TAGGED AS ALPHABET INC.
Heritage committee opens hearings on news compensation legislation
Media | 09/23/2022 5:56 pm EDT
The government’s plan to force social media platforms to negotiate compensation deals with Canadian news organizations is either “rent-seeking behavior” that will prop...
Streamers want changes to C-11 while Canadian creators urge passage of bill
Media | 09/22/2022 1:37 pm EDT
Multinational streaming platforms continue to decry the influence of the CRTC in the Online Streaming Act, calling for two amendments, while representatives of the Canadian music industry say Bill C-11 is needed as written to protect local content producers. The Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications continued to hold hearings into the bill Wednesday night....
Broadcasters want policy direction on C-11; streamers want their algorithms left alone
Media | 09/15/2022 7:51 pm EDT
Canadian broadcasting executives, from companies...
Former commissioner laughs at idea that CRTC is capable of handling C-11; PIAC advocates for static discoverability
Media | 09/15/2022 1:22 pm EDT
The idea that the CRTC is capable of handling the...
CRTC approves CISC working group report on location technology
telecom | 09/02/2022 5:06 pm EDT
Friday the CRTC approved a report from the CRTC Interconnection Steering...
Google loses patent infringement case against smart-speaker company
telecom | 08/16/2022 5:03 pm EDT
The Federal Court dismissed Alphabet Inc.’s Google patent infringement...
Quebec class-action goes after Google for $50 million
Media | 07/11/2022 5:25 pm EDT
The Superior Court of Quebec has authorized a class-action lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.'s Google for allegedly failing to obtain "sufficient consent" from individuals who do not require the creation of a Google account to collect their personal information when they use its...
Scott says platforms may be asked to ‘manipulate’ algorithms for Canadian discoverability
Media | 06/23/2022 10:49 am EDT
The CRTC chair has said that social media...
C-11 heads to Senate, over Conservative objections, after passing third reading in the House of Commons
Media | 06/21/2022 6:15 pm EDT
With the NDP and the Bloc Québécois supporting...
Rodriguez slams Tories for misinformation on Online Streaming Act
Media | 06/07/2022 3:45 pm EDT
Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez attacked the opposition for...
Foreign streamers wary of CRTC power under Online Streaming Act, CHPC told
Media | 06/02/2022 4:53 pm EDT
Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube believes the provisions of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, give too much power to the CRTC to regulate content, the company’s head of government affairs and public...
C-11 will “hang over the system until Supreme Court has spoken” over jurisdiction: Palmer
Media | 05/31/2022 6:29 pm EDT
A former senior general counsel at the Department...
Comp. laws are too focused on price: Lawson Hunter
Media | 05/16/2022 7:21 pm EDT
Canada's competition laws have become too sensitive to price, particularly in mergers, and should instead...
Tories put forward motion to kill Bill C-18, send “subject matter” to committee
Media | 05/13/2022 5:12 pm EDT
Conservative MP John Nater wants the Liberal government to withdraw its...
Tory MP attacks government for advertising on foreign media instead of local
Media | 05/05/2022 4:41 pm EDT
Conservative MP Martin Shields castigated the government for advertising on...
Quebec and French Canadian artists will be the losers if social media is unregulated, conference hears
Media | 05/04/2022 6:15 pm EDT
A Canadian cultural policy that adopts a laissez-faire, unregulated, approach to social media algorithms and discoverability requirements will harm Quebec and French Canadian...
Google says online age verification difficult to implement, up to content providers not search engines
Media | 04/06/2022 6:20 pm EDT
The implementation of age verification online is a...
UPDATED: Gov. launches Online News Act, will mandate bargaining between outlets and web giants for compensation
Media | 04/05/2022 1:06 pm EDT
New legislation from the Government of Canada will...
Google wins patent infringement decision in Federal Court
Media | 03/07/2022 2:34 pm EST
The Federal Court of Canada dismissed a motion for summary judgment brought...
Bill C-11 a new bill with no new ideas, and a ‘legal pretzel’ for censorship: CPC
Media | 03/01/2022 5:05 pm EST
For the second time in the span of a year, the...
Google says Canada pursuing unique approach to news compensation
Media | 02/23/2022 5:55 pm EST
Canada’s pending news media compensation legislation is based on key objectives and principles that Alphabet Inc.’s Google says is important when working with governments to create thoughtful internet regulations concerning platforms, something which the search engine...
