consumer protection issues (the name CASL was an unofficial working name developed within Industry Canada). The law has at least three goals: provide Canada with tough anti-spam rules, require software companies to better inform consumers about their programs before installation, and update Canadian privacy standards by re-allocating who bears the cost for the use of personal information in the digital environment.

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July 10, 2014 — 8 comments — News
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