Background: Privacy regulations surrounding facial recognition technology (FRT) are not enough to protect the privacy of online users from FRT companies and law enforcement. Analysis: A case study analysis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP’s) use of Clearview AI reveals that police and FRT companies violate provincial and federal privacy regulations by scraping facial images from the internet without user consent. Conclusion and Implications: In the context of increased calls to further regulate FRT, this case study emphasizes that robust privacy protections extend beyond comprehensive privacy regulations, and must include fundamental changes to selfie, smartphone, and upgrade cultures.
{"title":"The Problem with Regulating Facial Recognition Technology in a Digital Culture of Visibility","authors":"Constantine Gidaris","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0030","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Privacy regulations surrounding facial recognition technology (FRT) are not enough to protect the privacy of online users from FRT companies and law enforcement. Analysis: A case study analysis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP’s) use of Clearview AI reveals that police and FRT companies violate provincial and federal privacy regulations by scraping facial images from the internet without user consent. Conclusion and Implications: In the context of increased calls to further regulate FRT, this case study emphasizes that robust privacy protections extend beyond comprehensive privacy regulations, and must include fundamental changes to selfie, smartphone, and upgrade cultures.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41990297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: Given the escalating anti-Asian racism and xenophobia caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research in brief presents a rapid review of relevant research published between March 2020 and February 2022 in cultural studies and communication journals. Analysis: The data collection identified only 13 articles published by the target journals, indicating the marginal status of communication and media studies in the expanding body of research on anti-Asian racism. Further qualitative thematic analysis of the 13 articles revealed their analytical emphasis on anti-Asian discourse and rhetoric online. Meanwhile, the structural factors underlying the reproduction of systemic racism remain underexplored. Conclusion and implications: Based on this rapid review, it is recommended that future research pay more attention to how racial tension and discrimination are woven into everyday communications across a range of media including social media, traditional media, and interpersonal communication. There is also an urgent need for communication scholars to develop intersectional lenses that facilitate the critical analysis of macro factors (class, gender, geopolitics, etc.) that contribute to the reproduction of racial hierarchy in Canada and other settler states.
{"title":"Understanding Anti-Asian Racism from Communication Perspectives: Insights from a Rapid Literature Review","authors":"Sibo Chen, John Shiga, Chloe Sher","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0066","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Given the escalating anti-Asian racism and xenophobia caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research in brief presents a rapid review of relevant research published between March 2020 and February 2022 in cultural studies and communication journals. Analysis: The data collection identified only 13 articles published by the target journals, indicating the marginal status of communication and media studies in the expanding body of research on anti-Asian racism. Further qualitative thematic analysis of the 13 articles revealed their analytical emphasis on anti-Asian discourse and rhetoric online. Meanwhile, the structural factors underlying the reproduction of systemic racism remain underexplored. Conclusion and implications: Based on this rapid review, it is recommended that future research pay more attention to how racial tension and discrimination are woven into everyday communications across a range of media including social media, traditional media, and interpersonal communication. There is also an urgent need for communication scholars to develop intersectional lenses that facilitate the critical analysis of macro factors (class, gender, geopolitics, etc.) that contribute to the reproduction of racial hierarchy in Canada and other settler states.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43682804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: Last amended in 1991, the Broadcasting Act has recently been the object of legislative reform projects with the aim of incorporating online broadcasting into the existing legislative and regulatory framework and expanding the diversity representation mandate of the Canadian broadcasting system. Analysis: The article analyses proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Act iterated in the third and final version of Bill C-10 (2021) and in the current version of Bill C-11 (2022) and develops a critical analysis of their implications vis-à-vis discursive constructions of Canadian cultural nationalism and the model of cultural citizenship that it fosters. Conclusion and Implications: Proposed amendments recuperate the cultural nationalist logic that underscores Canadian cultural policy’s efforts to secure cultural sovereignty. In the legislative reform project, this logic manifests through the continued economization of cultural production in the digital era and the perpetuation of a settler colonial vision of cultural citizenship that remains skewed by ethnolinguistic hierarchies.
