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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 focus more on the role of innovation and change, according to a Canadian competition and regulatory lawyer.
Lawson Hunter, a former senior civil servant involved in...
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 Online News Act and instead send the “subject matter” to the House of Commons Heritage Committee,...
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...
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 by Sonos Inc. against Alphabet Inc.’s Google. The case revolves around allegations of patent infringement by Sonos.
Both companies manufacture devices for reconfiguring noise suppression and...
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...
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 that federal privacy law did in fact apply to the company after the matter was brought forward in a reference case by the federal privacy watchdog.
In a Tuesday filing with the Federal Court of...
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...
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 publishers for a new program. Google said in a release Thursday that participating news groups, including The Globe and Mail and Black Press Media, signed up to take part in “Google News Showcase,” a product and licensing program that allows newsrooms to curate their content for readers across the Google News app and its Discover panels. “These deals will help support Canadian newsrooms that provide comprehensive general-interest news to the communities they serve....
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...
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 canadienne-française and the Quebec English-language Production Council both told the committee that the Bill should be amended to specifically reference the communities, which consist of Anglophones in Quebec and Francophones in the rest of Canada. QEPC co-chair Kenneth Hirsch said the legislation reforming the broadcasting sector was “more desperately needed than anything...
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...
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 backstop to help get TV and film productions off the ground despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday.
The Short-Term Compensation Fund for Canadian Audiovisual...
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...
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 Alphabet Inc.'s Google, it announced on Tuesday. Thursday Glick announced through a tweet that he's been hired by Telus, and said in the tweet he was "excited to join a Canadian company with global ambitions and deep commitment to our communities." Before his position at the eyewear company, Glick was chief corporate affairs officer at Rogers Communications...
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...
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 strength of Canada’s telecommunications networks has been on “full display” during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they have coped...
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,...
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 election campaign on the need for big online companies to pay more in taxes, for the government to...
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,...
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 certain data on Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud services, just as the e-commerce giant comes under scrutiny after a hack of its servers leaked millions of personal data records at an American bank.
Late...
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...
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 over the social media and data giant’s refusal to implement the office’s recommendations, the case will be the first of its kind — testing the limits of Canada’s privacy legislation,...
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...
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 Leslie, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff Ray Novak, University of Manitoba’s Ry Moran, McGill University’s Antonia Maioni, and University of Victoria professor David Zussman, it said in a Monday press release. The company announced in the release details of its “Ad Library,” which intends to fulfill a legal requirement under elections...
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...
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 allow it to intervene in a case that could determine if the Office of the Privacy Commissioner...
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...
YouTube limiting promotion of conspiracy videos and ‘borderline content’
Media | 01/28/2019 4:47 pm EST
Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube says it plans to tamp down on the spread of misleading, fake or conspiratorial video content that gets recommended for its users to watch by limiting the promotion of...
Be ‘wary’ of regulating online speech: Facebook
Media | 01/22/2019 5:57 pm EST
While online misinformation needs to be taken seriously, that doesn’t...
Preventing LGBTQ content discrimination raised in BTLR consults
Media | 01/21/2019 4:15 pm EST
The CEO of an independent specialty TV channel is raising concerns that a lack of regulation could let foreign-based digital companies operating in Canada de-monetize or discriminate against types of Canadian content based on cultural values, such as works made by the LGBTQ community. Brad Danks, the CEO of OUTtv Network Inc., a Canadian-based LGBTQ television network, raised the point in his company’s consultation submission to the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel -- the expert group studying how to modernize Canada’s communications legal and regulatory...
Platforms could pull out of Canadian market if regulated: Google
Media | 01/16/2019 2:17 pm EST
Alphabet Inc.’s Google already contributes to the Canadian creative...
Most Canadians support ‘right to be forgotten’: poll
telecom | 01/07/2019 3:01 pm EST
Canadians appear to be generally in favour of the ‘right to be forgotten’, with most showing support for the idea and a majority saying they would support having it set out in Canadian law,...
ARIN asks Parliament to require ISPs to maintain Whois info
telecom | 01/04/2019 6:21 pm EST
The organization responsible for allocating IP numbers to intermediaries in...
MPs onside with alcohol ad standards
telecom | 12/13/2018 11:57 am EST
An industry group has created a code of conduct governing the content and application of beer...
Cellular search-and-rescue system RCAF’s domestic priority
telecom | 12/07/2018 9:35 am EST
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is currently testing radio technology...
Consumer groups warn MPs against site-blocking pitches
Media | 11/06/2018 1:55 pm EST
OTTAWA — Consumer advocacy groups are cautioning MPs against proposals that would make site-blocking in Canada easier, after a push for those anti-piracy policies failed at the CRTC failed last...
Google Canada on the defense over Google+, Sidewalk Labs
Media | 10/23/2018 5:57 pm EDT
Colin McKay, head of public policy and government relations for Alphabet...
OPC asks for more flexibility on info sharing with CRTC
telecom | 10/16/2018 4:38 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Canada’s federal privacy watchdog asked a Senate committee...
Canada waiting on other countries for new digital tax rules: Morneau
Media | 10/12/2018 5:23 pm EDT
Canada has been “pushing hard” to speed up development of a plan for the G20 to “make sure that digital companies pay their fair share of tax,” Canada’s Finance...