It is very encouraging that @MarkJCarney is framing the issue of online harms within the broad context of the health and sovereignty of our information ecosystem. And he is right to argue that much of the problem ‘washes in from across our virtual border,’ as we have shown through many studies at the @MediaEcosystem. The challenge is the solutions he has so far proposed for this problem, embedded in a criminal justice based approach, are necessary but insufficient to address it. Video of Carney’s recent comments on online harms: youtube.com/live/hhozjmirZdY… These proposals rely on limited criminal justice tools to address a very important subset of problem. But they do not address the broader structural issues he is addressing the speech. Luckily, we know what to do. Over years of policy experimentation we have learned from the experiences of the EU, UK and Australia and have a pretty clear idea of the broad tool set required. It includes, risk assessments, mandated transparency, a strong independent regulator, specific rules for tech likely to be used by children, better data privacy, and user empowerment tools and processes. What’s more, Carney may have a unique opportunity to reset the digital governance agenda of the previous government and to build an approach purpose-built for the moment we are in. Here are three things they could do: First, as @petermacleod and I argue, we need to think of online harms as situated within the context of the sovereignty of our information and communication infrastructure. As has been the case at various points in our history, how we communicate in Canada has again become an issue of national sovereignty. We think this moment demands a dedicated Minister tasked with protecting Canada’s information system and coordinating our digital and communication policies. "In a changed world, Canada faces an information war. There is an answer" Toronto Star thestar.com/opinion/contribu… Second, as @helen__hayes and I argue, previous efforts to protect our digital infrastructures were spread across multiple cumbersome bills. We suggest pulling core components from each into one piece of legislation that can immediately shore up Canada’s digital defences: The Tech Accountability and Sovereignty Act. Building on the widely supported core duties of the online harms act, this could also include data protections, the inclusion of AI chatbots, ad tech policy, and cybersecurity measures. "How the next government can protect Canada’s information ecosystem" Globe and Mail theglobeandmail.com/opinion/… Third, in order to address threats to the integrity of our information ecosystem, we need to better understand it. Therefore we should adopt the recommendation of the Hogue Commission to establish an independent arm’s-length national digital observatory. This would enable researchers to use the data provided by platforms and tech companies to help Canadians better understand our always evolving information ecosystem and to hold tech companies accountable for their design, safety and moderation decisions. Carney framed the problem correctly, but now they need to propose the policies to solve it.

Everyone still ok with handing low orbit broadband over to Musk? And the regulation of our public sphere to Meta, YouTube and TikTok? And the ownership of our media to US hedge funds? And our AI jobs and IP to Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Google?