#lawbytespod

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 215: Jan Grabowski on Wikipedia’s Antisemitism Problem

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 215: Jan Grabowski on Wikipedia’s Antisemitism Problem

This podcast drops on Monday, October 7th, the one-year anniversary of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. I’ve largely kept the issue the rising tide of antisemitism since the Hamas terrorist attacks off the Law Bytes podcast, but those that follow my work will know that I have been vocal on social media and the mainstream media expressing my shock and concern. This episode blends…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 218: Emily Laidlaw and Taylor Owen on Saving the Online Harms Act

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 218: Emily Laidlaw and Taylor Owen on Saving the Online Harms Act

The Online Harms Act or Bill C-63 was introduced last February after years of false starts, public consultations, and debates. Months later, the bill appears to be stalled in the House of Commons and has yet to make it to committee for further study. Some view that as a win, given their criticism of the bill, though others who have waited years for action against online harms are beginning to…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 217: David Fraser on the Privacy Implications of the Federal Court of Appeal’s Facebook Ruling

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 217: David Fraser on the Privacy Implications of the Federal Court of Appeal’s Facebook Ruling

It has been many years since the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal captured headlines. The services at the heart of the case no longer exist, but the legal case in Canada continues to march on. Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision that had largely sided with Facebook. In its place, it released a new decision that includes and analysis of…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 216: Game Changer or More of the Same? Patrick Leblond on the New Global E-Commerce Agreement

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 216: Game Changer or More of the Same? Patrick Leblond on the New Global E-Commerce Agreement

For over 25 years, the World Trade Organization, an intergovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade, has grappled with how to engage with e-commerce. What started as a moratorium on customs duties has expanded into the development of a new agreement that touches on a wide range of issues including privacy, data localization, and…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 214: Erin Millar on Trust in Media and the Implementation of the Online News Act

Questions about trust in the media have escalated in Canada in recent months as with each error or questionable tweet, there is seemingly an inevitable chorus of concerns that raise doubts about the implications of government regulation and funding of the media. So where is the Online News Act at right now? What of the new collective designed to distribute the $100 million that Google agreed to…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 212: Matt Hatfield on the State of Canadian Digital Policy as Politicians Return from the Summer Recess

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…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 210: Meredith Lilly on the Trade Risks Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax and Mandated Streaming Payments

The battle over a digital services tax has been the subject of Law Bytes podcast episodes for several years as the Canadian government signalled its intent to move ahead with one even as US officials warned of risks of trade retaliation if they did so outside of an international framework. With the DST now in effect, what does trade law have to say and how might the US respond? Meredith Lilly is…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 209: Peter Menzies on Why the Canadian News Sector is Broken and How to Fix It

It isn’t news that the Canadian news sector is broken: the Online News Act has caused more harm the good, the dependence on government funding and regulation has grown dramatically and undermined public trust, and implementing Bill C-18 has become mired in controversy. Peter Menzies spent three decades as a working journalist and newspaper executive, most notably with the Calgary Herald where he…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 208: Will Page on Why the CRTC’s Bill C-11 Ruling is Discriminatory and May Ultimately Hurt the Canadian Music Market

The recent CRTC Bill C-11 decision mandating that streaming services pay 5 percent of their revenues has left seemingly everyone unhappy and has sparked multiple legal challenges.  While much of the focus has been on video streaming, music was a core part of Bill C-11 and the implications for music streaming services may be the most pronounced. Will Page is the perfect person to unpack these…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 207: The State of Digital Law and Policy in Canada as Parliament Breaks for the Summer

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 207: The State of Digital Law and Policy in Canada as Parliament Breaks for the Summer

Parliament adjourned for the summer last week, meaning both the House of Commons and Senate are largely on hold until mid-September. The Law Bytes podcast focuses intensively on Canadian legislative and digital policy developments and with another Parliamentary year in the books, this week’s episode takes a look back and take stock of where things stand. It features discussion on the…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 206: James Plotkin and David Fewer on Canada's Landmark Copyright Ruling on Fair Dealing and Digital Locks

The debate over copyright and digital locks – technically referred to as anti-circumvention legislation – dates back more than 25 years with creation of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Internet Treaties and later in Canada with the enactment of the Copyright Modernization Act. The full scope and application of those digital lock rules has been the subject of considerable…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 205: Len St-Aubin on What the CRTC’s Internet Streaming Ruling Means For Creators, Competition and Consumer Costs

Last week, the CRTC released its much-anticipated Bill C-11 ruling on the initial mandated contributions from Internet streaming services. While the government focused on the requirement to contribute 5% of Canadian revenues, a closer look revealed the CRTC largely ignored industry data and the actual contributions from Internet streaming services and seemed entirely unconcerned by the effects on…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 204: What Could Have Been for the Bill S-210 Hearings

Bill S-210, the mandated age verification bill for pornography sites that in reality targets everything from Google Search to Netflix, was expected to be the subject of extensive hearings by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. But after a Conservative filibuster, it appears that there will be only one hearing and that the bill will be reported back to the House…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 203: Andrew Clement on Calls to Separate Privacy Reform and Artificial Intelligence Regulation in Bill C-27

Bill C-27, Canada’s proposed privacy reform and AI regulation bill, continues to slowly work its way through the committee process at the House of Commons with the clause-by-clause review of the AI portion of the bill still weeks or even months away. Recently a group of nearly 60 leading civil society organizations, corporations, experts and academics released an open letter calling on the…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 202: David Soberman on the Reality Behind Claims Canadian Wireless Prices Have Been Cut in Half

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently claimed that “we’ve cut the cost of cell phone plans in half since 2019 – in part by increasing competition.” Is that true? What is the real state of Canadian wireless competition and how does pricing compare with other countries? To help answer those questions, this week David Soberman, a Professor of Marketing at the Rotman School of Management at the…

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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 201: Robert Diab on the Billion Dollar Lawsuits Launched By Ontario School Boards Against Social Media Giants

Concerns about the impact of social media on youth have been brewing for a long time, but in recent months a new battleground has emerged: the courts, who are home to lawsuits launched by school boards seeking billions in compensation and demands that the social media giants change their products to better protect kids. Those lawsuits have now come to Canada with four Ontario school boards…