B.C. court greenlights 1 of 3 class actions against Google for non-consensual data collection
Media | 02/04/2022 5:57 pm EST
A Supreme Court of British Columbia judge has...
Panelists call on government to rethink C-11
Media | 11/17/2021 4:59 pm EST
The Canadian government should broaden its consultation over its online harms bill, a Wednesday Canadian...
Quebec court moves ahead with proposed class-action against Google
Media | 11/02/2021 5:30 pm EDT
A Quebec Superior Court judge has rejected an application by Alphabet...
Google expands News Showcase program
Media | 10/27/2021 12:37 pm EDT
Alphabet Inc.'s Google is expanding its News Showcase program, announcing Wednesday that it has signed...
Court orders Google to turn over documents to Competition Bureau
Media | 10/22/2021 6:06 pm EDT
The Federal Court has ordered Alphabet Inc.'s Google to turn over a number...
Competition Bureau asks Court to compel Google records disclosure in inquiry into YouTube ad sales
Media | 10/18/2021 6:47 pm EDT
The Competition Bureau has asked a Federal Court...
Google seeks to appeal court decision on PIPEDA application
Media | 09/29/2021 4:47 pm EDT
Alphabet Inc.'s Google is appealing a July court decision that determined...
Feds launch copyright framework consultation for AI and IoT
Media | 07/16/2021 6:17 pm EDT
Canada wants to hear from stakeholders on how to modernize the Copyright Act to better include protections for new innovations and investments as new technologies develop. Friday, Heritage Canada...
Court decides PIPEDA applies to Google search, “right to be forgotten” debate kept alive
Media | 07/09/2021 5:39 pm EDT
A court decision that Canada’s federal private sector privacy legislation applies to Google’s search engine will keep the “right to be forgotten” debate alive and...
BTLR’s Yale encouraged by Australian news compensation model; too reliant on big tech, says OpenMedia
Media | 07/06/2021 6:18 pm EDT
An initiative explored this past month in a Senate...
Guilbeault setting guidelines for diverse content online
Media | 06/30/2021 4:17 pm EDT
In order to encourage more diverse content online, Heritage Minister Steven...
Google signs licensing deals with multiple Canadian news outlets
Media | 06/24/2021 4:23 pm EDT
Following a similar announcement from Facebook Inc. and promises from Heritage Minister Stephen Guilbeault to introduce legislation requiring compensation for news organizations’ content appearing on online platforms, Alphabet Inc.’s Google announced Thursday it has signed agreements with several Canadian news...
News advocacy group calls for action on content compensation legislation
Media | 06/09/2021 5:33 pm EDT
A group representing news outlets in Canada has put out a call to Premier...
ISED triples spectrum available for Wi-Fi
telecom | 05/19/2021 5:59 pm EDT
The federal government is making more spectrum available to increase competition, rural connectivity and the effective deployment of Wi-Fi and 5G technologies. On Wednesday, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, announced his department’s decision to open the 6 GHz band with the goal of increasing both affordability and choice in respect to wireless broadband for consumers. “More spectrum available for Wi-Fi means Canadians will benefit from increased speed and connectivity for working from home, participating in online education and accessing...
Freedom of expression safe from CRTC, says majority of C-10 expert panel
Media | 05/17/2021 6:16 pm EDT
The majority of the broadcasting experts invited before the House of...
Heritage and Justice ministers to appear before CHPC to address charter concerns
Media | 05/10/2021 6:25 pm EDT
The House of Commons’ Heritage Committee is moving forward with a charter...
Libs support C-10 charter review, but after full revision of bill: Dabrusin
Media | 05/03/2021 6:29 pm EDT
The Conservative party is “falsely accusing” the government of wanting...
Conservatives oppose C-10; watchdog Friends says criticism of exemption removal ‘overblown’
Media | 04/27/2021 2:56 pm EDT
The Conservatives “continue to oppose” Bill...
Facebook’s Australian news blockade won’t deter us: Guilbeault
Media | 02/18/2021 4:50 pm EST
The day after Facebook Inc. made good on its threat to block all news from...
Bloc pushes for web giants to support Canadian media
Media | 02/17/2021 5:10 pm EST
The Bloc Québécois is pushing the federal government to take “urgent” action to support local media by imposing new taxes on web giants such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. In the House of Commons...
