The Curious Engineer

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Michael Geist

michaelgeist.ca

Society / politics / economyTech news / industry

’95’00’05’10’15’20’25
Posts
9,007 from 1 Jan 1994 to 30 Oct 2026
Posting
about daily (187 in the last year)
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personal blog
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Latest

October 2026

  1. Ofcom Did the Work Canada Plans to Skip: What the UK’s Age Verification Report Reveals About the Bill C-34 Social Media Ban
  2. The Age Verification Bill That Won’t Die: How Bill S-209 Complicates the Government’s Bill C-34 Online Safety Plan
  3. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 280: A Fall Update on Where Things Stand on Canadian Digital Policy Reforms
  4. The Wrong Ban: The Heritage Committee Backed a Targeted Ad Ban for Kids and Stopped Short of a Social Media Ban, Yet the Government Chose the Reverse
  5. Regulator First, Rules Later: Bill C-34 Debate Shows the Government Wants a Digital Safety Commission Before It Figures Out What It Will Do
  6. Making the Case Against Its Own Bill: What the Government’s Bill C-34 Charter Statement Reveals About the Constitutional Vulnerability of the Social Media Ban
  7. “Position Has Not Changed”: The Canadian Government Reaffirms That Antisemitism Includes Anti-Zionism
  8. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 279: My Keynote on Digital Sovereignty: Control, Choice, and Connection
  9. The What, Me Worry? Consultation: Media Quietly Tells Government It Wants Even More Funding With Little Concern for Independence Risks
  10. Years of Uncertainty: Bill C-22’s Missing Regulations and Secret Ministerial Orders
  11. The Missing Charter Statement: Why Hasn’t the Government Explained How Bill C-34’s Social Media Ban Complies with the Charter?
  12. Three Years After October 7th: Living With the Shockwaves
  13. What If the U.S. Demanded This? The Cloud Provider Conditions Behind Canada’s EU Digital Pivot
  14. Ontario is Done Waiting for Universities to Act on Campus Antisemitism

September 2026

  1. Is Compromise on Encryption Possible? Why Bill C-22’s “Minor Opening” Leaves the Central Question Unanswered
  2. The Wrong Target: Why the CBC Should Be Asking About the Yom Kippur Protesters, Not the Journalist Who Reported on Them
  3. Buried in Bill C-39: The Enabling Digital Trade Act Brings Canada Its First Federal Electronic Trade Documents Law
  4. A Definition That Meets the Moment: Federal Government Recognizes Antisemitism Includes Anti-Zionism
  5. Nobody Can Say They Weren’t Warned: Canada’s Threat Assessments Predicted the Belleville Yom Kippur Attack
  6. An AI Transparency Act for Canada: My Submission to the Government’s AI Transparency Consultation
  7. Not If, But When: The Yom Kippur Terror Attack in Belleville
  8. A Canary’s Song: What Antisemitism Reveals About the Health of Canadian Democracy
  9. Elbows Up With Europe Too: Why Canada’s Pivot to the EU Raises the Same Digital Sovereignty Questions as the U.S.
  10. A Century After Keeping Jewish Students Out, Universities Are Letting Them Be Pushed Out
  11. The Lessons of 9/11 We Forgot After October 7th
  12. Named to Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers
  13. Be Careful What You Wish For: Why Asking Google Maps to Defy the U.S. on Lake Ontario Would Undermine Canadian Digital Sovereignty

August 2026

  1. Big Money, Bigger Design Changes: What the Meta Settlement Means for Canada, Bill C-34, and the Age Verification and Privacy Risks That Remain
  2. Unleashing the Trolls: Ontario Court Opens the Door to Liability for Influencers Who Weaponize Their Audiences
  3. Why Ottawa Will Likely Join the U.S. in Opposing the Quebec Online Streaming Law at the Centre of the Trade Battle
  4. Online Harms’ Forgotten Generation: Why the Government Needs to Pay Attention to Protecting Seniors
  5. Culture Off the Table? What the Collapsed Canada-U.S. Trade Talks Reveal About the Carney Government’s Cultural Policy
  6. Digital Trade Alignment: What May Be in Play in the Canada-U.S. Trade Deal
  7. TMU Picks Damage Control Over Fixing the Damage: Behind Its Shameful Response to the Devastating Benotto Report on Campus Antisemitism
  8. Thanks For Joining the Movement: French Constitutional Council Strikes Down Kids’ Social Media Ban
  9. Denial, Hate, and Silence: The Three Responses to Overwhelming Evidence of Canada’s Campus Antisemitism Crisis
  10. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 278: Ben Waldman on Gander Social and the Challenges of Building a Sovereign Social Network
  11. Canada’s Campus Antisemitism Crisis: National Survey Finds Antisemitism Nearly Everywhere and University Responses Nowhere
  12. Why the Answers to Hateful Content Online are Hiding in the Platforms’ Own Rules

