RANT: SAURON'S EYE IS GOING DIGITAL

 

“Bill C-11, titled the "Online Streaming Act,"  is a 56-page piece of legislation that spells out a series of changes to the Broadcasting Act. It was tabled in the House of Commons on Feb. 2, 2022.” (CTV)  

 

YES, IT’S BILL C-11 time again. Since it is now law, we should use its legal code name: "The Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts”, AKA the “Online Streaming Act”. It gained Senate approval this February and received Royal Assent April 2023, making it the law of the land that is to be fully implemented sometime before the end of 2024, after a lengthy consultation process.  It’s been a long haul for this baby. An earlier version (Bill C-10) had been introduced in Parliament by the Liberals in November of 2020, during the fever-days of Covid, but failed to receive Senate approval before the fall elections of 2021. An updated version was submitted to the House (C-11) by the Liberals in November of 2022 and the rest is history. “Until now, the government could regulate what its citizens saw on TV and radio, but not on websites and streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok. Bill C-11 changes that.” (Express VPN) 

 

THAT THE BILL took so long becoming legislation gives you some idea about the controversies surrounding it and the amount of push-back from the official Opposition in parliament (Conservatives) and from civil society. Many still have reservations on how the legislation will affect online content (“online undertakings”) and access to such content in the future. The new legislation is touted by its proponents as a vehicle for elevating CanCon (Canadian content) through algorithmic manipulation and enhanced regulatory powers of the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).* 

 

Ewok cosplayer and Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, whose remit includes oversight of the commission that, for decades, regulated and supervised broadcasts and telecommunications (and soon internet) in Canada, has testified before parliamentary committees and made public statements to the effect that the Act's primary purpose is to elevate, for Canadians, Canadian content found in foreign and domestic streaming services and media organizations. It will do so by imposing conditions on them, including fines for non-compliance. ADDITIONALLY, foreign streaming services and the like will be required to make contributions to the "Canada Media Fund" (CMF) which supports Canadian legacy media and online content producers.

 

HOWEVER, the Online Streaming Act comes with gaps in the legislation that fail to clearly define just how and when the CRTC can use its new powers to regulate internet companies. “The exact regulatory policies will be determined by the CRTC based on its interpretation of the amended Broadcasting Act.” (Wikipedia)

Under the new law, companies like Netflix and YouTube will be obliged to provide data to the CRTC on the availability of “certified” Canadian content appearing on their platforms and pay annually into the CMF.  Wicket Rodriguez is quick to add that personal blogs, TikTok videos, “user-generated content” (UGC)⁺, social media videos and podcasts, etc., will not be affected by the new law.

HOWEVER, this exemption is not explicitly stated in the Online Streaming Act. Interestingly, such language was in earlier versions of the legislation, exempting both monetized and non-monetized UGC providers from CanCon requirements and media fund donations, but was later dropped in the new Act. Why is a good question and gives one pause to consider whether darker motivations are behind the changes....

 

Meanwhile, small content providers, domestic and international, may be subject to an onerous CRTC oversight and control regime, saddling them with financial and ‘paperwork’ burdens that larger on-line and legacy media organizations are more able to bear. It is legacy media in Canada that will be at an advantage over smaller domestic and foreign “digital first creators”, both in terms of complying with CanCon requirements and as recipients of the expected revenues from foreign internet media providers--unless protections are written into the law. And while CanCon promotion is the ‘main show’ of the new Act, it is how the CRTC will develop its policies and practices to implement the Act’s legislative mandate that most concern freedom of expression advocates. The government can issue as many "policy directives" as it wants, outlining how it expects the CRTC to operate, but with months of consultations and twerking 'tweaking' ahead, just what impact this new legislation will have on the internet space remains to be seen. The devil is most definitely in the details  for this one.

     

THE INTERNET FREEDOM advocacy group, OpenMedia, campaigned to reject Bill-11 as it was written, insisting there needed to be stronger protections to ensure user content is "safe from regulations.” They point out that:

 

"[W]e’re relying on the good behaviour of the CRTC and the minister of Canadian Heritage to leave our content alone – today, and under every future minister and commissioner. Even a good policy direction from minister Rodriguez that puts on a few guardrails will not fix that; it just pushes the risk down the road."

