---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 22:59:53 -0500 From: "L. Jeffrey" FYI: The McLuhan Program submitted a brief to the CRTC on the public interest and the info highway, which we now circulate for your interest. Comments and similar initiatives are welcome at ljeffrey@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca or derrick@epas.utoronto.ca. Thank-you. -------------------------------------------------------- January 16, 1995. The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto. Prepared by Liss Jeffrey. Submission in response to CRTC PN 1994-130: Call for comments on the information highway. Dear Commissioners: Two Canadian theorists, Harold Innis (1894-1952) and Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), pioneered the historical study of the transformative power of communications technologies, and explored the ways in which dominant media transformed cultures. In 1995, their theories of cultural transformation remain relevant to debates over the information highway. While we continue our ongoing research efforts into the emerging techno-cultural environment, inspired by this communications history tradition, we submit these preliminary comments on behalf of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto. We request an opportunity to appear at the March hearings to answer questions about our proposals. Regards, Derrick de Kerckhove Liss Jeffrey Director Senior Research Associate Executive Summary 1. The federal strategy of a "vision of competition" (as announced in Order in Council P.C 1994-1689) is too narrow to encompass the issues posed by the "information highway." 2. Under NAFTA, the Canadian government has the authority and a responsibility to make policies in the interests of Canadian cultural sovereignty.... Under the Broadcasting Act (1991) and the Telecommunications Act (1993) the CRTC has major responsibility for ensuring that the public interest is protected and advanced. ... The key is to harmonize the principles articulated in section 3 of the Broadcasting Act with the public interest provision articulated in section 7 of the Telecommunications Act, which affirms that "telecommunications performs an essential role in the maintenance of Canada's identity and sovereignty." 3. Open market competition will not necessarily deliver basic services to all. The introduction of the information highway is the time to identify essential public services. Eight essential services include: ES1. A Canadian source of news about the nation and the world; ES2. A local source of news, weather, events, and information; ES3. A comprehensive health care database; ES4. A jobs listing and employment opportunities databank; ES5. A library and information access gateway; ES6. An educational and training database, providing lifelong learning resources; ES7. A government services and information database; ES8. A Freenet community dialogue network. 4. The principle must be affirmed that like the airwaves, spectrum and bandwidth are public property. 5. Cooperation and common standards between the carriage industries must be ensured, by federal leadership. Different regions and markets will require technological solutions appropriate to their needs. 6. Two way interactive media present new opportunities. The consumer can become a producer, if monopolies of knowledge are prevented. 7. Key areas for a Charter of Information Rights should include: - Privacy provisions; Non-discrimination in access by users and service providers to the public network; Intellectual property rights for content creators fully balanced by rights to access to information for educational and research purposes. 8. The vision of an electronic commonwealth needed for the unfolding future requires democratic public consultation on a scale not envisioned in the CRTC process. ----------------------------------------------- McLuhan Program Response to CRTC PN 1994-130: Two Canadian theorists, Harold Innis (1894-1952) and Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), pioneered the historical study of the transformative power of communications technologies, and explored the ways in which dominant media transformed cultures. In 1995, their theories of cultural transformation remain relevant to debates over the information highway. While we continue our ongoing research efforts into the emerging techno-cultural environment, inspired by this communications history tradition, we submit these preliminary comments on behalf of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto. Our arguments are: 1. The communications media are undergoing a shift comparable to the introduction of the printing press. Canadian culture, the economy, and the telecommunications and broadcasting system are in a transitional phase, a situation which is widely recognized. The federal strategy of a "vision of competition" (as announced in Order in Council P.C 1994-1689) is too narrow to encompass the issues posed by the transformative potential of the ensemble of old and new technologies, popularly referred to as the "information highway." The time to address these issues and clarify the public interests in the emerging "network of networks" is at the outset of this transitional phase. 