{"title":"Canadian Cultural Nationalism in the Time of Digital Platforms: Reframing Proposed Amendments to the Broadcasting Act","authors":"Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Last amended in 1991, the Broadcasting Act has recently been the object of legislative reform projects with the aim of incorporating online broadcasting into the existing legislative and regulatory framework and expanding the diversity representation mandate of the Canadian broadcasting system. Analysis: The article analyses proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Act iterated in the third and final version of Bill C-10 (2021) and in the current version of Bill C-11 (2022) and develops a critical analysis of their implications vis-à-vis discursive constructions of Canadian cultural nationalism and the model of cultural citizenship that it fosters. Conclusion and Implications: Proposed amendments recuperate the cultural nationalist logic that underscores Canadian cultural policy’s efforts to secure cultural sovereignty. In the legislative reform project, this logic manifests through the continued economization of cultural production in the digital era and the perpetuation of a settler colonial vision of cultural citizenship that remains skewed by ethnolinguistic hierarchies.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49510431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada became the focus of public and media scrutiny in 2013 for allegedly replacing Canadian workers. One group of workers escaped the same scrutiny despite working in similar occupational categories—International Experience Canada (IEC) participants, primarily White and young workers from a variety of European countries, Australia, and New Zealand. Analysis: This article explores the significance of the spectre of Whiteness to contemporary Canadian migration governance and employs critical discourse analysis paying attention to the tone of select front-page coverage of the IEC program in two Canadian and two Irish news outlets. Conclusions and implications: The limited coverage of ethnically White IEC participants shielded them from the negative scrutiny experienced by racialized TFWs. “Irish” became a stand-in for the infinite variability of Whiteness in Canadian nationhood.
{"title":"Invisibility while under Scrutiny: Media Portrayals of White Temporary Foreign Workers","authors":"A. Hari, Sardar Ahmed","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0018","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada became the focus of public and media scrutiny in 2013 for allegedly replacing Canadian workers. One group of workers escaped the same scrutiny despite working in similar occupational categories—International Experience Canada (IEC) participants, primarily White and young workers from a variety of European countries, Australia, and New Zealand. Analysis: This article explores the significance of the spectre of Whiteness to contemporary Canadian migration governance and employs critical discourse analysis paying attention to the tone of select front-page coverage of the IEC program in two Canadian and two Irish news outlets. Conclusions and implications: The limited coverage of ethnically White IEC participants shielded them from the negative scrutiny experienced by racialized TFWs. “Irish” became a stand-in for the infinite variability of Whiteness in Canadian nationhood.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48595512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: YTV was one of Canada’s most popular television networks during the 1990s. Despite its many contributions to a vibrant and influential children’s television industry during that period, research on the network is scarce. Analysis: This article analyzes the relationship between YTV, Canada’s first dedicated children’s network, and Nickelodeon, the popular U.S. children’s brand. This article examines how YTV was discursively and practically organized in relation to Nickelodeon in its nascent years. It also considers how YTV built on Nickelodeon’s production of its audience as “consumer citizens.” Conclusions and implications: This once dynamic relationship has come to favor the U.S. industries through the Canadian entertainment conglomerate Corus Entertainment’s transnational-vertical business operations.
