iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

As I wrote yesterday, the US doesn’t need to oppose Bill 109, Quebec’s streaming law since the federal government will ultimately do it for them. Sounds like the digital issues are done: mandated payments out, discoverability in. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/08/why-...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Recommendations include an express prohibition on intimidation, harassment, and discrimination in the speech code, consistent enforcement of policies, and adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism (noting "it does not prohibit critique of Israel’s government, policies, or conduct")

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The Benotto report (with redactions) on TMU is now posted online. Report finds antisemitism has surged, pointing to offline and online threats, Holocaust minimization, spitting at visibly Jewish students. Even Shabbat dinners require threat assessments. www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The most comprehensive survey of Jewish student experiences was released last week. It points to a real antisemitism crisis, yet government and university officials have remained largely silent. Into that void comes the denial and hate shown here. My post on the response. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

It isn’t just that I never thought we would see the vast majority of Canadian Jewish students report they encounter antisemitism or that Holocaust denial would appear on campuses. What shocks is that so many remain indifferent, silent or even justify it. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The Canadian campus antisemitism crisis data is shocking. But it is the 1200 samples of open comments from Jewish students that are the gut punch. Repeated threats and holocaust denial that have nothing to do with antisemitism definitions, yet some seem ready to excuse. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Same post on antisemitic attacks at Kiva's on X and Bluesky. X: 30K+ views, 200+ RTs, support mixed with false flag claims and holocaust denial. Bluesky: 3 likes, no replies. One platform supplies the gaslighting, the other the silence. My original post warned about both.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

You can’t credibly argue that privacy is a key element of the AI strategy and simultaneously introduce a privacy reform bill that will not lead to any changes for years. Here are the seven steps the government has established, which unfold over many months. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

This was a very bad week for privacy in Canada.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Well past midnight and the votes continue on Bill C-22 amendments. Just amendment numbers with no discussion, no debate, and no way for the public to even know what is being voted on.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

With Gary Anandasangaree invoking "you're with us or with the criminals" language as the government seeks to shut down debate on Bill C-22, he would do well to remember how Liberal MPs reacted to that approach years ago on a different lawful access bill. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

In the last 24 hours, the government has announced plans to eviscerate the Privacy Commissioner’s office in C-36, cut off debate on a lawful access bill that includes metadata retention, and reversed age verification privacy safeguards just five days after introducing them. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Government’s vision of social media, AI and privacy regulation: Super-regulator that strips power from Privacy Commish and leaves five people to set the rules, enforce, investigate, litigate, and advocate with their own rules of evidence and less independence. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

The Commission: Bill C-34’s super-regulator decides how dozens of rules are implemented, including age verification, social media ban exemptions, and harmful content removal requirements. Full investigative power and the potential that one person will decide it all. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Government officials say they plan to start the Bill C-34 kids’ social media ban soon after the bill passes. But their plan would sideline standards for age verification and a mandated privacy review just as millions are required to verify their age. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

This must be the most bizarre and troubling comment during the entire lawful access debate. A Liberal MP says Bill C-22 “has nothing to do with the privacy of people and their information.” Inconceivable given the committee hearings and the concerns raised. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/06/libe...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

In a bill titled the Safe Social Media Act, to what social media services does the law apply? The answer for the moment is none. The Safe Social Media Act leaves nearly everything for later with Cabinet or a future Commission to make the call. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Panic First, Evidence Later: must-read from McGill's @smgrimes.bsky.social on the moral panic involving kids and social media and the rush toward questionable policies that may cause more harm than good. kidsplaytech.com/wp-content/u...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Signal leaves no doubt about the impact of Bill C-22 on the popular messaging app in a statement to the committee: “Signal will not build surveillance into our service. If we are ever forced to choose between betraying the people who rely on us and leaving a market, we will leave.”

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

The RCMP appeared before the Public Safety and National Security committee yesterday and affirmed that critics' concerns about Bill C-22 are well justified. The bill is about police gaining access to backdoors and encrypted communications. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/05/rcmp...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Canadian Government: Tech companies are misleading the public on security backdoors and breaking encryption in Bill C-22 RCMP: We welcome Bill C-22 because we need security backdoors and the legal tools to break encryption

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

AI for All is becoming ID for All. If this identifies the government’s AI strategy, it is a significant shift. Sovereignty and scaling up are gone. Protecting kids a core pillar. Remarkable how the government doesn’t connect AI adoption with requiring ID to use AI. x.com/EvanLSolomon...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The Bill C-22 hearing yesterday featuring the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Apple, Google and others was a mess. But the message was clear. Bill C-22 represents a serious risk to the privacy and security of millions of Canadians. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/05/appl...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Apple leaves no doubt about the risk of Bill C-22 : "as drafted, this bill allows the Government of Canada to force companies to break encryption by inserting backdoors into their products, something Apple will never do."