2. Technologies are not inevitable, so long as we are prepared to pay attention. All new technologies introduce dislocations, both positive services and negative disservices. The stakes are both economic and cultural. Policy making requires balancing both dimensions. The public interest in national communications systems as a means of ensuring "a public service essential to the maintenance and enhancement of national identity and cultural sovereignty" has historically been, and must continue to be a primary responsibility of the federal government. Under the Broadcasting Act (1991) and the Telecommunications Act (1993) the CRTC has major responsibility for ensuring that the public interest is protected and advanced. The public policy principles articulated in section 3 of the Broadcasting Act must be maintained, and applied to all content providers. Where the telephone companies wish to provide programming delivered to the home, provision of these services falls under the Broadcasting Act definition of "other means of telecommunications" which (as amended) encompasses "any wire, cable, radio, optical or other electromagnetic system, or any similar technical system." The telcos must abide by public interest requirements comparable to the obligations placed on broadcasters and cablecasters. The "platform" is not neutral, whether wired or wireless, but it is irrelevant for purposes of coverage under the Act. A model of basic services, which would constitute the objectives for all telecommunications carriers which become content providers is outlined below (point 3). What is needed at the outset is a declaration of the obvious: where the roles of carriers and content providers converge, as is currently the case, the telcos are cultural industries, and components of the "broadcasting" system. Thus, under NAFTA, the Canadian government has the authority and a responsibility to make policies in the interests of Canadian cultural sovereignty. All systems have rules. In this emerging environment, the CRTC is the lead agency positioned to insist upon public accountability, and to enforce ground rules that advance the public interest in the system. Regulatory flexibility is required, but abdication of responsibility would be short-sighted. One line of argument that should be rejected is the fatalistic stance that globalization renders all national policies obsolete. True, policy making is more difficult, and must be flexible and intelligent. Also true, technologies such as the Internet erase old-style national borders and render regulation based on spectrum scarcity and access to prohibited content problematic. But technologies do not define public interests. There will always be rules of the road. Why would Canada - and its citizens - wish to abdicate authority and relinquish the ability to shape a public sphere in which Canadian voices can be heard? The historic task of forging a vision of the local and national commons, perhaps revisioned to reflect the aspiration to an electronic commonwealth, becomes more important, not less, under conditions of globalization. The key is to harmonize the principles articulated in section 3 of the Broadcasting Act with the public interest provision articulated in section 7 of the Telecommunications Act, which affirms that "telecommunications performs an essential role in the maintenance of Canada's identity and sovereignty." The Act states as federal policy that affordable access to communications and information services must be provided universally, in Section 7 (b). The Act further calls upon the industry to "facilitate the orderly development throughout Canada of a telecommunications system that serves to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the social and economic fabric of Canada and its regions" and to "respond to the economic and social requirements of users of telecommunications services." (In section 7 [a] & [h]). A significant problem arises once barriers between broadcasting and elecommunications blur. The old model of one way broadcasting which current legislation presumes, and protects, is insufficient to govern and ensure the growth of two way communications media. Instead of a narrow vision of competition among existing media giants, chiefly the cable and telephone companies, attention must be directed to how to ensure that the way in which new media are introduced encourages two way capability for all, does not exacerbate existing disparities, and does not result in monopolies of electronic knowledge. Canada's acclaimed strength in engineering must in the 1990s be supplemented by the imagineering required to build a national community as an electronic commonwealth. If the expectations from the new technologies are to be realized, such as jobs, innovation, and Canadian content, the consumer must be recognized as a potential producer. Monopolies of knowledge can be prevented by ensuring common network standards, platform neutrality, and requiring that switched broadband capabilities are open to entry by small content and service providers. A narrow vision of competition among current large infrastructure providers - chiefly the cable and telephone companies - diverts attention to infrastructure owners, and their private shareholders, while deflecting attention away from other stakeholders who will be affected by changes to the system, including users, artists, and small innovative service providers. The vision of an electronic commonwealth needed for the unfolding future requires democratic public consultation on a scale not envisioned in the CRTC process (see point 8). During the transitional phase, a narrow vision of competition must be replaced by a vision of sustainable competition with benefits for all. The way to accomplish this is to clarify the objectives of the Canadian system, and provide clear rules of the road