Policing Canadian online content
p2pnet news | P2P:- The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is again thinking about regulating Canadian online content.
A draft report on new media calls for further “discussion and validation” of the issue, “amid pressure from Canadian-content creators who are concerned about traditional programming that’s increasingly finding its way to the unregulated Web,” says the Toronto Star.
The story cites unnamed observers as saying such developments weren’t clearly envisioned in 1999 when the CRTC, “essentially ruled that the Internet was to be a regulatory-free zone”.
The mere notion of regulating online content in 2008, “is certain to draw howls of protest from those who believe the heavy hand of government has no place on the Internet, where a ‘Wild West’ ethos is often credited for encouraging innovation, personal choice and the free exchange of ideas,” says the story, going on:
“While the CRTC has not yet committed to taking action, the regulator nevertheless acknowledges in its report that “there is minimal investment in producing ancillary or new online broadcasting content,” although it says broadcasters are re-purposing their content for online consumption.
“The report cites research that shows that 19 of the top 20 websites visited by Canadians originate outside the country’s borders,” and says more than half of online Canadians download videos, “with younger Canadians now spending roughly the same amount of time online as they do watching TV – about 15 to 17 hours a week.”
The CRTC asks how Canadian programming has “flourished in the new media environment” and whether there is a need to “measure new media broadcasting performance indicators,” says the Toronto Star, adding:
“Should its exemption be reversed, the CRTC’s mandate would likely be limited to potentially overseeing online content offered by TV networks or radio stations. So-called ‘user-generated content’ – personal videos uploaded to YouTube, for example – would be unaffected by any policy change.
The story has ACTRA’s (Stephen Waddell) Stephen Waddell saying the organisation isn’t looking for regulation, per se, “but rather incentives to promote Canadian production on the Internet”.
However, Philippa Lawson, director of CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, says she thinks any subsidies should come through the general tax system rather than a surcharge, “on what has really become a basic service”.
Also See:
Toronto Star – Can we police Canadian content on the Internet?, March 22, 2008
BBC – Morocco ‘Facebook prince’ pardon, March 19, 2008
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