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

At the Justice Committee yesterday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser responded to concerns about the broad scope of the electronic service provider in Part 2 of Bill C-22 by claiming the government listened to feedback and revised the definition. It didn't. It is word-for-word identical to Bill C-2.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Google's Bill C-22 submission has now been posted online. Calls for the removal of metadata retention, the elimination of secret ministerial orders, narrowing the scope of service providers, and providing explicit protection for encryption. www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Comm...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Public Safety urging Canadians to use a VPN to protect their privacy while simultaneously misleading Canadians about Bill C-22, a bill that would drive those same services out of Canada, is peak lawful access.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The government’s inconsistency on cybersecurity is dizzying: rightly prioritized in the AI context but badly undermined by Bill C-22 and lawful access proposals that could create risky backdoors. As I said to the SECU committee, make it make sense. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/05/make...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

At yesterday's Bill C-22 hearing, I tried to convey the risk that the lawful access plan could make Canada an outlier, forcing companies to remove privacy protections from the Canadian market or exit the market altogether. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/05/make...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Last week I wrote about government plans to provide millions in tax credits for news operations of giants like Bell and Rogers. Now Culture Minister Mark Miller says “it’s not a question of it, but how” and put a potential price tag on it. $6 BILLION?! bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Bill C-22, three days of House debate: - One paragraph on mandatory metadata retention - A process answer on encryption back doors - An admission this is only "a first step" - A defence of the lower threshold as "higher than mere suspicion" Full analysis below.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Algorithmic variable pricing in action...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Sovereignty preferred, but not mandated: Canadian AI Sovereign Compute program prioritizes but doesn’t mandate data residency, is ok with companies contractually controlled but not owned by Canadians, and must only limit instances of foreign access to data. ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

The Bill C-22 lawful access debate continued yesterday. Government now says it’s only the beginning. Once the bill passes, it can consider an even broader scope. Mandatory metadata retention and security backdoors are apparently just a “first step”. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Michael Geist Weekly Digest, Issue 3: US trade pressure on Canadian data sovereignty, Bill C-22's systemic vulnerability gap, political party privacy www.linkedin.com/pulse/michae...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

As if to prove the point, a small sampling of the responses to my post on speaking out about antisemitic violence in Canada. Ticks every box: hate, denial, deflection and efforts to chill speech. bsky.app/profile/mgei...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

The U.S. Congress isn’t messing around with the proposed legislation targeting Canada’s Online Streaming Act. Calls into question whether CUSMA cultural exemption even applies to the digital delivery of services and mandates retaliation if the law remains on the books unchanged.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Within minutes, Bill C-4 received royal assent. Bill passes without privacy safeguards and without any real discussion or debate. All within a matter of hours.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

And so the House was quickly informed that the amendment was withdrawn.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

With the House rejection, the matter went immediately to the Senate. It quickly agreed to withdraw its amendment to Bill C-4.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Given the silence, the motion moved immediately to a vote. No need for an actual vote though. Just an agreement to "carry on division." The motion rejecting the Senate amendment that merely required the government to establish real privacy rules within 3 years was passed.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Only one MP - Elizabeth May - spoke to the motion. No other MP had anything to say.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Bill C-4, which buried political party privacy rules that largely exempt parties from privacy obligations that every other organization faces, received royal assent yesterday. The process was head-spinning. It started with the House rejecting a Senate amendment to the bill.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Difficult day for privacy in Canada on the way: government set to reject Senate amendment to Bill C-4 on political party privacy and will introduce a new lawful access bill that is likely to revive constitutionally dubious warrantless access provisions.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Gunshots fired at two more Toronto synagogues last night. When relentless antisemitic incidents garner little more than performative tweets from leaders, dismissal as over-reporting, or justifications of “it’s antizionism not antisemitism”, this violent escalation is the inevitable result.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Leadership = Memorial University (@MemorialU), which has adopted a statement on institutional neutrality, ensuring it “does not take positions on current issues, but rather celebrates diversity, encourages open discourse and respects independent viewpoints.” gazette.mun.ca/campus-and-c...

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

I’ve written about Bill C-4’s stealth privacy rules which largely exempt political parties from privacy law. The House acted like provisions didn’t exist. This week, a Senate committee actually studied it and came back firmly opposed with three potential approaches: kill it, split it, sunset it.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Bill S-209 website blocking provision just amended. Site blocking still there but this clause - which acknowledged it could result in blocking lawful content - removed. Senators will leave it to Federal Court to determine scope of blocking order.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Few Canadians are paying attention as Senate committee approves creating government power mandating that virtually any site - social media, AI, search - require age verification under threat of court-ordered blocking in Canada. Bill S-209 about far more than pornography sites.

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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

The Globe reports that lawful access coming back yet again. Last version included expansive warrantless access rules. Piece notably cites to internal CSIS emails celebrating the inclusion of lawful access in Bill C-2 days before the bill introduced. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

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