Another insight from The Atlantic piece on reading — the few of us still reading form a small strong subculture. But should we be consoled by this? www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

An exceptional contribution to the Gutenberg Elegy tradition www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Bill C-34 promises effective age verification for social media, and effective AI reporting to police, without compromising privacy. But it can't be done.

Thoughtful piece on how the many recent bills undermining democratic rights in Canada are part of a larger problem of power concentration in the PMO…

Is Canada's teen social media ban constitutional? It's complicated: Legal experts warn Bill C-34 could leave federal government open to legal challenges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Thoughts on Canada's contentious lawful access bill that the House has just passed. robertdiab.substack.com/p/parliament...

Great idea Sarah and great work! CanLII's open collection of legal commentary is invaluable.

Shocked, speechless.

I have regularly butted heads with the Privacy Commissioners we've had over the past 20+ years, but sidelining an organization with decades of experience to empower an as yet unconstituted body is frankly shocking. #BillC34

Bill C-34 will change our relationships with AI and the bonds we forge with it. It will regulate the content of our conversations but also the way chatbots behave with us...

After making it free to test for a couple of weeks, last night Anthropic suspended access to Fable 5...

I had a good chat with Rob Breakenridge of the National Post about Bill C-34 aka the Safe Social Media Act. youtu.be/lcMrlLhjeV0

Though most of Bill C-34 Safe Social Media Act is left to regulations or Commission rulemaking, it is clear that once it comes into effect young people will be precluded from learning about this law on this site, and all Canadians will have to prove they old enough to handle it.

Will Canadians soon have to prove their age to use social media? Bill C-34 leaves many important details to future regulations. Which platforms will be covered? How will age verification work? Will some services be exempt? I take a brief look here: robertdiab.substack.com/p/will-canad...

CanLII and AI connectors are making legal research in Canada smarter, faster, and more accessible... www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

"Chilling effects can be subtle, but today they are everywhere. And it’s not just students who are chilled by Trump administration threats." @penney.bsky.social, author of Chilling Effects, on Donald Trump and free speech for @theconversation.com #LawSky #PoliSky https://cup.org/4fIEAFl

OPED: Lawyers looking for AI-assisted case law research have, until recently, faced a stark choice. @robertdiab.bsky.social says two new tools have changed that. nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

I found this enormously informative — a close reading of the encryption and metadata provisions, and implications of the Cloud Act agreement on the way. Thanks @cyn-k.bsky.social, @kate-robertson.bsky.social, and @digitalprivacy.ca!

The principal police lobby groups (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, National Police Federation and Canadian Police Association) have something to say about Bill C-22 Lawful Access, and it's so full of crap that I hardly know where to start. www.cacp.ca/cgi/page.cgi...

After months in the pipeline... (link below), drawing on the work of @kjhealy.co, @nsrnicek.bsky.social, @mcopelov.bsky.social and @davidgunkel.bsky.social

The most extensive look at Bill C-22 thus far, finding parts of it "almost certainly constitutionally fatal" — from @cancivlib.bsky.social and @citizenlab.ca (link below)

Hat tip to Richard Salgado for teaching me the term "moot and scoot." www.lawfaremedia.org/article/skir...

OPED: There's another hearing on C-22 today. As major tech companies threaten to leave Canada & U.S. lawmakers weigh in, the government has signaled it will amend the bill. But @robertdiab.bsky.social says the constitutional questions won't end there. www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

Tune in tomorrow as the #SECU committee has agreed to another hearing on Bill C-22 Lawful Access. Some great organizations to hear from. www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...

Enjoyed this convo with @noorazrieh.bsky.social of @canadaland.com about Bill C-22 and why it matters.

I first published this on March 14, 2026. In two and a half months of spin and disinformation by Public Safety and its Minister, none of this about Bill C-22 Lawful Access has been proven to be untrue. youtube.com/shorts/VPv3T...

This is helpful context — to know we’ve been here many times before with SCC judges.