so that private firms who wish to profit from the system understand what is expected of them. 3. Open market competition will not necessarily deliver basic services to all. Sustainable competition does not necessitate de-regulation, but requires instead clear system objectives. Access for all to the means of communication and information resources is the cornerstone of maintaining Canada's commitment to building an inclusive and diverse society. The alternative is monopolies of knowledge, and widening gaps between information haves and have-nots. Therefore, it is necessary to articulate a vision of what basic services can be considered essential in an information economy and society. Eight essential services include: Information Services ES1. A Canadian source of news about the nation and the world (currently offered to English language audiences by NewsWorld, and to francophones by RDI); ES2. A local source of news, weather, events, and information; A Healthy Community ES3. A comprehensive health care database; Employment Opportunities ES4. A jobs listing and employment opportunities databank; Knowledge Networks ES5. A library and information access gateway which provides navigator services to guide users to the availability of free and fee for service resources; ES6. An educational and training database, providing lifelong learning resources; Electronic Democracy ES7. A government services and information database, with navigational aids including multilingual human operators for ease of use by citizens; ES8. A Freenet community dialogue network. Operating in various Canadian cities, Freenets provide crucial public space where electronic democracy can thrive. The introduction of the information highway is the time to identify these services as essential, and expect their carriage by telecommunications and cable companies who wish to become content and two-way service providers to the home. Numerous benefits could flow from this approach. The public would have an incentive to learn how to negotiate the information highway. The higher the number of users participant in the system, the faster the returns will flow to infrastructure builders. The more members of the public on the system, the greater the cost savings and efficiencies from government provision of services by electronic means. Collaboration between public and private sectors, favoured by the federal government in the Order in Council, could facilitate the rapid introduction of such services. Currently, most organizations - from museums to hospitals - are exploring ways to make existing operations digital, and find on ramps to the information highway. Creative partnerships could ensure that these services are available and affordable to all. 4. The principle must be affirmed that like the airwaves, spectrum and bandwidth are public property. There is already a public investment in a network of networks that makes use in its operations of spectrum and bandwidth, be it electromagnetic radiation, or fibre optics. Government funds and tax incentives have been, and will be, committed to support development of these services. A few examples will illustrate. The telephone and cable industries have benefitted from publicly supported monopolies; broadcasters have benefitted from regulation, income tax incentives, and public funding for program production; Canarie has received public funds to extend a national information infrastructure. There must be a return on this investment, and for the telecommunications service providers, this public dividend can take the form of provision of essential basic services. 5. There is no need to engage in ruinous competition and overbuild the accessway to the home. Who would benefit over the longterm from such corporate warfare? A narrow vision of competition restricts its view of benefits to commodities, and ignores communities. Cooperation between the carriage industries must be ensured, by federal leadership. Different regions and markets will require technological solutions appropriate to their needs. Federal leadership is also required to ensure common standards so that a public network of networks emerges that permits communication and information exchange without regard to region, or type of infrastructure provider. Such a public network must be predominantly owned by Canadians, as currently mandated in the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts. 6. Two way interactive media present new opportunities. The ability of the user to actively request information on demand to meet knowledge needs departs from a conventional broadcast model. Training in the new literacies required for genuine access should form part of a comprehensive strategy for a new information society. Libraries, community centres and educational institutions should be supported in their efforts to supply services to those who lack home equipment. Systems designed for ease of use will facilitate access. The current transition shifts from a one way limited choice broadcasting system, to a two way capacity, and the ability to design your own selection guide through the use of personal programming agents. The consumer can become an entreprenur and producer, if system access is open and monopolies of knowledge are prevented. The audience is both citizen and consumer, and a public (library) model must be evolved to counterbalance a market (mall) model. The success of the Internet, and failure of bureaucrat- and telco-driven initiatives such as Telidon and Alex indicates that the public wants to drive the system, not have it imposed. 