TCIS Board Member Dr. Irene Berkowitz spoke with Bell Media's Justin Stockman in a new Canada Media Fund #Perspectives interview, exploring how audience trends, streaming platforms, & global demand are shaping Canadian content commissioning. #HeatedRivalry FULL INTERVIEW: cmf-fmc.ca/perspectives...

One IMPORTANT thing to note: So-called lawful access surveillance powers are only "lawful" if constitutional.

Not mentioned—the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada has *TWICE* ruled that lawful access is unconstitutional. Kind of an important point to make. cc @privacylawyer.ca

Faced with a bill featuring embarrassingly weak political party privacy rules, the Senate has voted to amend Bill C-4 by adding a sunset clause that gives the government three years to come up with something better. The bill now heads back to the House. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/nobo...

Government pushing through Bill C-4 anti-privacy rules that it barely acknowledges with Senate “rebuking” but caving, shows why the bill is so harmful. Given a choice between political benefit and Canadians’ privacy, the parties take self-interest every time. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

My friend Rachel is part of "Cold Dips for Hot Meals", dunking - repeatedly - into a frozen Canadian lake raising funds for a worthy cause: meals and programs for those who are facing food insecurity. Please join her or support her: cold-dips-for-hot-meals-2026.raiselysite.com/rachel-barne...

Bill C-2’s lawful access powers are being revamped (nationalpost.com/news/politic...) – and that should alarm any Canadian who cares about their privacy. In my latest for @progresschamber.org, I explain why small tweaks won’t fix it: progresschamber.org/insights/sma...

After its highly criticized rollout of lawful access reform in the Strong Borders Act C-2 last spring, the Carney gov has gone back to the drawing board and will likely table a narrower bill focused on additional search powers for police and spy agencies. My latest ⬇️ nationalpost.com/news/politic...

Once again, a fantastic Secure Line podcast episode on national security law with @stephaniecarvin.bsky.social and @jessmarindavis.bsky.social. Check it out on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.... youtu.be/l0UyQVa8MV8

I'm thinking of doing a video on my YouTube channel about vexatious litigants and folks who abuse our access to information laws. I may also throw in some commentary on occasional assaults on our open courts by such folks. Would that be of interest?

Unless there's an early election, I'm 99% confident that #LawfulAccess will be back. I expect that there will be improvements that make it palatable for those who care about the Charter, but the gov't has not made the case for mandatory, secret back doors. nationalpost.com/news/politic...

The Future of Journalism has been cancelled.

Time for the Government to Fix Its Political Party Privacy Blunder: Kill Bill C-4’s Disastrous Privacy Rules www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/time...

The next time a politician whines about privacy and "big tech", as them why their party is unwilling to follow basic rules that every other organization has to follow. www.thestar.com/politics/pol...

For the morning crowd, my latest YouTube episode where @privacylawyer.ca and I talk about the government's renewed push for lawful access laws #cdnpoli

Yeah, #lawfulaccess is coming back. I expect that some deeply problematic bits will be made somewhat less horrible, but I think the secret back doors into our service providers will still be on the government's wish list. Thanks @journodale.bsky.social for the good discussion!

This is silly: Police using drones to catch distracted drivers should equally be charged with distracting drivers. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Social media bans have begun to appear in various countries with Australia's social media ban taking effect late last year. @lisagiven.bsky.social joins Law Bytes podcast to discuss how it functions and what lessons Canada might draw from the experience to date. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/the-...

This story barely got any mention today, which is crazy because it's a sign of just how broken the RCMP really is.

The global sovereign citizen movement: The sovereign citizen movement has grown beyond a nuisance and into an escalating national security challenge for many countries around the world: www.lowyinstitute.org/publications...

Holy cow. This 5th Circuit ruling on U.S. copyright overriding other countries' copyright laws, while a little arcane in its details, is a huge mess for everything from basic commercial licensing to national sovereignty and comity.

This is ridiculous. And dangerous. Teens have privacy rights that are essential to their dignity and their health. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This bill is up for clause-by-clause in Senate committee today. Here is a great breakdown of the bill and why it's very, very bad.

