Bill C-10

[Glacier]

I don't even know how this would work. Like how is the CRTC going to force YouTube to post 30% Canadian content for Canadians? Whether we like it or not, we live in a globalized world, and there's nothing the regulators can do to stop that.

The Bill won't really change anything because it's impossible to regulate as they wish, but the real danger is the mindset that conceives of such a bill.

Anyway, here is what Rex Murphy has to say about it: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-mu ... ation-bill

And here is what JJ McCullough has to say (an excellent summary of the Bill)..

[The Green Barbarian]

yes, perhaps someone should educate these fools on how VPN's work.

[The Green Barbarian]

So who started this whole mess and sent this ball of stupid rolling down the hill of dumbness that the Liberals love to sit on? Quebec of course. Almost everything stupid in Canada starts with Quebec and their entitlements. Everything else in Canada is secondary to that. Always.

Peter Menzies: Who's killing free internet speech? Canada's culture industry

Canada’s cultural sector, long a champion of rights and social justice, now finds itself — despite Monday’s government pullback — in the awkward position of having inspired the mugging of free speech and expression on the internet.

To say this is a unique position for this group, which has successfully lobbied the federal government to “get money from web giants,” is an understatement. Whether through courageous historic battles on behalf of artistic freedom or leading the vanguard on behalf of women’s rights, gay rights, trans rights, Indigenous rights, workers’ rights, the battle against racism and more, no single group can claim more success in the virtuous use of its profile to advance progressive causes.

And yet today many wonderful people in the nation’s cultural community stand hand-in-hand with Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, architect of Bill C-10 which will place the internet under the control of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Its nine unelected, unaccountable commissioners will decide if your Facebook post or Youtube video is appropriate internet content. Coming up, Gulbeault has promised more legislation to establish another regulatory panel to oversee what sort of things people may say on social media. All of this constitutes an outrageous abuse of government authority and if not a boot on the neck at least a firm hand on the larynx of Canadians’ right to legal speech and expression.

SNIP

It all started innocently enough, on Sept. 28, 2017 when Melanie Joly, a smart, progressive Heritage Minister in tune with 21st-century communications trends, announced the launch of Netflix Canada, which committed to spending no less than $100 million annually for five years. This sounded great to many (Netflix went on to spend more than that) and the nation’s film and television production sector then recorded its two most fruitful years.

The cultural sector in Montreal, however, pretty much lost its mind. Quebec Culture Minister Luc Fortin, describing himself as angry and speechless, nevertheless managed to spit out that “You can’t rely on the invisible hand of the market to ensure that the French fact will turn up on digital platforms.” Sophie Prégent of the Union des Artistes declared that “the fire has spread everywhere.”

You see, the francophone film and television sector in Canada is accustomed to getting one-third of all funds. Joly failed to ensure Netflix had a designated commitment in line with this tradition and in the following months she was shuffled out, reviews were called for and eventually Guilbeault declared war on “web giants” from whom he would extract hundreds of millions of dollars.

That’s how the parade got started. And once it did, it picked up a lot of other floats and marching bands that had bones to pick with internet-based competitors that threatened their profitable, CRTC-protected world. This led Guilbeault to believe he could fix all of their woes by stuffing internet content and the 21st century into the Broadcasting Act, a very 20th-century construction. Last Nov. 3 — U.S. election day — he introduced Bill C-10 into the House of Commons.

SNIP

Last week, Canadians finally realized that Guilbeault, the cable companies, film-makers and musicians were prepared to regulate individuals’ online expression if that meant getting what they wanted. It’s unlikely that’s the outcome Canada’s creative core was looking for when all this began. Guibeault could have taxed the web giants without regulating the internet but he got greedy. His reach having exceeded his grasp, Bill C-10 is still — despite his promises of a death bed conversion — a national embarrassment and Canada’s cultural sector needs to do the right thing and step away from it.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... d=msedgntp

The Liberals are such utter brainless fools.

