From: aa319@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Marita Moll) Reply-To: aa319@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Marita Moll) Newsgroups: can.infohighway Subject: IHAC report - Protecting culture Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 02:09:20 GMT Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Message-ID: Posted with the permission of the Toronto Star The Toronto Star Wed 30 Aug 95 Canada's fast lane Canadian content must get its own reserved routes on the information highway, or the phone and cable companies might swamp us with American stuff, according to a task force report to federal cabinet By Robert Brehl Toronto Star Canada must do more to prevent the information highway from becoming a one-way street promoting the American way of life, a new report says. ``We do not want a situation where the Canadian information highway is used to distribute mostly foreign products and services,'' says the final report of the federal government's Information Highway Advisory Council. ``Canadian culture is crucial as a mirror to Canadian society; a mirror that cannot be maintained by market forces alone.'' And protecting culture will not only further Canada's national identity, but also protect Canadian jobs, states the report. That's because the arts and cultural sector is now the ninth most important industry in Canada and growing fast, the panel says in Connection, Community, Content, Challenge, a 249-page report expected to be released within two weeks. A copy was obtained by The Star. More than 700,000 Canadians earn their living, directly or indirectly, from the arts and culture sector, which generates annual revenue of more than $25 billion, or 4 per cent of Canada's gross domestic product. The 29 council members, from cable and phone company presidents to broadcasters and artists, suggest Canadian culture can be protected by: * Securing ``prominent shelf space at eye level'' for Canadian products on the information highway. Carriers such as phone and cable companies must be forced to give Canadian content priority over foreign data. In tandem, government policies must stimulate the production of computer navigational software, in both English and French, that will point Canadians quickly and easily to Canadian content on global networks. * Increased tax credits, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, and enhanced tax incentives for Canadian producers of content and investors to support new products. ``The deluge of United States software, video games and multimedia products into the Canadian market will continue to accelerate unless and until Canadian consumers are offered diverse, high-quality Canadian alternatives,'' the panel says. The council is against direct subsidies because governments are financially strapped and subsidies do not get the same bang for the buck as tax credits. * Making sure all information highway carriers - phone, cable and wireless companies - pay a percentage of revenues to a fund for Canadian programming and multi-media development. * To increase the diversity of Canadian voices providing content, putting rules in place to separate carrying of information, i.e. cable and phone companies, from content providers, i.e. broadcasters, newspapers and book publishers. ``The principle of carriage/content separation should be maintained, at a minimum, through the requirement of structural separation between programming and distribution undertakings and with other reasonable safeguards,'' the panel says. Canada's book-publishing industry is singled out as needing both short- and long-term aid from government as the industry moves from paper to multimedia. Meanwhile, the council tiptoes around the contentious issue of the CBC, which is the target of government plans for drastic cuts in financing. The report makes no specific recommendation about CBC funding, although an overriding theme aims to protect Canadian culture by producing more of it and in better quality. And the CBC is one of the largest producers of Canadian culture. Besides culture, the panel has come back after 15 months' study with a blueprint for Ottawa on wide-ranging topics. They range from how best to protect individual privacy in a digital world and a national strategy for ``life-long learning'' to keep Canadians ahead in the information age. The information highway - electronic links among phones, computers, televisions and more - will affect all our lives. The contact points range from simple in-home services such as video-on-demand to doctors using electronics to examine patients hundreds of kilometres away. The report has more than 300 recommendations to the federal government. Most are not specific, but rather deal in general strategic terms. But the thrust of the report is to let the private sector build the highway. Government should step aside, unless the market dictates government intervention. ``The temptation for government is to try to do too much - to act where action is not necessarily beneficial; to regulate for short-term protection at longer- term cost; to intervene economically with good intentions but uncertain outcomes,'' the report warns. ``In the new information economy, success will be determined by the marketplace, not by government. ``The primary goal of government should be to set the ground rules, to act as model user and to inspire Canadians to become involved. ``The private sector should build and operate the information highway. Those who make the investments should bear the risks and reap a fair reward,'' the panel declares. Here are some of the other recommendations from the council: * Phone companies should not be allowed to compete in cable television until cable companies can provide local phone service and vice versa. Local phone competition is at least two years away. Monopoly customers in either field should not face extra charges to pay for cable and phone companies trying to compete with each other. * The term ``broadcasting'' must be redefined immediately. For instance, is video-on-demand, when the customer orders a private viewing to his or her home, broadcasting or one-to-one communication like a phone call? If it's not broadcasting, should Bell Canada be able to sell video-on-demand even before the company is permitted to provide regular cable TV service? * All governments should work together to provide more and more electronic services in a bid to save tax dollars and offer more convenience to customers. The panel said such things as renewing drivers' licences and ordering birth certificates should be done from home, not by trekking down to a crowded government office. * Ottawa should review limits on foreign investment in communications industries in a bid to raise more capital. But Canadians should still have majority ownership in these companies. If foreign investment levels rise from the current 20 to 33 per cent, they shouldn't go above 49 per cent. * The federal government should seek solutions to control obscene and illegal material going across computer networks. First, begin a public education campaign. Second, seek help from computer companies for developing ways to track exactly where material originates. Third, work toward international agreements on controlling harmful material. * The 1924 Copyright Act should be strengthened ``to impede or prohibit hidden and unauthorized acts of commercial rental in the case of computer programs and sound recordings.'' * Massive new tax incentives and tax credits are needed for research and development related to the information highway. The government should also create an ``R&D pool'' where smaller Canadian companies can share and exchange resources. The council said such a model exists today with the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education, a pilot partnership of 200 companies and government. Started in 1993, CANARIE has been successful, but is too small with only $150 million from government and private sector, compared with the U.S. government alone investing $1 billion in 1994 into a computer and communications research program. * Schools need more computers. ``There is about one computer for every 15 to 20 students; much of it is old and incapable of running current software or connecting to the Internet.'' * The government should promote and foster the growing phenomenon of telework, where an employee works from home but is connected to the office via computer, modem and phone lines. * To cut health-care costs, the government should promote the use of telemedicine, where doctors can examine patients hundreds of kilometres away via computer and network hook- ups. One-quarter of Canadians live in communities of less than 10,000 and 5 per cent live more than 25 kilometres from the nearest hospital, the report says. * A national strategy on distance learning is needed so that Canadians can conveniently continue their education through their working lives via on-line, interactive university courses. -- Marita Moll Ottawa, Ontario aa319@freenet.carleton.ca