{"title":"Canadian Trash, American Treasure: YTV, Nickelodeon, and the Production of Canadian Children’s Television Distribution","authors":"Patrick Bonner","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0053","url":null,"abstract":"Background: YTV was one of Canada’s most popular television networks during the 1990s. Despite its many contributions to a vibrant and influential children’s television industry during that period, research on the network is scarce. Analysis: This article analyzes the relationship between YTV, Canada’s first dedicated children’s network, and Nickelodeon, the popular U.S. children’s brand. This article examines how YTV was discursively and practically organized in relation to Nickelodeon in its nascent years. It also considers how YTV built on Nickelodeon’s production of its audience as “consumer citizens.” Conclusions and implications: This once dynamic relationship has come to favor the U.S. industries through the Canadian entertainment conglomerate Corus Entertainment’s transnational-vertical business operations.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41943551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: Connected digital games offer exciting opportunities for children to connect, play, and learn, but first they must navigate industry trends that jeopardize their rights, including invasive data collection and manipulative gambling mechanics. Analysis: A policy analysis reveals that Canada’s existing digital game regulation largely relies on a U.S. industry-made classification system and is ill-equipped to address these issues. Comparative analysis shows that despite previous similarities in their approaches to game regulation, Canada has now fallen behind the United Kingdom, where shifting approaches to “age-appropriateness” are producing promising new frameworks for supporting children’s rights across the digital environment. Conclusion and implications: This article concludes with a call to action for a rights-based Canadian response to the problematic issues that have emerged within the children’s game landscape.
{"title":"Rethinking Canada’s Approach to Children’s Digital Game Regulation","authors":"S. Grimes, Darshana Jayemanne, S. Giddings","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Connected digital games offer exciting opportunities for children to connect, play, and learn, but first they must navigate industry trends that jeopardize their rights, including invasive data collection and manipulative gambling mechanics. Analysis: A policy analysis reveals that Canada’s existing digital game regulation largely relies on a U.S. industry-made classification system and is ill-equipped to address these issues. Comparative analysis shows that despite previous similarities in their approaches to game regulation, Canada has now fallen behind the United Kingdom, where shifting approaches to “age-appropriateness” are producing promising new frameworks for supporting children’s rights across the digital environment. Conclusion and implications: This article concludes with a call to action for a rights-based Canadian response to the problematic issues that have emerged within the children’s game landscape.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44593404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. McKelvey, Scott DeJong, Saskia Kowalchuck, Elsa Donovan
Background: In popular coverage and social media analysis, the alt-right has been described as a popular phenomenon. Following Stuart Hall’s understanding of popular culture, we question the status of the alt-right in Canada as both a political and methodological problem that requires critical attention to social media metrics and critical experimentation in developing new digital methods. Analysis: Our study developed a novel method to analyse image circulation across major social media platforms. We find that image sharing is marginal, yet the spread of images distinguishes political communities between Twitter hashtags, subreddits, and Facebook pages. We found a distinct alt-right community in our sample, active but isolated from other popular sites. Conclusion and Implications: While the findings suggest the limited significance of image sharing to conceptualize popularity in cross-platform analysis, our novel method offers a compelling alternative to corporate social media analytics and raises new questions about how popular politics, especially the popularity of the alt-right, may be studied in the future.
{"title":"Is the Alt-Right Popular in Canada? Image Sharing, Popular Culture, and Social Media","authors":"F. McKelvey, Scott DeJong, Saskia Kowalchuck, Elsa Donovan","doi":"10.3138/cjc.2022-0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0021","url":null,"abstract":"Background: In popular coverage and social media analysis, the alt-right has been described as a popular phenomenon. Following Stuart Hall’s understanding of popular culture, we question the status of the alt-right in Canada as both a political and methodological problem that requires critical attention to social media metrics and critical experimentation in developing new digital methods. Analysis: Our study developed a novel method to analyse image circulation across major social media platforms. We find that image sharing is marginal, yet the spread of images distinguishes political communities between Twitter hashtags, subreddits, and Facebook pages. We found a distinct alt-right community in our sample, active but isolated from other popular sites. Conclusion and Implications: While the findings suggest the limited significance of image sharing to conceptualize popularity in cross-platform analysis, our novel method offers a compelling alternative to corporate social media analytics and raises new questions about how popular politics, especially the popularity of the alt-right, may be studied in the future.","PeriodicalId":45663,"journal":{"name":"Canadian Journal of Communication","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45656879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}