[The Green Barbarian]

NP View: Bill C-10 is a mess — culture is dictated by the masses, not crusading Liberals

Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault appeared to back down Monday after the Liberals made changes to Bill C-10 that would have allowed the CRTC to regulate user-generated videos posted to sites like YouTube as if they were television programs. He now promises to make it “crystal clear” that the “content people upload on social media won’t be considered as programming under the act.” If he follows through on his promise, it will likely appease the NDP, which belatedly raised concerns about free expression, but it should still concern Canadians that the mandarins in Ottawa believe it is their duty to exert control over the cultural content we produce and consume.

It wasn’t that long ago when broadcasting a radio show required expensive recording equipment and high-powered transmitters, and producing anything more elaborate than a home video was only within the purview of a handful of television networks and Hollywood studios. It was in this era that Canada developed its fixation with protecting its domestic cultural industries from the “threat” of American manifest destiny expressed through a form of cultural imperialism.

This type of adolescent thinking led to our current system of Canadian content (Cancon) regulations, which acts as both a government-enforced subsidy to Canadian artists and producers, as well as a significant handicap for broadcasters who now compete in an international market that’s dominated by tech companies like Netflix and Amazon.

Bill C-10 is ostensibly trying to address this imbalance by bringing these companies under the jurisdiction of the CRTC, and thus subject to similar Cancon restrictions — in effect, pulling new media companies into our antiquated 20th-century regulatory environment, instead of doing away with the regulations that don’t meet the needs of the 21st century.

Guilbeault says that C-10 is about getting the “web giants to pay their fair share when it comes to Canadian culture.” It’s a laudable goal given that companies like Google and Facebook have used their oligopolies in the advertising, search and social media markets to devastate the news business in Canada, and around the world. But while countries like France and Australia have been addressing this issue through legislation designed to give media companies more intellectual property rights, Guilbeault has been distracted with dictating what Canadians watch on TV or post on YouTube.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... d=msedgntp

[hobbyguy]

C-10 is a baby step toward addressing a problem that is in the category of top of mind for many. Misinformation and fake news. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, it is #5 on the list of concerns.

Whether or not it will be effective is another story, but you have to start somewhere with an effort to rein in the gong show that Zuckerburg et al have created.

Part of C-10, as I understand it, is to get Zuckerburg et al to separately and properly report the profits they make in Canada. That will help down the road with taxation fairness etc.

So there are a number of issues involved. Getting the balance right is tricky, but I don't think doing nothing is appropriate.

[mikest2]

C-10 is a baby step toward addressing a problem that is in the category of top of mind for many. Misinformation and fake news. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, it is #5 on the list of concerns.

Whether or not it will be effective is another story, but you have to start somewhere with an effort to rein in the gong show that Zuckerburg et al have created.

Part of C-10, as I understand it, is to get Zuckerburg et al to separately and properly report the profits they make in Canada. That will help down the road with taxation fairness etc.

So there are a number of issues involved. Getting the balance right is tricky, but I don't think doing nothing is appropriate.

Many people are way too gullible, I'm old, and I have never believed everything I read.
Misinformation is not a new thing, when I was young we called it propaganda. Same as today, and propaganda does not flow solely from citizens.

[hobbyguy]

C-10 is a baby step toward addressing a problem that is in the category of top of mind for many. Misinformation and fake news. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, it is #5 on the list of concerns.

Whether or not it will be effective is another story, but you have to start somewhere with an effort to rein in the gong show that Zuckerburg et al have created.

Part of C-10, as I understand it, is to get Zuckerburg et al to separately and properly report the profits they make in Canada. That will help down the road with taxation fairness etc.

So there are a number of issues involved. Getting the balance right is tricky, but I don't think doing nothing is appropriate.

Many people are way too gullible, I'm old, and I have never believed everything I read.
Misinformation is not a new thing, when I was young we called it propaganda. Same as today, and propaganda does not flow solely from citizens.

