ANALYSIS: The critics are wrong; it’s time to regulate the internet

By Brad Danks IN A SERIES OF RECENT ARTICLES, former CRTC commissioners, Konrad von Finckenstein, Peter Menzies and Timothy Denton have all criticized the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel Report (also called the “Yale Report”) for one of its key recommendations - bringing all media communications entities under the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Act. This is the recommendation intended to include all online services, such as Netflix and similar foreign online streamers, within the Canadian broadcasting regulatory system. Each of the former commissioners’ objections is slightly different, but all follow two similar themes. The first is the Internet is...