July 2026

  1. From CCH to ChatGPT: How Canadian Copyright Law Played the Key Role in Deciding a Leading AI Training Data Case in India
  2. Starting Over: Court Filing Confirms the CRTC’s Streamer Contribution Decisions Are Dead With a Full Online Streaming Act Reset to Come
  3. The Name on the Window Was Enough: The Attacks on Kiva’s and the Normalization of Antisemitic Violence in Canada
  4. The Jill Bennett Show: Will news return to Facebook and Instagram in Canada?
  5. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 277: Kate Robertson on the Risks That Lie Behind Canada’s Unexpected Signing of the UN Cybercrime Convention
  6. A Surveillance Treaty in Disguise: The Trouble With Canada’s Quiet Decision to Sign the UN Cybercrime Convention
  7. Rushing Lawful Access Backfires: Wyden Letter on Bill C-22 Highlights Political, Trade and Business Risks
  8. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 276: Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard on Canada’s Access to Information Failures and Why Access Delayed is Access Denied
  9. Why the Government’s Plan for a Social Media Ban in Bill C-34 Is Unconstitutional
  10. Outdated Data and Dubious Comparisons: Digging into the Government’s AI Strategy Adoption Claims
  11. Why Being Locked Out of Frontier AI is The Sovereignty Threat Canada Missed
  12. Nuanced: Michael Geist Law Professor WARNS Against Canada’s New Internet Laws
  13. Blocked Twice: How Bill C-34’s Kids’ Social Media Ban Would Compound the Online News Act’s Harm to Young Canadians’ News Access
  14. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 275: David Loukidelis on Why Stripping Privacy Enforcement from Canada’s Privacy Commissioner in Bill C-36 is Unnecessarily Risky Policy
  15. The Data on Australia’s Social Media Ban: The Better the Privacy Protection, The Less Effective the Ban
  16. MEFTV: Navigating Canada’s Digital Shift – Bill C-22 and Beyond
  17. Shaky Ground Gets Shakier: What the U.S. Supreme Court’s Location Data Decision Means for Bill C-22

