Balsillie-led Centre for Digital Rights registers to lobby

A new organization called the Centre for Digital Rights (CDR) that is looking to create a national data strategy has registered to lobby the government after its co-founder Jim Balsillie told a House of Commons ethics committee this month that internet giants are engaging in “surveillance capitalism.” The organization registered to lobby on May 13, only days after the former Blackberry Ltd. co-CEO appeared before the committee to warn parliamentarians about the data collection practices of tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. At committee, he outlined a need for a national data strategy to protect personal information. As such, the CDR “will lobby for the protection of Canadians’ digital rights and privacy,” Neve Peric, a spokeswoman for Balsillie, said in an email. The full text on the registration says the organization is pushing for the development of “a robust national data strategy for Canada that includes enhancing the protection of Canadians' digital rights and privacy in the data-driven economy.” Balsillie formed the organization with other Canadians “who are concerned with how surveillance economy is affecting things like democracy, privacy, security, and ethics,” Peric said. She didn’t say when the organization began to put the pieces together, but said it is only a "few days old," still hasn't set up a communications officer yet, and its structure and governance is still not finalized. But this isn’t the first time Balsillie has promoted such a strategy, as he noted in a Toronto Star opinion article in January that Facebook “was built exclusively on the principle of mass surveillance” and that “governments can and should ensure that citizens control the data they and their institutions create.” “Without a National Data Strategy, Canada risks becoming not just a cheap tech branch plant economy for engineers and computer scientists, but also a client-state, politically and militarily subordinate to countries that are sophisticated on data flows and the algorithms that harness them,” he said in the article. The opinion came months before it was uncovered that a data analytics firm called Cambridge Analytica scraped millions of records from Facebook to build a database used to influence people’s political leanings. Data of around 620,000 Canadians was said to have been implicated and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner is investigating. The ethics committee is currently studying the data controversy that also involves a Canadian company called AggregateIQ, which is denying allegations against it. In recent months, members of parliament have been raising the issue of data protection and the security of personal information against the backdrop of the data scandal. In March, the NDP announced a digital bill of rights motion that intends to force all government departments and agencies to consider those principles when they conduct their work. The CDR is using lawyer Bill Hearn of Fogler Rubinoff LLP to do its bidding on the Hill. His biography on the law firm’s website says he has worked in consumer protection, and has done speaking engagements with respect to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on Friday, as it relates to Canadian businesses. Balsillie is chairman of the Council of Canadian Innovators, which lobbies the government, as well as the Sustainable Development Technology Canada. He is also the founder of the Centre for International Governance Information, and co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Alphabet’s Google is already registered to lobby the government on issues including “Canadian privacy policy with respect to internet safety and data protection.” And under pressure from MPs after questioning its head of public policy Kevin Chan in front of the ethics committee, Facebook Canada said it would register to lobby, despite saying its staff’s lobbying efforts don’t exceed the 20 per cent of work activity required to register. It has not done so yet. The company currently has five consultant lobbyists on retainer. In April, telecom lobbying activity increased 13.7 per cent to 58 communications over March, while broadcasting activity fell 12.5 per cent to 28 communications. Shaw Communications Inc. led all telecoms in lobbying activity in April with 13 communications under head Brad Shaw. Those came with officials from Innovation Canada, including associate deputy minister Fiona Gilfillan, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly's chief of staff Leslie Church, the prime minister’s office (PMO), and members of parliament. Subject matters included upcoming and ongoing legislative reviews such as those of the telecom, broadcasting and copyright acts. Rogers Communications Inc. followed with nine communications under president and CEO Joe Natale. He communicated with officials at ISED including deputy minister John Knubley and Gilfillan, as well as MPs and Health Canada. Rogers began lobbying activity in March on a junk food bill that it expressed concern about, which looks to combat childhood obesity by drastically reducing unhealthy food and beverage advertising. Last month, BCE Inc. also registered to lobby on the junk food bill. It filed seven communications reports in April under its head George Cope with officials at ISED, the National Capital Commission, Shared Services Canada, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and MPs. Topics also included the aforementioned legislative reviews. With the same number of communications, Corus Entertainment Inc. also filed seven reports including with officials in the PMO such as policy advisor Maxime Dea, director general Helen Kennedy and chief of staff Leslie Church at Heritage, CRTC chairman Ian Scott, and MPs. Corus has lobbied for many months about the junk food bill. Meanwhile Telus Corp., which is registered to lobby on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the previously-mentioned legislative reviews, filed four reports in the month. Those communications were with CRTC’s Scott and officials at ISED. Finally, Xplornet Communications Inc., which has been lobbying on rural broadband issues, filed four reports, three under its head Allison Lenehan with officials at ISED, and MPs. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Balsillie-led Centre for Digital Rights registers to lobby

News | May 25, 2018

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Balsillie-led Centre for Digital Rights registers to lobby

News | May 25, 2018

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