Pablo Rodriguez Twitter, February 2, 2022, https://mobile.twitter.com/pablorodriguez/status/1489039462579453958

Episode 116: Is This Podcast a Program Subject to CRTC Regulation Under Bill C-11?

The government’s Internet regulation plans were back on the agenda last week as a “what we heard report” was released on online harms and Bill C-11 – the sequel to last year’s controversial Bill C-10 – was introduced by Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez. The Law Bytes podcast will devote several episodes to the bill in the coming months. For this week, however, rather than inviting a guest to discuss a bill that people are still assessing, I appear solo and walk through the bill’s provisions involving user generated content. The podcast also highlights several ongoing concerns involving the near-unlimited jurisdictional scope of the bill, the considerable uncertainty for all stakeholders, the misplaced trust in the CRTC, and the weak evidentiary case for the bill.

Read more ›

February 7, 2022 1 comment
tax collector parking by Jodi Green https://flic.kr/p/a76ttm (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Episode 115: Reuven Avi-Yonah on the Past, Present and Future of Digital Services Taxes

There has been mounting concern over the past few years over whether some of the world’s largest companies – primarily big tech – pay their fair share of taxes. This issue has arisen in countries around the world leading to new digital services taxes that primarily target the U.S. tech giants and which in turn often leads to the U.S. threatening to retaliate in response. Canada now finds itself embroiled in these battles as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has proposed a retroactive digital services tax to take effect in 2024 if by that time a newly reached OECD agreement has not taken effect. Professor Reuven Avi-Yonah is a law professor at the University of Michigan and director of the school’s international tax LLM program.  He joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss digital services taxes, the OECD deal, and what might happen if the international agreement falls apart.

Read more ›

January 31, 2022 0 comments
Ron Deibert - re:publica 2014, Tag 2 by republica/Gregor Fischer, 07.05.2014 CC-BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/nwP5Aq

Episode 114: The Citizen Lab’s Ron Deibert on Protecting Society from Surveillance Software

The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, led by Professor Ron Deibert, has a well-earned reputation for uncovering surveillance technologies and security vulnerabilities with research and reports that attract immediate attention worldwide. Professor Deibert has won an incredible array of awards and accolades for his remarkable work, including the Order of Ontario and the EFF’s Pioneer Award. In 2020, he delivered the Massey Lectures, based on his book for the lectures, Reset:  Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. Professor Deibert joins the Law Bytes podcast to talk about the lab, his work, and the threat of what he calls “despotism as a service”, where spyware is used to target journalists, activists, and civil society groups.

Read more ›

January 24, 2022 0 comments
iPhone Display Break Repair by Aaron Yoo (CC BY-ND 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/thebetterday4u/49876425896

Episode 112: Aaron Perzanowski on the Right to Repair

The right to repair, whether consumer electronics, farm machinery or even health and medical equipment, is an issue that affects everyone. Given the implications for consumer and property rights, the sustainability of the agricultural sector, and protecting the environment, ensuring a right to repair would seem like an obvious political winner. Yet the issue has lagged, not the least of which because of restrictive copyright laws that can limit the ability to repair personal property.

Aaron Perzanowski is a law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio and the Associate Director of the Spangenberg Center for Law, Technology & the Arts. Professor Perzanowski is the author of the forthcoming book, The Right to Repair, to be published by Cambridge University Press early next year. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to explain why the right to repair matters, how copyright fits into this, and what reforms are needed to address the issue.

Read more ›

December 13, 2021 0 comments
"The biggest security breach EVER!" by K e v i n (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/coyotecreek/2523281066/

Episode 111: The Story Behind JusTech – How Three University of Ottawa Law Students Created a Technology Compliance Solution for Privacy Breach Rules

Privacy breaches have become increasingly commonplace as businesses of all sizes grapple with how to  keep customer information secure and what to do when things go wrong. The issue is particularly challenging for small and medium sized business, who are forced to navigate a regulatory framework that isn’t easy and can be extremely expensive. Enter JusTech, a project launched by Ritesh Kotak, Ayushi Dave, and Ryan Mosoff, three University of Ottawa law students who leveraged legal innovation hackathons to create a free online service that walks small businesses through the regulations and makes compliance manageable. I’ve been proud to serve as an advisor to JusTech, which provides some notable lessons on legal innovation and privacy law. Ritesh, Ayusha, and Ryan join the Law Bytes podcast to discuss.

Read more ›

December 6, 2021 1 comment