The French government announced on Jan. 27 the rollout of its new videoconferencing platform, Visio. The domestically developed platform was created to replace U.S. tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams across all state services by 2027 as part of the French government’s broader push for digital sovereignty. Officials say the shift will also cut software licensing costs and strengthen security and confidentiality.
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January 14, 2026 | Ruth Morgan, the 2024-25 TISPP visiting fellow, argues that trust between science and society depends on sustained, open dialogue. She highlights that knowledge is disruptive and uncertain, and that progress starts with asking better questions especially in an era of misinformation.
January 16, 2025 | In an article by The Global and Mail, Professor Taylor Owen shared his concerns regarding the AI becoming a threat for younger generation. The rapid advancement of the AI, poses a grave question of who is responsible for the actions and outcomes of an AI chatbot? Especially when it comes to children and adolescents.
May 8, 2024 | In Policy Magazine’s Emerging Voices series each year, Max Bell School MPPs are asked to write articles on issues important to them. In the fifth article for 2024, Asha Sivarajah underscores the importance of safeguarding privacy rights while ensuring transparency and accountability in public institutions' use of surveillance technologies.
May 7, 2024 | We are living in an age of breakthroughs propelled by advances in artificial intelligence. Technologies that were once the realm of science fiction are now transpiring into our reality. Machine Like Us is a technology show where every other Tuesday Taylor Owen sits down with the people shaping this rapidly approaching future.
The Canadian government has reached a deal with Google over the Online News Act that will see the tech giant pay $100 million annually to publishers, and continue to allow access to Canadian news content on its platform. Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced the "historic development" regarding the implementation of Bill C-18 on Wednesday, after the tech giant had threatened to block news on its platform when the contentious new rules come into effect next month.
Here are some interesting new stories from McGill University Media Relations:
Écrit par l’équipe de coordination du PDS* en collaboration avec Samuel Kohn, directeur des programmes chez Nord Ouvert
An English version of this post will be published shortly.
McGill professors receive grant to explore the correlation between technology dependence, youth loneliness and the risk for exploitation.
March 25, 2022 | Screen Time podcast is an eight-episode podcast miniseries that explores the rapidly evolving relationship between kids and technology. Co-hosted by Max Bell School professor Taylor Owen, who also directs the School's Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, Catch up on the first three episodes:
"Necessity is the father of invention," but where is its mother? According to a new study published in Science, fewer women hold biomedical patents, leading to a reduced number of patented technologies designed to address problems affecting women.
The spread of the Internet is shaping migration in profound ways. A McGill-led study of over 150 countries links Internet penetration with migration intentions and behaviours, suggesting that digital connectivity plays a key role in migration decisions and actively supports the migration process.
As society grapples with myriad technology-related issues, including biases in facial recognition software, algorithms to identify hate speech and misinformation, as well as growing concerns over privacy and data protection, a new Chair in McGill’s Department of Philosophy seeks to bridge the gap between technology and pressing ethical, social and political questions. The Chair will be supported by a $2-million gift from The Jarislowsky Foundation to undertake ground-breaking research and study about technology and its impact on individuals and societies.
May 23, 2019 | Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communication at the Max Bell School of Public Policy, writes that the Christchurch Call might be a missed opportunity for governments to move toward global digital governance. He says " [the Christchurch Call] has no enforceable mandates, it focuses overwhelmingly on technical fixes to what are also political, social and economic problems and its framing around terrorism and hate speech is far too narrow, treating the symptom of the problem while ignoring the underlying disease."
