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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Canada’s strategy to ensure that everyone from coast to coast to coast has access to affordable high speed Internet services is widely viewed as a failure and the source of ongoing frustration for many, particularly those in rural, remote and indigenous communities. Those communities often face the prospect of no broadband access or at best expensive, unreliable services. The Council of Canadian Academies recently convened an expert panel on High-Throughput Networks for Rural and Remote Communities in Canada.

The panel’s report is a must read for anyone concerned with equitable and affordable Internet access and the consequences of leaving many communities – particularly indigenous communities – behind. The panel was chaired by Karen Barnes, the former president of Yukon University and included Professor Catherine Middleton, the Director of the Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management at Ryerson University. They join the Law Bytes podcast this week  to discuss the panel, the report, and the recommendations for policy action.

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