Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'm a professor of media law and information technology law. I was a member of the Yale committee, a group of experts on updating Canada's communications statutes. Almost three years ago now, we tabled a report entitled "Canada's Communications Future: Time to Act". However, it's as an individual, a university professor and and an observer of trends that I have prepared this short address.
The subject mentioned in the notice of meeting, and which appears to be what you are working on, is the current and ongoing use of intimidation and subversion tactics by the tech giants to evade regulation in Canada and elsewhere around the world. I'm going to make three comments about this practice or propensity by the tech giants as they attempt to evade regulation in countries just about everywhere around the world.
My first comment is about how urgent it is for all countries—and Canada in particular because it's a medium-sized country and not a major player on the planet in these areas—to strengthen their co-operation with other democratic states. The world will be operating as a network from now on, and countries urgently need to do more to coordinate their efforts and improve their ability to anticipate dominant trends, particularly in technological developments, and their impact on policy objectives. For Canada in particular, this means anticipating much more proactively than it has in the past, the effects of these technological mutations on the Internet as we know it, because they present significant challenges to achieving Canada's political and cultural objectives.
My second comment is on the need to update its legislation to put an end the free ride the tech giants have had so far, owing to our failure to impose ground rules currently applicable to all Canadian firms. I believe that giving these multinationals carte blanche over the past two decades was a horrible mistake. It's urgent to make up for lost time, and it will be difficult.
My third and final comment is to remind everyone that the practices of multinational firms, and their various technical configurations, establish regulations by default. Consequently, the real question is to know whether these default regulations put in place by the tech giants are compatible with Canadian values as reflected in our laws. The purpose of these laws is to promote the growth of Canadian culture and Canada's information universe.
For example, is it compatible with our values to allow the algorithms designed to maximize the value of the massive data used by the web companies to generate advertising revenue, and to maximize the risk of harassment against members of the community or vulnerable people? I would say no, it's not compatible with our values. That's why it's imperative to stop giving the multinationals the freedom to impose their rules and values. It has in many instances led to highly deplorable consequences, including the dismantling of our media industries.
Thank you.