June 2026

  1. The Two Weeks That Reshaped Canada’s Digital Policy
  2. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 274: Mark Musselman on What Stakeholders Really Think About the Government’s Reversal of the CRTC Online Streaming Act Decision
  3. Improv Policy: The Government Doesn’t Know What To Do About Its Online Streaming Act Mess
  4. Soft Ban or Hard Verification Requirement?: Why Bill C-34’s Social Media Ban Exemption Gets the Incentives Wrong and Comes Too Late to Matter
  5. New Rights, New Powers, Long Delays: Bill C-36’s Seven-Step Process for Privacy Reform to Take Effect
  6. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 273: Rebroadcast of the Globe and Mail’s The Decibel on Canada’s First Steps Towards a Social Media Ban
  7. Midnight Madness: The Government Rushes Lawful Access Bill Through the House Without Debate or a Recorded Vote
  8. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Bill C-36 Modernizes Canada’s Privacy Law, Then Delays It to 2030
  9. Gary Anandasangaree’s Vic Toews Moment Shows the Government Has Lost Its Way on Lawful Access
  10. Government Moves to Shut Down Lawful Access Hearing In Order To Fast Track Passing the Bill This Week
  11. The Elias Makos Show: Bill C-34 – What are the takeaways of Canada’s move to ban social media for kids under 16?
  12. Canada’s Digital Super-Regulator: Bill C-36 Pushes Out the Privacy Commissioner and Hands Private Sector Privacy to an Overloaded Commission
  13. The Commission: How Bill C-34 Creates an Internet Super-Regulator That Will Touch the Lives of Millions of Canadians
  14. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 272: Build Canada’s Lucy Hargreaves on Canada’s AI Strategy and the Need to Shift From Being Users to Builders
  15. Privacy as a Fundamental Right? The Government’s Terrible Privacy Track Record Suggests Virtue Signalling Over a Genuine Commitment
  16. Taking Stock of Bill C-34: Five Things to Know About the Government’s Plan for a Kids’ Social Media Ban, Mandated Age Verification, and AI Chatbot Rules
  17. The Decibel: Canada’s first steps towards a social media ban
  18. Rob Breakenridge Show: Protecting kids or compromising privacy rights? Unpacking Bill C-34’s social media ban
  19. The Exemption Illusion: Why the Government’s Plan to Fast Track Bill C-34’s Kids’ Social Media Ban Means No Standards, No Privacy Review, and No Enforcement
  20. Unpacking Bill C-34: My Appearance on the Globe and Mail’s The Decibel Podcast
  21. Liberal MP: Lawful Access “Has Nothing to Do With the Privacy of People and Their Information”
  22. BTC Sessions: New Law Creates ‘Giant Surveillance Map’ of Every Citizen, Dr. Michael Geist
  23. CTV News: Will Canada’s youth social media ban work?
  24. Progress Canada Podcast: Michael Geist | Online Safety, Digital Surveillance, and Canada’s AI Future
  25. BTC Sessions: What Bitcoiners MUST Know About New Surveillance Bill | Dr. Michael Geist
  26. The Law to Be Named Later: Bill C-34 Punts 50 Key Decisions to Cabinet and a Digital Safety Commission That Does Not Yet Exist
  27. Everything All At Once: Bill C-34 Combines Platform Duties, a Kids’ Social Media Ban, AI Chatbot Regulation, and a Powerful Digital Safety Commission Into a Risky “Trust Us” Bet
  28. Yet Another Trade Battle Brewing: Why a Kids’ Social Media Ban Could Put Canada on a Collision Course With the U.S.
  29. Everything You Wanted to Know About a Kids’ Social Media Ban (But Were Rightly Afraid to Ask): A FAQ on Age Verification and Mandated ID for Everyone
  30. Bill C-22’s Clause-by-Clause Problem: The Government Includes Agencies Seeking Lawful Access Powers But Blocks the Privacy Commissioner’s Return
  31. You Can’t Put the Toothpaste Back in the Tube: Why the Government’s Reported “Temporary” Plan for a Kids’ Social Media Ban Would Mean Mandated ID for Everyone
  32. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 271: Taking Stock of a Wild Week in Canadian Digital Policy With the Online Streaming Reversal, AI Strategy Release, and Lawful Access Review
  33. Canadian American Business Council on Bill C-22: It “Threatens Our Bilateral Partnership on Data Security”
  34. AI for All, Details to Follow: Government Releases a Big-Spending AI Strategy That Is Still Short on the Specifics That Matter
  35. New Privacy Rights in the Morning, Mandatory Metadata Retention in the Afternoon: How Bill C-22 Undercuts the AI Strategy Before It Launches
  36. From Making Web Giants Pay to Making Taxpayers Pay: Government Announces Plan to Kill the CRTC’s Online Streaming Ruling
  37. Digital Self-Sabotage: Why Canada’s AI Strategy Is Set to Fail Before it Even Launches
  38. Why Mark Carney’s Antisemitism Speech Did Not Meet the Moment
  39. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 270: Roundtable on the Bill C-22 Risks for Canadian Tech Companies Featuring VPN Services Tailscale and Windscribe

May 2026

  1. The Loonie Hour: Canada’s State Surveillance Bill w/ guest Michael Geist
  2. RCMP Confirms Bill C-22 Concerns: Police Want Law to Provide Access to Encrypted Communications
  3. More Misinformation on Bill C-22 as the Government Struggles to Defend Its Lawful Access Plan
  4. The Phony Phone Book Analogy: How Liberal Cabinet Ministers and MPs are Misleading Canadians About the Privacy Risks of Bill C-22
  5. Apple on Bill C-22: “This Bill Allows the Government of Canada to Force Companies to Break Encryption by Inserting Backdoors into their Products”
  6. From Levy to Liability: Why Canada Risks Facing Hundreds of Millions in Retaliatory Tariffs Due to the CRTC’s Online Streaming Act Ruling
  7. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 269: Inside the Bill C-22 Committee Hearing for the Case Against Government’s Lawful Access Plans
  8. The Online Streaming Act Bill Comes Due: Why the CRTC’s Latest Ruling Guarantees Years of Trade and Legal Battles
  9. The Government Tries to Make the Case for Bill C-22: Why Its Own Use Cases Reveal Disproportionate Overreach
  10. Tech Exodus: Why Bill C-22’s Privacy and Security Risks Will Drive Digital Services Out of the Country
  11. The Lawful Access Two-Headed Surveillance Monster: How Bill C-22 Went Off the Rails
  12. How Much Further Will Lawful Access Go?: Police Chief Tells Bill C-22 Hearing That Three Years of Metadata Retention Would Be “Ideal”
  13. Bill C-22’s Groundhog Day: Why the Government’s Dismissal of Signal, Apple and the U.S. Congress Concerns Runs Back the Disastrous Online News Act Playbook
  14. Slick Videos Won’t Save Lawful Access: Why The Government’s Bill C-22 Defence Avoids the Charter, Privacy and Security Concerns Raised By Critics
  15. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 268: Sara Grimes on the Moral Panic Behind Banning Kids from Social Media and AI Chatbots
  16. U.S. Congressional Leaders Warn Canadian Lawful Access Plans Harm U.S. National Security and Economic Interests
  17. Make It Make Sense: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-22’s Lawful Access Plan
  18. Why Social Media and AI Chatbot Bans for Kids Are Bad Policy: Making the Case at the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Tech Committee
  19. Government Has a Choice: Why an AI Chatbot Ban for Kids is an Even Worse Idea Than a Social Media Ban
  20. Wilful Blindness?: How the Lawful Access Charter Statement Skips Bill C-22’s Most Constitutionally Vulnerable Provisions
  21. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 267: Peter Nowak on Rogers, the Shaw Merger Aftermath, and the Limits of Canadian Telecom Policy
  22. Closer Look: Why banning kids from social media is a terrible idea
  23. Going Through the Motions: How Parliament Is Shutting Down Study and Debate on Political Party Privacy