Official language minority groups ask to be included in Broadcasting Act overhaul
Media | 02/01/2021 5:44 pm EST
The government’s draft legislation to reform Canada’s Broadcasting Act must be amended to explicitly include official language minority communities, stakeholders told the House of Commons heritage committee Monday, during its first hearing into Bill C-10. Representatives of the Fédération culturelle...
New privacy legislation mixed bag in terms of enforcement, experts say
telecom | 12/18/2020 1:24 pm EST
When the federal government’s proposed new privacy legislation, Bill...
Journalistic exemption under PIPEDA should apply to Google: CBC
Media | 11/26/2020 6:16 pm EST
In a case that could determine whether a "right to be forgotten" exists in Canada — and whether search engine results on Alphabet Inc.'s Google would be considered journalistic and thus exempt from de-indexing requests — CBC/Radio-Canada has told Federal Court that...
CRTC to have ‘roughly nine months’ to act on Broadcasting Act update
Media | 11/03/2020 11:11 am EST
The Liberal government’s long-awaited update to the Broadcasting Act...
Google $1B news initiative won’t stop new legislation, gov’t says
Media | 10/01/2020 7:34 pm EDT
An announcement Thursday from Alphabet Inc.'s Google that it would put...
Production sector to receive $50M in gov’t insurance support
Media | 09/25/2020 4:52 pm EDT
Independent producers will be able to access a $50 million insurance...
Back to Parliament: your (pandemic) preview
Media | 09/22/2020 12:43 pm EDT
Given the precarious situation around the now-escalating COVID-19 pandemic, what will actually be...
Google not shielded by journalistic protections, OPC tells court
Media | 09/11/2020 1:57 pm EDT
Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien has urged Federal Court to find the country’s private sector privacy law applies to the indexing of online content conducted by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, in a reference case seeking to determine if the law applies to search engine...
Guilbeault doubles down on web giant legislation plans
Media | 09/03/2020 5:06 pm EDT
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault Wednesday denounced what he called...
COVID has accelerated media ‘crisis’: report
Media | 08/26/2020 5:17 pm EDT
Canadian traditional media sources are in "crisis" as COVID-19 has exacerbated existing downward trends in advertising revenues, with shortfalls for local private broadcasters in the next two years...
Broadcasting sector reacts to O’Toole victory
Media | 08/24/2020 6:19 pm EDT
The election of Erin O'Toole as federal opposition leader late Sunday night makes "the threat of CBC...
UPDATED: OPC now says it supports COVID-19 tracing app
Media | 07/31/2020 8:52 am EDT
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has cleared up uncertainty about...
CIPPIC and CBC can intervene in de-indexing case, court rules
Media | 07/27/2020 5:16 pm EDT
Federal Court has said that both the CBC/Radio-Canada and the...
OPC signs joint letter to video conferencing platforms about privacy concerns
telecom | 07/22/2020 4:33 pm EDT
An open letter to online video teleconferencing (VTC) platforms signed by...
Telus hires Jacob Glick as VP public policy
telecom | 07/02/2020 5:26 pm EDT
Telus Corp. has hired Jacob Glick to be its vice-president of public policy. Glick was most recently the general counsel for North, a wearable technology eyewear company based in Kitchener-Waterloo. That company was acquired by...
Privacy commissioner hasn’t approved new gov’t contact tracing app
telecom | 06/18/2020 3:48 pm EDT
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that in developing the federal...
Gov’t to introduce web giant, CanCon, news legislation in fall: Guilbeault
Media | 06/16/2020 3:00 pm EDT
Legislation modernizing Canada’s Broadcasting Act is “pretty much ready” and will be tabled in Parliament in the fall, when the Liberal government also intends to...
Outdated privacy laws may hamper COVID-19 tracing: Therrien
telecom | 05/29/2020 7:00 pm EDT
The outdated state of Canadian privacy laws may harm efforts to launch a...
Google exec outlines privacy measures in new contact-tracing API
telecom | 05/22/2020 2:54 pm EDT
Colin McKay, head of public policy and government relations for Canada for...
Bains says he’s in ‘constant contact’ with telecoms over network capacity
telecom | 04/08/2020 4:24 pm EDT
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains says the...
Canada could track COVID-19 through cellphones: experts
telecom | 03/20/2020 3:25 pm EDT
As reports emerge of countries around the world using cellphone location...
