Ahead of Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s hotly-anticipated speech Thursday, outlining her cultural policy vision, more than 270 representatives from the Canadian creative community have signed an open letter calling on the federal government to subject internet giants like Netflix, Amazon, Google and Facebook to the same business conditions as Canadian companies. Spearheaded by the Quebec English-language Production Council, the move follows recent comments from Quebec culture minister Luc Fortin that he won’t rule out a provincial tax on foreign over-the-top (OTT) services. Quebecor Inc. president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau also called on the feds this week to stop subsidizing U.S. digital media providers.
The Ottawa Citizen has discovered that Google search algorithms can link to stories on individuals whose identities are protected under court-ordered publication bans. The Citizen found that in six high-profile cases searching the name of a young offender or victim linked to media coverage of their court cases, even though their names did not appear in the actual articles. Searches using Bing and Yahoo didn’t link the names with the same consistency.
CMRRA-SODRAC Inc. (CSI), the music collective representing music rightsholders in Canada, is challenging a Copyright Board of Canada decision certifying royalties payable to songwriters and music publishers for the reproduction of musical works by online music services, including downloads, on-demand streaming and webcasting. CSI has filed an application for judicial review before the Federal Court of Appeal, saying it does not agree with a reduction in the royalty rates for streaming services and the virtual elimination of minimum rates for subscription services or those offered on a free or ad-supported model. President Alain Lauzon also argues that the tariff, which applies to the years 2011-13, was largely based on scant evidence available at the time of the hearing, conducted before most of today’s online music services began operation in Canada.