7. A charter of rights for the information highway must be drafted, debated, and formulated by the federal government, with input from the CRTC, the public, industry, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and the provinces. Such a Charter would be administered by the CRTC. Key areas for such a Charter of Information Rights include: - Privacy provisions. The Charter right to security of the person should be extended to the protection of personal information from unauthorized use. - Non-discrimination in access by users and service providers to the public network. The right to freedom of expression must be extended to all citizens, in recognition of the technological development of two way communication, and as a departure from a one way model of media. - Intellectual property rights for content creators fully balanced by rights to access to information for educational and research purposes. The Copyright Act should affirm as its fundamental purpose the provision of incentives for the diffusion of knowledge, and carefully balance rights of information creators, and property owners with a public right to know, and to freedom of expression. 8. The vision of an electronic commonwealth needed for the unfolding future requires democratic public consultation on a scale not envisioned in the CRTC process. This includes reflection on the modest proposals offered in this brief. Extensive public education and meaningful consultation is required. At a public meeting held January 13th in Toronto, members of the Advisory Council on the Information Highway complained about a lack of public response to their position papers. This should not be surprising, since IHAC meetings are not open to the public, and most information about the information highway and the Advisory Council carried in the media has so far been scattered and superficial. Several groups, including the Coalition on Public Information, and the Telecommunities network of freenets, have privately reported that they find themselves excluded from the current CRTC process of consultation on the information highway because they lack the resources to formulate comprehensive positions, and are in any event currently consulting the public in order to arrive at such positions. We recognize the need for the federal government to act swiftly, and share the sense of urgency regarding developments in transformative communications and information technologies. We have argued above that during the transitional phase, flexible policies must be put in place, which can be adapted to the changing environment. The first step, as discussed, is to clearly articulate the public interests in the system, define the system objectives, and require all who expect to profit from the network of networks to contribute to the broader electronic commonwealth. We recommend that the federal government appoint a Royal Commission on Canada's Information and Communications Future, with responsibilities to inform and consult with the public, and to establish a research program with the assistance of Statistics Canada, university researchers, and other information - gathering agencies. The goal of this worthy and time-consuming exercise in democracy would be the formulation of recommendations regarding how to ensure that the public interests in the system are advanced. Royal Commissions, including the Aird Commission which led to the formation of the CBC, and the Massey Commission, which resulted in the Canada Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, have played important roles in the history of Canada's cultural development. Royal Commissions have fallen out of fashion for the wrong reasons. Democracy may be inconvenient for some, and too slow for others, however the cultural and economic transformation underway requires no less. During the transitional phase, sound policies must be based on high quality research. Studies based on the numerous trials of new services underway across the country, and internationally, could supply valuable insights, but must be evaluated independently and not by those whose primary commitment is to market such services. Baseline indicators are required, against which to monitor the dislocations of newer technologies. Some of these indicators would include: rates of conventional (reading, writing, numeracy) and computer literacy; demographic and socioeconomic trend profiles of who uses and owns computers; the impact of user-pay broadcasting and information practices on access; generation, gender and other barriers to access; the role of libraries and educational institutions in providing access and training so that all may take advantage of information technologies; the growth of self employment and access to financing and telecommunications services for entrepreneurs working from the home; the promise of job creation and actual results of new technologies; and the access policies and practices of infrastructure owners. By no means an exhaustive list, such indicators must be monitored, and an agency to conduct continuing research designated on the advice of the Royal Commission. Conclusion These preliminary arguments and recommendations are inspired by the Canadian communications history tradition, pioneered by Innis and McLuhan, and based on ongoing research into the challenges for Canada posed by the information highway. Electronic commonwealth, or electronic monopolies of knowledge - there is a choice, and by understanding new media environments, the choice is ours to make. ---