 

And former CRTC commissioner Peter Menzies provides a sobering assessment of the new law, stating that

 

"granting a government agency authority over legal user generated content — particularly when backed up by the government’s musings about taking down websites — doesn’t just infringe on free expression, it constitutes a full-blown assault upon it and, through it, the foundations of democracy." (Wikipedia)

 

THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK being constructed within the CRTC through the Online Streaming Act will be a work-in-progress over the next year or so. In the federal government's policy direction mandates, provided with Bill C-11 prior to it becoming law, there is explicit language excluding social media users and user-generated content from regulation. Which is all well and good, the question being: Why, then, was such language not written into the Act? Minister Rodriguez seems to be saying, in effect, to “trust us”. The beefed-up CRTC isn’t there to regulate content of small, digital-first creators and limit users access to online content. No, no. Not at all. And it's certainly not there, he  further assures us, to dictate what algorithms digital media companies will be expected to use in their search engines, playlists, and other "nudge" technologies. BUT, the minister adds, the Digital Streaming Act will provide foreign streaming companies with the “outcomes” the CRTC expects to see. Then it’s up to each company to work their algorithmic magic in fulfilling CanCon and other CRTC requirements. Which to me is a distinction without a difference. Nevertheless, Rodriguez breezily assures one and all that it's not the role of the CRTC to mandate algorithms that search engines and streaming services use. It doesn't have to. It simply provides internet companies with "guidelines" as to which outcomes it envisions are in the best interest of elites Canada. The rest is up to them.

IT WILL be interesting to see which internet companies or individual sites do not, or will not, comply with the CRTC's "outcomes" agenda. Who will be censored or fined? Who will be de-platformed altogether?

POINT IS, it’s how the Act is interpreted and the regulatory machinery put in place to bring it to life [Frankenstein, anyone? Just sayin'. Ed.] that are  the things to watch, going forward.

 

THE MACHINERY FOR CENSORSHIP is being put in place in real time, and much of it is being built in plain sight.  

👉The Online Streaming Act:

 

“…gives CRTC increased powers to regulate ‘programs’ — a definition that applies to almost all forms of audio-visual content that are uploaded by Canadian citizens…The bill itself empowers the CRTC to indirectly censor any content that falls under the scope of Bill C-11 by imposing conditions on Canadian apps, social media platforms, and websites."

 

👉The recently passed Online News Act that I've discussed earlier, here, may actually result in less access for Canadians to local news. This situation may not entirely be an accident. 

👉The proposed, but not yet law, the “Online Harms Act” or “Online Safety Act” as it may be called, has the potential for censoring great swaths of speech simply by labeling it “hate speech”, a broad and ill-defined word that, given the authoritarian trend our government seems to be on¹, could come to mean almost anything the government doesn’t like or wants to see around. This third and future Act is the big kahunna of censorship in Canada. Or as a source inside the Heritage Ministry puts it: "I think it's the main course. The other two [Acts] are the appetizers."  1984’s “O’Brien” must be turning over in his grave, green with envy! 

 

THESE TWO, soon to be three, Acts of Parliament are new in Canada, but Canada is not alone tabling such legislation. As the above chart indicates, more and more countries around the world are passing laws to monitor and control speech in the digital forums we currently use to communicate.   

IN THE POST-COVID ERA, when lock-downs, vaccine passports and mandates, social controls of unimagined scope and power were brought to bear by governments world-wide as they sought to manage and control their sick and sometimes obstreperous  populations.  Is it any wonder elites in government and business today have taken lessons from the pandemic years as they work to ensure similar instruments of control are made permanent features of our so called liberal democracies? Folks, we are handing them our collective head on a platter.

It's time to WAKE UP! 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The element "phosphorous" is essential for life on earth. It is "the elemental link that completes the circle of life."(Egan) It is essential to plant growth and to us. The food we eat is helped by phosphorous to become the energy we need to grow, move and function. It is in our bones and teeth, and our very DNA. 

💨It is a critical component of modern fertilizers along with nitrogen and potassium. And while nitrogen can be manufactured more or less 'out of thin air' and  potassium deposits are relatively plentiful, phosphorous is a rapidly depleting resource.  

💨IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, in the fossilized remains of trillions of sea creatures, giant mounds of rock are pulverized and treated to produce phosphates. These enormous deposits in the Sunshine State have served North American agriculture well, but they are depleting and there are no other major deposits on the continent. Without phosphorous, modern fertilizers and today's farming will collapse. 

💨Phosphorous, for the last several centuries, has been known as the "Devil's Element". But that's another story (along with toxic algal blooms!)

 

Cheers, Jake

 _____________________________________

 

* The CRTC is Canada’s “administrative tribunal that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in the public interest.” The entity maintains oversight over 2,000 broadcasters, radio stations, telecommunications carriers, and more. The CRTC frequently hosts public hearings, discussions, and forums to gather Canadian citizens’ feedback and views.

 

+ “UGC is original content related to a product or service that is created by individuals and not by the brand itself. UGC comes in many forms, including social media updates, reviews, blog posts, videos, and podcasts. It can also be shared by customers through unboxing videos, Q&A forums or photos that flaunt their purchases. Brand loyalists are another ripe source of UGC, as they are already passionate about a brand and are established advocates within its community.” (Forbes)

 

1. Such as the treatment of the truckers—arrests, trials, seizing their bank accounts and GoFundMe donations; Nazis in parliament; the promotion of elite, globalist agendas and woke strictures, cancel-culture, WHO agendas, vaccine passports, social credit scores, CBDC proposals. These are some examples where we see Canadian democracy eroding.

 

Egan, Dan. The Devil's Element. W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110. 2023. Text.

 

 

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!