Post Tagged with: "new media"

ISP Tax May Be The Next Big Culture Funding Fight

Appeared in the Toronto Star on October 6, 2008 as Is An Internet Tax Coming? The emergence of cultural funding as a hot-button political issue in the current election campaign appears to have taken virtually everyone by surprise. The roughly $50 million in cuts may be tiny in terms of […]

October 6, 2008 — 3 comments — Columns Archive

Public Policy Consultations No Field of Dreams

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the release last week of the results of a CRTC public online consultation on new media that will feed into hearings on the issue early next year. Given that it was a consultation on new media, the Commission established a special website last spring for the month-long consultation and commissioned noted pollster Nik Nanos to serve as moderator and report back on the results. The Nanos report does not cast judgment on the success of the consultation – it merely reports the factual results – but there is no hiding the fact that by Internet standards the consultation failed to attract a large audience. Over the course of an entire month, the website generated just over 2,500 unique visitors with an average of 84 visitors per day. Only 284 Canadians registered with site, posting a total of 278 comments.

I argue that while the Commission should be commended for trying, it is clear that public consultations are no field of dreams – it takes more than a "if you build it, they will come" approach. With the increasing desire of governments and businesses to use the Internet as a tool for public feedback, it is worth examining why the consultation failed to spark significant interest.

September 16, 2008 — 8 comments — Columns

Prentice Focuses on New Media, Networks As Research Priorities

Industry Minister Jim Prentice today accepted the recommendations for specific research priorities as part of Canada's Science & Technology Strategy. Identified sub-priorities include new media, wireless and broadband networks, as well as telecom equipment.

September 2, 2008 — 2 comments — News

Competition Bureau Warns CRTC Against New Media Intervention

The Canadian Competition Bureau has waded into the CRTC's new media regulation debate with a submission that pretty clearly sides with a no-intervention approach. While couched in language that gives the CRTC some flexibility, the Bureau is at pains to note that no intervention may be needed, that regulation carries […]

July 15, 2008 — 7 comments — News

Canadian ISP Alliance Forms For New Media Fight

Canada's leading telecommunications and cable companies have formed the Canadian ISP Alliance as they gear up for the forthcoming fight at the CRTC over a potential new levy on ISP services. The ISP Alliance, which includes all the major Canadian players (Quebecor, Rogers, Cogeco, Telus, MTS Allstream, Shaw, Sasktel, Eastlink, Bell, and Bell Aliant) argues that the CRTC's plans to revisit the 1999 new media exemption order is unnecessary. While the ISP Alliance is not alone in making that argument (the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and ITAC reach the same conclusion), their submission is noteworthy because it includes a legal opinion that argues that the CRTC does not have the legal authority under the Broadcasting Act to impose a new levy on ISPs (the levy is being promoted by several groups including ACTRA).

The legal opinion from Fasken Martineau DuMoulin first tries to make an analogy to satellite services, which similarly transmit video and audio content, yet have not been regulated as broadcast undertakings. The opinion also notes the functional separation between telecommunications and broadcast regulation, arguing that it was the clear intent of Parliament to regulate broadcasters in the Broadcasting Act and telecom companies in the Telecommunications Act.

While the legal opinion makes no reference to net neutrality, the issue could ultimately play a pivotal role.

July 15, 2008 — 4 comments — News