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Michael Geist
@mgeist
Law Prof, CRC in Internet and E-commerce Law @uocommonlaw @LawBytesPod Mastodon: mas.to/@mgeist | @[email protected] mgeist.bsky.social mgeist.substack.com
Ottawa, Canada
Joined April 2008
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    If you follow me for Canadian digital policy, copyright, and AI regulation, the deeper analysis lives on my Substack - including every Law Bytes podcast episode embedded in full. Free to subscribe:
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    Former franchisee of the Second Cup coffee shop at the Montreal Jewish Hospital, who was filmed giving a Nazi salute during a pro-Palestinian demonstration, has been arrested and now faces criminal charges.
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    Senator David Adams Richard tears apart Bill C-11, warning against censorship and government dictating what counts as Canadian culture. Powerful speech from one of Canada’s most acclaimed authors, having won Governor General’s Award for fiction and non-fiction and Giller Prize.
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    Having spent hours watching Bill C-10 committee hearings, I’m out. MPs are voting on amendments that have never been made public, no experts to ask, no discussion, no debate. This is what Liberals, NDP and Bloc voted for. This is not how laws are supposed to be made in Canada.
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    I’m the grandson of holocaust survivors who thinks it shouldn’t be too much to ask the Heritage Minister to say something - anything - about officials in his department funding an anti-semite despite multiple warnings. Instead, the Parliamentary Secretary suggests I’m racist.
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    For those not watching, Canadian Heritage committee now voting on Bill C-11 amendment after amendment. The text of the amendments aren’t public, there is no debate, and no discussion. A betrayal of basic democratic norms that results from @pablorodriguez demand to finish tonight.
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    I have subscribed to @TorontoStar for as long as I can remember. I canceled my subscription today. A social justice columnist who repeatedly says “we don’t know” what Hamas did on October 7th contributes to the wave of antisemitism and can’t be supported. x.com/ShreeParadkar/…
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    I deleted a tweet, because the way it has been twisted is so shocking. Here I am, impatient with the dialogue I’m seeing on the left about whether Hamas did this or that. I’m saying we don’t know, focus on ceasefire. Appears some see it as terrorism denial.
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    Whoa - Senator Richards says “he will always stand against any bill that subjects freedom of expression to the doldrums of governmental oversight. Bill C-10 doesn’t need amendments. It needs a stake through the heart.”
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    Not sure I’ve ever seen a leading company trash Canadian Internet policy this badly. @twitter on the Canadian government’s online harms plan likened its site blocking plan to China, North Korea, and Iran and said even basic procedural fairness was missing. michaelgeist.ca/2022/04/online…
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    Disney says it has invested $3 billion in Canada, its Canadian productions like Turning Red aren’t treated as Cancon, it’s facing costly Bill C-11 regulations, and now @cafreeland singles it out for canceling subscriptions as a money-saving example?
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    Bill C-10 shocker - the Speaker of the House just declared all the amendments passed last week null and void. As noted last week, chair @Scott_Simms had ruled they could not proceed and was overruled by Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs. Speaker ruled Simms was correct.
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    This was the top issue of discussion at our Yom Kippur break fast last night: disbelief that a Nazi was honoured, dismay that there is no accountability, and anger that the government would propose deleting the incident from the record including the video.
    LPC House Leader Karina Gould sought unanimous consent to strike Anthony Rota's comments about Yaroslav Hunka from the record and the CPC denied it CPC MP Marty Morantz says “deleting the words from Hansard would only have one purpose, to try and forget what happened" #cdnpoli
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    Google now confirming it is preparing to block news links in Canada as a result of Bill C-18. Awaiting final regulations, but says draft regs don’t fix flawed law. Appears to have arrived at same conclusion as Meta. Disastrous law about to get worse.
    Projet de loi C-18: Google se prépare à exclure les sites d'information canadiens de ses moteurs de recherche | JDM journaldemontreal.com/2023/10/06/pro…
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    While I have doubts about whether the legal standard was met to invoke the Emergencies Act, simply don’t see how continuing it can be justified on grounds that the convoy could return. An extraordinary measure should require far more. Terrible precedent.
    House of Commons passes Emergencies Act motion after fractious debate theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…