Topic Regulatory regime in Canada

All spam in Canada to disappear July 1, 2014

Internet law basics, Regulatory regime in Canada

spammmmmmm

Last Wednesday, the government announced that Bill C-28, aka Canada’s Anti-Spam law, aka CASL, aka “An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act” (no really that’s its official title, click the link) will come into force July 1, 2014, thus putting an end to spam in Canada forever. Or something like that.

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Tell the government your cell phone contract sucks

Regulatory regime in Canada

The CRTC (admittedly not the government per se) is accepting public consultations, via internet! Since my readers evidently use the internet, and most likely are beholden to some evil Bell or Rogers contract, they may be interested in this. Here’s the background from the CRTC:

The CRTC decided to develop a mandatory Wireless Code to help consumers make informed choices about wireless services. Once completed, the Wireless Code will provide a clear and consistent list of terms and conditions that wireless companies will need to include in their contracts.

So what they’ve done, in the throes of their new consumer-friendly ‘tude, is to to develop a spiffy new website (well, not really spiffy, kinda boring actually) so that you can give them your opinion about wireless contracts. They may even listen! So go tell them your contract sucks.

CRTC kills the Bell-Astral deal, but Bell is going over daddy’s head to mommy – UPDATED

Regulatory regime in Canada

colourful

Not in the cards. For now.

Good news for a Friday! Well, unless you’re a fan of media conglomeration I guess. The CRTC has flat out rejected Bell’s request for approval of their planned buyout of Astral. Not hemming and hawing like they usually do, but just stone-cold giving Bell the finger. But Bell won’t take this decision lying down, they’ve got plans! Evil, nefarious plans!

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Hot government regulatory hearing action!

Regulatory regime in Canada

it's purdy

THE FUTURE IS BEING DECIDED THIS WEEK, PEOPLE!!! Ok, that’s a bit hyperbolic, as is my habit. But the CRTC hearings on the Bell purchase of Astral Media that are happening this week in Montreal are extremely important for the future of broadcasting in this country. And more importantly for me, they will undoubtedly have a massive impact on the internet for computers. Let’s break down the hearings with the handy FAQ format that all the kids love.

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All Hail our New CRTC Overlord

Regulatory regime in Canada

ugh

Yes this is Stephen Harper. That's the point.

On Friday (news dump day), the Conservative government announced their choice to replace Konrad “The Killer” von Finckenstein as head of the CRTC, starting June 18th. His name is Jean-Pierre Blais, and he’s… some guy. He’s a lawyer (ugh), and he has held high-level government positions at the Treasury Board, Department of Canadian Heritage, and even the CRTC itself. So, lifelong bureaucrat. Here’s the money blockquote from the article linked above:

Telecom insiders predict Mr. Blais, 51, is more likely to anticipate and comply with Conservative government policy leanings.

Looks like Harper got himself a yes-man. Don’t get me wrong, this guy has experience in the CRTC and was its general counsel, so he understands the issues. Doing something about those issues that benefits the people of Canada instead of the giant media corporations? Well, we’re gonna have five years of this guy to answer that question.

“Lawful” Access Shenanigans!

Internet law basics, Privacy, Regulatory regime in Canada

Vic vic vic [sigh]It’s been my dream to use the word “shenanigans” in a blog post for a long time. I really love the word; it’s got such a nice old-timey feel to it. So what would you call a bunch of ISPs, telecom companies, and industry groups getting together with the government in secret before the introduction of Vic Toews’ old friend, Bill C-30, The Catching Sexual Predators / Internet Spying / “Lawful” Access Bill? You are correct, sir. SHENANIGANS.

So Michael Geist (or more likely his army of students) did some yeoman’s work in filing an Access to Information request. They hit the motherload. Let Mr. Geist explain what they found:

in the months leading up to the introduction Bill C-30, Canada’s telecom companies worked actively with government officials to identify key issues and to develop a secret Industry – Government Collaborative Forum on Lawful Access.

Lovely! So in January 2012, a bunch of industry types and government reps sat down for a meeting. All the big boys were there – Rogers, Bell, Vidéotron. After some coffee and delicious muffins (or so I assume, maybe they were danishes), they sat around and figured out how to fuck over their subscribers at the government’s request. Fun! Just so you know they were serious:

representatives have been granted Government of Canada Secret level security clearance and signed non-disclosure agreements

So we’ve got the country’s oligopolisitic media / telecom companies and the government colluding in secret to try to pass legislation no one in the public wants. Just another day at the office.

Open internet, hell yeah!

Regulatory regime in Canada

All bits are equal - fucking AThere was a big win today for the open, free internet we’ve come to know and love. The United States Senate rejected a law that would have overturned the net neutrality rules established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year. The vote was completely along party lines, with all the Democrats voting to reject, so that should tell you what side of this debate you should be on.

Now, I’m supposed to be talking about internet law in Canada around here, so after the jump I’ll figure out some way to bring this all back home.

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