In this first of a series of reports from CIGI’s Reimagining a Canadian National Security Strategy project, Kent Roach looks at three particularly salient and interrelated threats facing Canada’s democracy and national security: threats to elections and other basics of democracy; threats presented by online disinformation and misinformation; and threats presented by foreign conflicts on Canada’s diverse population, which rightly relies on high and increasing levels of migration from other countries. The report proposes ways to mitigate these threats while safeguarding equality, liberty and privacy rights.
News of the recent Australia-United Kingdom-United States pact has generated concern that Canada was not invited to an important party, given our membership in the “Five Eyes” security network. As Matthew Bondy explains, that concern is reasonable. Beyond nuclear submarines, the new pact’s initiatives will extend to advanced technology, cybersecurity and defence cooperation more broadly. For Canada, whose security depends on alliances, going it alone has never been the right option.
The risk of cyberattacks on domestic critical infrastructure and businesses is growing. Further, much of Canada’s national economy depends on intellectual property — biotech secrets, artificial intelligence algorithms, aerospace designs — all of which can be digitally copied, damaged or ransomed from anywhere in the world. In this opinion piece, Ian L. Paterson urges policy makers to move to combat these threats now.
A recent Wall Street Journal investigation found that although the vast majority of Facebook’s users live outside the United States, most of the company’s content moderation efforts — fully 87 percent — are devoted to American posts. Heidi Tworek explores some of the questions raised by these statistics, and describes how some countries are fighting back through the courts. Such cases may be the start of a new international approach to social media companies.
On Friday, October 1, Oxford University Press published Regulating Big Tech: Policy Responses to Digital Dominance, edited by Martin Moore and Damien Tambini. The book sets out a policy framework that can address interlocking challenges of contemporary tech regulation and offer actionable solutions for our technological future.
CIGI’s Robert Fay has contributed a chapter entitled “A Model for Global Governance of Platforms” to Part V: Reforming Governance. You can find out more about the publication here.
Oct. 14 – 1:30 p.m. EDT (UTC–04:00): As part of CIGI’s continued work on its Reimagining a Canadian National Security Strategy project, we are pleased to host Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien for a discussion on privacy protection in the context of today’s information revolution, the data-driven economy and known risks within the evolving threat landscape. A Q&A period moderated by Aaron Shull will follow.
Learn more about this event and register to attend online here.
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