April 2026

  1. Why The Senate Got Antisemitism Only Half-Right
  2. The Government Doubles Down on News Sector Support: Fiscal Update Opens the Door to Tens of Millions in Tax Credits for Bell, Rogers and Corus
  3. The Illusion of Protection: Why Canada’s Growing Push to Ban Social Media for Kids Won’t Work
  4. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 266: Justin Safayeni on the Ontario Government’s Overnight Evisceration of Access to Information
  5. AI Without Canada: Why the Heritage Committee’s AI Report Could Lead to Less Canadian Content in the Training Data
  6. Addressing the AI Policy Challenge: My Appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications
  7. Lawful Access Heads to Committee: The Opposition Found Its Voice, the Government Never Found Its Defence
  8. Is Data De-Identification Dead?: Why the AI Privacy Risk Isn’t What It Learns, But What It Figures Out
  9. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 265: Jason Millar on Claude Mythos, Project Glasswing, and the Governance Crisis in Frontier AI
  10. A Standard That Doesn’t Exist: Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Offers Misleading Defence of Bill C-22’s Lower Threshold for Subscriber Information
  11. More Surveillance Demands to Come?: Government Admits Bill C-22’s Lawful Access Provisions Could Be Expanded
  12. Win, Lose or Draw?: The Federal Court of Appeal Overrules a Key Copyright Case on Procedural Grounds
  13. The Lawful Access Debate Begins: Canadians Should Pay Attention to What the Government Isn’t Saying
  14. The Global Battle for Data Control: How the 2026 U.S. Report on Trade Barriers Targets Data Sovereignty Worldwide
  15. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age
  16. Heads They Win, Tails We Lose: What Lies Behind the U.S. Trade Battle For Control over Data
  17. Still Not a Privacy Law: Bill C-25’s Political Party Privacy Provisions Fall Short Again
  18. Could Bill C-22 Make Canadians Less Safe? The Systemic Vulnerability Gap in Canada’s New Surveillance Law
  19. Why the Verdict on Social Media Defective Design Harming Children Gets the Instinct Right But the Law Wrong

March 2026

  1. Scoping in the Tech Giants: Bill C-22’s International Production Order and the Shift to a Less Privacy-Protective Cross-Border Disclosure System
  2. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 263: The Lawful Access Act Roundtable With David Fraser and Robert Diab
  3. When Writing About Antisemitism Proves the Point: What the Replies Reveal
  4. Acting on Antisemitism: If This Was Always Possible, Why Didn’t It Happen Sooner?
  5. Setting Canada’s AI Policy Priorities: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
  6. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 262: Zack Shapiro on the Claude AI Native Law Firm
  7. The Online Streaming Act in Jeopardy: U.S. Takes Aim at the CUSMA Cultural Exemption With Threats of Bill C-11 Retaliation
  8. No Nonsense with Pamela Wallin: What is Ottawa up to Online with Michael Geist
  9. The Hidden Lawful Access Tradeoff: How Bill C-22 Lowers the Evidentiary Standards for Police Access to Subscriber Information
  10. The Lawful Access Privacy Risks: Unpacking Bill C-22’s Expansive Metadata Retention Requirements
  11. The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 261: Ian Goldberg on the Privacy Risks of Age Assurance Technologies
  12. Government Enacts Political Party Anti-Privacy Rules With Bill C-4 Royal Assent Sprint
  13. A Tale of Two Bills: Lawful Access Returns With Changes to Warrantless Access But Dangerous Backdoor Surveillance Risks Remain

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