The Digital Decide: How to Agree on WTO Rules for Digital Trade

After more than 20 years of unsuccessful negotiations, WTO member countries may be able to agree on global digital trade rules if they look to the new Digital Economy Partnership Agreement among Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. As James Bacchus describes in this special report, the first “digital only” trade agreement offers a modular approach allowing members to pick and choose what works best for them today and enabling them to adopt more legal commitments on digital trade in the future.

Smart watches and fitness trackers may offer some health benefits to their wearers, but who really benefits from this monitoring? Unlike medical records, the health and behavioural data shared through a phone app or wearable device is not heavily protected, and fitness and health devices are not subject to the privacy laws that regulate medical devices. Marie Lamensch writes that we need better guardrails for the companies making and operating these devices and commercializing our extremely personal data.

Mobile passes, QR codes and other digital credentials are increasingly required to access all manner of venues, activities and experiences in the physical world. Indeed, making us machine-readable humans and managing our identity and access through digital identity infrastructure is big business and growing bigger each day. Yet, as Elizabeth M. Renieris explains, there are few laws or even norms to adequately govern these digital ID systems and the brave new “phygital” world we are now navigating.

Last amended in 2012, Canada’s Copyright Act is due for an update. In July, the federal government launched a consultation process to seek input on the reforms, with a special focus on what is required in response to the proliferation of works created by artificial intelligence and software-enabled products connected to the Internet of Things. Christopher Guly spoke to copyright experts to get their views on priorities for the new legislation.