Parliament resumes after a summer break today. While digital policies receded into the background over the past few months, the political intrigue of by-elections and a minority government without an NDP deal will be accompanied by questions about what happens to Bill C-63, Canada’s online harms bill, Bill C-27, the privacy and AI reform bill, Bill S-210, the age verification bill, and a myriad of other regulatory and policy issues. Matt Hatfield is Executive Director of Open Media, one of Canada’s leading digital rights organizations. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to break down where things stand and what other digital policies may command attention.
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The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan: Canadians Take a Stand Against Site Blocking
The Bell playbook for its website blocking proposal has largely followed a familiar narrative. Much like the “Fair for Canada” campaign in 2013 that was designed to convince Canadians that keeping foreign competitors such as Verizon out of the country was in their best interest, the FairPlay Canada campaign similarly tries to make the case that a coalition of supporters want the CRTC to institute website blocking without court orders. The campaign clearly starts with Bell: they first raised the issue in September at a House of Commons committee hearing, obtained the legal opinion to support the application (it is addressed to Bell), and used a closely allied law firm to draft the application.
BCCLA Files Lawsuit Over CSEC Surveillance
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has filed a lawsuit against the Communications Security Establishment Canada over its surveillance practices, which it argues are unconstitutional. Statement of claim is here, press release here, and media coverage here.
Open Media: Why High Cell Phone Bills Have Nothing to do With Canadian Geography
OpenMedia has an interesting post that takes a close look at the claim that the large Canadian geography is responsible for high cell phone prices. The post notes that coverage actually focuses on as little as 20 percent of the country.
Dear Parliament: Say No to the Internet Lockdown
Open Media has launched a campaign to encourage Canadians to speak out before Monday’s Bill C-11 meeting. The group makes it easy to speak out against SOPA style reforms, harms to fair dealing, and unduly restrictive digital lock rules. Postmedia’s Sarah Schmidt covers the upcoming amendments here.
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record 
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