Gearing up for a marathon session of interviews today with CBC Radio, from coast to coast, in effort to offer some clarity on Bill C-22.

Countering the Minister's gaslighting yesterday on Bill C-22, two informative and powerful posts today by @mgeist.bsky.social www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/05/more...

Dale, I share your concerns and your hope that the Supreme Court will come to the rescue if the worst parts of Bill C-22 remain. But that will take a while, and even then, it's hard to predict what they will do. Better to get it right here and now.

What if most of the AI we'll use in five years runs on our phones and laptops, and not in data centres? Small, free models from Microsoft, Google, and Meta are closing the gap fast. Ottawa's $925M bet may not age well. robertdiab.substack.com/p/could-cana...

Published a few months ago, but out today in the latest issue of the journal...

A piece I've been waiting a while to appear — looking at how we use AI but easily get led by it, drawing on Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben thephilosophicalsalon.com/ai-and-the-e...

Are protests over AI data centres misinformed? Well, there are 8 AI data centres being built or expanded here in BC. The two Bell has in Kamloops and Merritt and four more planned will = 500MW. They'll need a lot of energy and, even with closed-loop cooling, a lot of water to get set up.

‪ OPED: The constitutional questions raised by Bill C-22 are not going away once the bill passes, and the amendments made in committee, whatever form they take, will shape the landscape of any Charter challenge that follows, says @robertdiab.bsky.social www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

Concerns about AI data centre construction out here in British Columbia go beyond to the 2 in Vancouver — to 6 more being built in the Interior.

Hundreds marched in Vancouver Sunday against new AI data centres Telus is building in the city. Ottawa has pledged $925M for "sovereign AI infrastructure." The case for it is weaker than it looks. robertdiab.substack.com/p/is-the-rus...

Justice Minister Sean Fraser says metadata is phone book information and dismisses concerns regarding search implications. Plainly wrong. My post on misleading phone book claim www.michaelgeist.ca/2025/06/more... And @robertdiab on search robertdiab.substack.com/p/pressure-m... x.com/junonewscom/...

The Barreau du Québec's brief to the SECU Committee on Bill C-22 Lawful Access is an interesting read. It focuses exclusively on Part 1, and has this banger quote: www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Comm...

Another argument against C-22 is coming to the fore: “The most effective way to reduce risk is therefore to limit the amount of sensitive data that is collected and retained, and to ensure that retention periods are no longer than necessary.”

Enormously informative deep dive on Cloud Act implications of C-22 by Kate Robertson @citizenlab.ca thewalrus.ca/trump-wants-...

NYT: "Although the encyclical includes significant references to scripture and religious teachings, the document in many ways reads like a policy paper from a think tank or a lawmaker."

Bill C-22 say you don't have to do anything that would create a 'systematic vulnerability'. But then why be so cagey in the way you define it? The gov seems to want the political win of saying 'no backdoors to encryption,' while keeping the door open.

Opposition to Bill C-22 has reached a boiling point. Apple, Meta, Signal, and several VPNs are threatening to pull services from Canada. What changes to the bill can we expect, and can the encryption and metadata powers survive a Charter challenge? robertdiab.substack.com/p/pressure-m...

@mgeist.bsky.social pulls apart the tenuous rationale that police and CSIS have offered in the past week in defence of Bill C-22, with remarkable clarity. None of the obstacles to investigation they point to justify the extraordinary powers sought here. mgeist.substack.com/p/the-govern...

Great overview of the concerns over bulk metadata retention in Bill C-22, and the likely Charter challenge, by Global News: globalnews.ca/news/1185520...

If you are new to the discussion about Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, I think this discussion with @mgeist.bsky.social and @robertdiab.bsky.social on Michael's podcast provides a good picture of all the issues. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/03/the-...

And they do take pictures.

Looking forward to this!

You just have to look at the "problems" that CSIS says lawful access will solve, & you can figure out the solution. Interestingly, they never get into the specifics of the solution (left to the regs). The only solution to this "problem" is mandatory ID verification for customers.