Reminder that #BillS209 will be brought up this week on February 4-5, so please call/e-mail/mail your Senators and tell them to OPPOSE this bill! Don’t let them take away our privacy! #SaveSpeech #StopS209

Really interesting conversation. I appreciate that podcasts and YouTube give the opportunity for a longer conversation with deeper insights than soundbites.

For International Privacy Day, a client asked me to speak with their employees about privacy, online scams, and steps individuals can take to protect themselves. I’ve seen a lot of this in my practice, & thought a wider audience might benefit from those observations. www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Ut...

Northern Flicker leaving the feeder.

Happy international data privacy day to those who celebrate ...

Looking for funding for your Canadian internet project? Applications for CIRA's #NetGood grants open next week! Join one of our webinars to learn more: www.cira.ca/en/resources... English: Feb 4 at 2 p.m. ET French: Feb 5 at 2 p.m. ET

Ottawa is waking up to what many have said for years: the Online News Act backfired. Instead of helping Canadian publishers, it cut them off from audiences -- just as trade pressure grows to scrap the law altogether. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

My friend @cyberlawyeryyz.bsky.social was recently a guest on the Caffeinated Risk podcast, talking about the legal perspective on cyber security. It is well worth your time to give it a listen. caffeinatedrisk.buzzsprout.com/1495954/epis...

Beautiful male hairy woodpecker visited this afternoon.

Charter Rights: Supreme Court Canada is hearing arguments on Quebec case that could have far-reaching implications on policing across Canada. Quebec [govt] says police need power to randomly stop people. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

BC’s Privacy Commissioner has just found the City of Richmond’s “public safety” camera pilot to be unlawful, ordering them to shut it down. City says they have a different interpretation of the law, and they’re off to court. I review this finding in my YouTube channel. youtu.be/fbpt7d-_wSg

Court finds the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the occupation of downtown Ottawa and border blockades by the so-called “Freedom Convoy” and its associated protests was overreach. @journodale.bsky.social reports. www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

Parents, Meet the AI Companion Your Teen Has Already Been Using Since 2023 www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/parents... #digitalliteracy #onlineparenting #artificialintelligence

Canada's government has proposed a law to address explicit "deepfakes", but it does not address this week's scandal and may go too far in another area. Now on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMrd...

[Citation needed]

I feel bad for British comedian Jonathan Ross. I'm relatively confident he didn't murder anyone this week.

With my @lawbytespod podcast on a holiday break, this post looks back at the ten most popular episodes of the year. Topping the charts this year was a discussion with Sukesh Kamra on law firm adoption of artificial intelligence and innovative technologies. www.michaelgeist.ca/2025/12/the-...

Bill C-2 is back. After a recent roundtable with the Minister of Public Safety calling for ideas for how to improve the bill, I’ve posted “Five Ways to Fix Bill C-2 – and Better Protect Our Privacy” robertdiab.substack.com/p/five-ways-...

Vimy Forge Accelerator Seeks Applicants: The Fredericton-based program helps startups with defence-related products. entrevestor.com/%20home/entr...

Wow -- I missed that even UNICEF expressed concern about the Australian social media ban. UNICEF!! They said, correctly, "for many children, particularly those who are isolated or marginalised, social media is a lifeline[.]" H/t @mmasnick.bsky.social on CTRL-ALT-SPEECH podcast.

The Supreme Court of Canada has granted CIPPIC leave to intervene in Facebook v. Privacy Commissioner. The case will shape how PIPEDA protects Canadians’ privacy in the digital age, and whether privacy is treated as a human right. #PrivacyRights #PIPEDA www.cippic.ca/news/cippic-...

This will also become a significant issue in civil litigation.

The #PowerSchool breach, explained: what happened, what data was exposed, and what Ontario and Alberta regulators found. Under Canadian #privacy laws, there's no outsourcing accountability. And if you don't need it, don't collect it or retain it. New on my YouTube channel: youtu.be/l4ytObPKx2A

This was really hard to limit my #Clawbies2025 nominations to three. I think @kylalee.ca remains the master of ALL online media for public legal education. The variety of content she puts out and the engagement with the public is amazing. Just wow.

Nominations for the #Clawbies2025 close tomorrow. I'm still trying to get my list down to three nominations...

Heartbreaking to wake up to this www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...