Unfortunately only something like 26% of people practice good information hygiene. That makes fake news and misinformation a serious threat. I'm not sold on the CRTC being the right mechanism, however perhaps if the CRTC does try, they might be forced to move into the 21st century.

[mikest2]

[

Unfortunately only something like 26% of people practice good information hygiene. That makes fake news and misinformation a serious threat. I'm not sold on the CRTC being the right mechanism, however perhaps if the CRTC does try, they might be forced to move into the 21st century.

The state cannot police this, personal bias of the censor will always be a factor. People must pay attention, do their own research. A nanny state didn't work for the USSR, it sure a shootin won't work here comrade.

[Hurtlander]

Unfortunately only something like 26% of people practice good information hygiene. That makes fake news and misinformation a serious threat.

What exactly do you consider good information hygiene ? Would that be official press releases from the Liberal government, or guest editorials sent into all the MSM news organizations directly from the PMO ?
And what do you consider fake news and misinformation ? Any comments stemming from the opposition criticizing the Liberal government ?

[The Green Barbarian]

C-10 is a baby step toward addressing a problem that is in the category of top of mind for many.

The only people that this issue is "top of mind" are over-reaching freedom-haters. That want to end any and all ability for the public to express their opinions freely. It's easy to determine something to be "hate" or "not appropriate" when you are in charge. Check out the moderation on the CBC website sometime. It's almost impossible to criticize our PM and the rest of his unqualified cabinet ministers. Now apply that across all media platforms, including Castanet forums. I know some here would applaud the muzzling of critics of our PM, but that's a Canada that only those who Canada fought against in World War 2 would ever want to see.

[Gone_Fishin]

Incoherence, thy name is Liberal.

“It's been a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation from the outset, made worse by the decisions that the government has made, and made even worse… by their inconsistency and almost incoherence in trying to explain [it],” said Geist.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/ ... -1.5419170

[Gone_Fishin]

C-10 is a baby step toward addressing a problem that is in the category of top of mind for many. Misinformation and fake news.

That would mean all the paid Liberal digital influencers, like HG, would be out of business. Do people want that?

[Ka-El]

That would mean all the paid Liberal digital influencers, like HG, would be out of business.

So you think only you Conservative digital influencers should be paid?

[PoplarSoul]

Check out the moderation on the CBC website sometime.

There has been no moderation on their forums for quite some time now.
Automatic out when a post is flagged.
Posters are clicking on that button all the time.
Half the posts are gone by the end of the day.
Not much point in posting there anymore.

[hobbyguy]

Unfortunately only something like 26% of people practice good information hygiene. That makes fake news and misinformation a serious threat.

What exactly do you consider good information hygiene ? Would that be official press releases from the Liberal government, or guest editorials sent into all the MSM news organizations directly from the PMO ?
And what do you consider fake news and misinformation ? Any comments stemming from the opposition criticizing the Liberal government ?

https://www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer

2021 EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER
HOW WE MEASURED
INFORMATION HYGIENE
1. News engagement (does one or more of these several times a week or more)
• “Read, view or listen to news and information produced by major news organizations or
publications at the original source” MED_SEG_OFTr1
• “Read news and information from major news organizations sent to me by others or pushed to
me on a news feed, social network platform or application” MED_SEG_OFTr2
• “Read, view or listen to news and information put out by major corporations regarding important
social and political issues and events” MED_SEG_OFTr16

SNIPPED

That's as good a definition as I have seen. It basically says, be skeptical and check out the veracity of what you hear, don't get stuck in echo chambers, and don't pass on nonsense. In other words, use critical thinking.

I agree that the state is in tough spot with this. However, if you consider that before internet we did not have an issue with freedom of expression despite defamation laws, slander laws and hate speech laws... it can be done.

It still means that you have you have to cast a skeptical eye on things and inform yourself, but at least the loose guidelines of defamation, slander, and hate laws keep the nonsense down to a dull roar.

Somehow the "wild west" of "social media" needs a toning down as a large chunk of it has become "anti-social media". C-10 isn't going to get us there, but it might at least start the process.