BTLR on telecom: a Q&A with Janet Yale
Media | 02/14/2020 5:31 pm EST
In a phone interview with Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel chair Janet Yale, The Wire Report delved into the panel’s recommendations on the future of Canada’s telecom sector. The panel’s 198-page report on how to modernize Canada’s...
Confusion over Guilbeault remarks on BTLR online news recs
Media | 02/03/2020 1:27 pm EST
OTTAWA — On Monday Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, with some help...
CRTC should regulate foreign digital services, news sites: BTLR
Media | 01/29/2020 12:00 pm EST
The blue-ribbon panel tasked with modernizing Canada’s communications...
Facebook to lobby feds on digital services tax after election promises
Media | 11/21/2019 5:34 pm EST
Facebook Inc. has registered to lobby the federal government on “proposed...
Twitter lobbying on feds’ internet ad policy
Media | 11/18/2019 4:38 pm EST
Twitter Inc. has registered to lobby the federal government on its internet advertising policy, following the social media company’s ban on political ads on its platform globally. The registration, effective November 1, seeks...
U.S. trade organizations upset over proposed digital tax
Media | 11/15/2019 4:09 pm EST
In a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic and foreign affairs teams, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 14 other organizations have told the American government that they are concerned...
Privacy commissioners call for updated privacy law
telecom | 11/11/2019 5:58 pm EST
In a joint resolution, passed in Prince Edward Island last month and announced in Gatineau last week, federal, provincial and territorial information and privacy commissioners are calling on their respective governments to...
Consensus on ‘digital giants,’ data breaches in French debate
Media | 10/10/2019 11:57 pm EDT
Federal party leaders agreed Thursday evening in the last debate of the...
OECD seeks unified tax regime for web giants
telecom | 10/10/2019 5:49 pm EDT
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will host a public consultation next month on its proposed “unified approach” to the taxation of the world’s biggest tech companies. A document released by the...
Leaders talk Netflix taxes, privacy in TVA election debate
Media | 10/02/2019 10:51 pm EDT
During the first French-language debate of the federal election campaign, party leaders promised to take on digital giants, even as they dodged answering how they would do so without angering U.S. president Donald Trump.
Moderator Pierre Bruneau asked how the parties that...
Local Quebec radio groups want more gov’t ads
Media | 09/12/2019 5:25 pm EDT
Two local Quebec radio groups representing around 60 stations in the province are asking the provincial...
Helix will keep cord-cutters in Videotron ‘ecosystem,’ CEO says
Media | 08/27/2019 5:52 pm EDT
MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron unveiled its new Helix platform...
CBSA moving data to Amazon cloud amid security concerns
telecom | 08/13/2019 6:52 pm EDT
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is seeking assistance in moving...
CRTC commissioning report about market impact of online BDUs
Media | 08/09/2019 6:40 pm EDT
The CRTC wants to know more about the potential for the Canadian...
‘Deepfakes’ could trigger election security alert, gov’t officials say
Media | 07/09/2019 4:50 pm EDT
Artificial intelligence technology allowing videos to be seamlessly manipulated for political purposes could potentially meet a national public interest threshold designated...
CRTC asks wireless providers to justify post-data cap throttling
telecom | 07/04/2019 4:52 pm EDT
The CRTC has asked several telecoms to explain how their throttling of wireless speeds once customers exceed their data allotments doesn’t violate the commission’s regulatory policy on internet...
Close growing ‘value gap’ by eliminating safe harbour: Music Canada
Media | 06/26/2019 6:34 pm EDT
Music Canada, the trade organization which represents the Canadian divisions of some of the world’s largest record labels, has declared that the gap between what artists create and what they are...
Change safe harbour exemptions in Copyright Act, industry committee says
Media | 06/04/2019 6:27 pm EDT
The House industry committee is asking the Heritage committee to study...
Digital rights group studying privacy policies of political parties
Media | 05/15/2019 6:01 pm EDT
The Centre for Digital Rights has hired new lobbyists to help it research...
Facebook sets higher standards in guidelines than laws: Chan
Media | 05/10/2019 6:09 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Facebook Inc.’s head of public policy in Canada said Friday the platform’s community guidelines, “in many respects,” go above what is currently prescribed in Canadian law, as the...
Ethics committee grills Google over political ads decision
Media | 05/10/2019 2:31 pm EDT
OTTAWA — In an at-times tense hearing of the House of Commons ethics committee, executives from the Canada office of Alphabet Inc.’s Google made the case that the company was technologically...
