So is the Online Streaming Act, aka Bill C-11, now technically S.C. 2023 c. 8 as of three days ago, as terrible as they say? Well let’s take an honest, clear-headed, unbiased read through this piece of crap and find out. Hey look at me, two timely blog posts in a row!
Well maybe that’s a good thing? Sure, the two leads are no longer with us, but think of the revival opportunity. Beachcombers 2018! That idea is my copyright CBC, don’t steal it.
I know what you’re saying – 2 posts in 3 days? Is Allen ill? It’s possible. But my physical and / or mental state notwithstanding, this is juicy and I had to write about it.
Look, I don’t like praising a public regulator any more than you like reading about me praising a public regulator. Yet when the CRTC strengthens net neutrality in Canada while our friends down south are essentially f*cked on the same subject, you gotta do what you gotta do.
I’m still thinking about what to write!
Sometimes you have have a lot to write about and sometimes you have nothing to write about. This is one of those times. So let’s write about all of it. And none of it.
Sure, it has to block a few websites to do it, but isn’t that a small price to pay?
That may be the best headline I’ve ever written. It should technically be “Dog poo + pedophilia + Facebook = $65,000”, but I was scared of what kind of click bait that would be. Thank you, B.C. Supreme Court!
The entire editorial team and staff here at AM.com have been anxiously waiting for someone to forward them a notice that they received through their ISP under the new notice and notice regime. Well, jackpot! We received one about a month ago, and since then we have received several more. A very kind person has allowed me to reprint it here, as a public service. And I will be ripping it apart.
Net neutrality is VERY important dammit. For the internet legal types (hello!) it’s always one of the most important topics of discussion around the ol’ water cooler. So when a communications behemoth like Bell decides to appeal a big neutrality decision, it should be a huge story. Like earlier this week, when it was widely reported that Bell Mobility filed some appeal documents in the Federal Court of Canada. But there are some real misconceptions about all this that yours truly is here to clear up in my usual irascible way.
Almost a month ago, Google announced some changes to their Terms of Service, including something that caused quite the hubbub, shared endorsements. You’ve got just a few days left to take action to avoid seeing your face in Google Ads. Well, unless you want to, you narcissist. Let’s take a good look at the new Terms of Service. What other fun stuff did Google put in?
As the summer winds down, we’ve been feeling kind of philosophical. What does it all mean, and all that. As a practicing lawyer, I tend to focus on the little picture. We’ve got a problem, it relates to one thing, we try to solve it. FOCUS, dammit. That translates to the way I’ve written here at AM.com. A new piece of legislation passes, an interesting court case comes out, some government body releases a report, and we write about the minute details of a very small slice of law and the internet. We’ve never really looked at the big picture and the big issues. Until now.
If you have read the news in the last couple of weeks, or turned on CBC radio, or listened to talk radio, you may have read some quotes from me or heard the dulcet tones of my voice. I have been media whoring like, well, a media whore. Last week it was the Brian Burke lawsuit. This week it was the sad story of the British Columbia teacher who was totally screwed by his ex-girlfriend online and is still suffering for it. These cases have brought to light the messy ugly side of the internet. Or as some people have argued, a terrible overreaction in the Brian Burke case. Let’s use these cases to talk about online defamation, what you should know about it, and the effects on you as both a potential plaintiff and defendant, you cocksucking whore (see what i did there?).
I am a lawyer specializing in internet law working out of Montreal, though sometimes I do it in front of the U.S. Capitol. That should tell you what you need to know about internet law in Canada. I also warp young legal minds at the Faculty of Law at McGill.
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