Experts say there is no road map for a Facebook-OPC court fight
Media | 05/01/2019 4:17 pm EDT
If the Office of the Privacy Commissioner takes Facebook Inc. to Federal...
Court rejects Google motion to expand scope of deindexing case
Media | 04/17/2019 6:31 pm EDT
A chief Federal Court clerk has rejected Alphabet Inc.’s request to expand to constitutional questions the scope of a legal reference that seeks to determine whether Canada’s private sector...
Twitter registers social media education on lobby files
Media | 04/15/2019 4:05 pm EDT
Twitter Inc. has added a timely subject matter to its lobby files: educating federal officials on social media use during elections. The social media company updated its files last week to include “working with government agencies to help them understand how to use social media during elections.” The update is dated one day after the government released a new look on the status of cyber threats to the October election, finding that it is now “very likely” there would be interference when Canadians vote. But Monday’s announcement uncovered a substory, when Democratic...
Gov’t criticized by tech companies on cloud strategy for sensitive data
telecom | 04/03/2019 1:17 pm EDT
In the lead-up to a meeting with Amazon.com Inc., the government was...
Google would be regulating media under PIPEDA: counsel
Media | 03/21/2019 6:28 pm EDT
OTTAWA — If a court determines Google’s search engine falls under the country’s private sector privacy law, then that would effectively make the internet company a media regulator, counsel to...
Facebook forms team for advice on ad registry
Media | 03/18/2019 2:39 pm EDT
Facebook Inc. will solicit the advice of an advisory group as part of its effort to ensure its ad registry captures key issues leading to the 2019 federal election. The group of five will include former NDP deputy leader Megan...
OPC, AGC oppose Google expanding deindexing reference
Media | 03/14/2019 4:49 pm EDT
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) have filed appeals challenging Alphabet Inc.’s application to expand the scope of a deindexing case to include questions about whether forcing it to...
Incumbent competition ‘very aggressive’ against Fizz at launch
telecom | 03/13/2019 4:25 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc.’s company brass says its Fizz flanker brand is picking up speed in acquiring new subscribers during the first few months of 2019, following some turbulence...
Few internet giants weighed in to BTLR, submission list shows
telecom | 03/08/2019 4:13 pm EST
The panel in charge of reviewing the broadcasting and telecom acts received...
Google won’t run political ads in 2019 election
Media | 03/05/2019 4:01 pm EST
Alphabet Inc.’s search giant Google plans to ban political advertising from its platforms during the next federal election campaign in Canada, following the introduction of tougher political advertising transparency rules by...
Media parties dismissed in deindexing case, for now
Media | 03/04/2019 4:14 pm EST
The Federal Court has denied the CBC/Radio-Canada’s and the Media Coalition’s application to intervene in a case that will determine whether the privacy commissioner can order search engines to delist certain content -- at...
Shaw Rocket Fund wants CBC to broaden children’s programming
Media | 03/01/2019 4:54 pm EST
The Shaw Rocket Fund wants CBC/Radio-Canada to expand its focus on children’s content to reflect a broader age range and is asking for new communications legislation to ensure it has the funding...
Online discoverability a challenge for books, magazines, BTLR hears
Media | 02/25/2019 2:31 pm EST
Organizations representing Canadian publishers are flagging the difficulty...
YouTube top source of mobile traffic: Sandvine
Media | 02/18/2019 10:12 am EST
Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube makes up just over 35 per cent of worldwide mobile data traffic, making it the...
OPC’s deindexing position ‘indirect attack’ on CBC, lawyer says
Media | 02/11/2019 6:33 pm EST
OTTAWA — A lawyer for CBC/Radio-Canada who is asking the Federal Court to...
Don’t exclude online services from Broadcasting Act: Private radio
Media | 02/04/2019 12:00 pm EST
Canada’s private radio broadcasters are fighting against a push to keep...
TekSavvy launches IPTV service
Media | 02/01/2019 5:11 pm EST
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is now offering IPTV in Chatham, Ont., and the service will become available in other communities over the coming months, the company said Friday.
TekSavvy is offering the service with its affiliate Hastings Cable Vision Ltd., which the company partnered with in 2014.
It said in a press release that TekSavvy TV is currently available as an app for Apple Inc.’s Apple TV, Alphabet Inc.’s Android TV, and Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Fire Stick. It requires a subscription to TekSavvy’s internet...