We are rightly disappointed that Montreal businesses welcome customers in a language “other than French.” But menus that only greet users in English when they turn on the connected object they have just purchased raise even more worrying questions.
THE Digital portrait of generations published by the Digital Transformation Academy of Laval University indicates that 18 to 24 year olds represent the generation most connected to the Internet. But only one in two young people browse the Internet in French; the others browse in English (41%) or in other languages (7%).
How can we hold it against those who use the Internet in English? Most of the time, a person who buys a “smart” television connected to the Internet is forced to accept a home menu full of options in English and little or no content from here. TV terminal manufacturers have developed the practice of monetizing the right of broadcasters to have their applications included by default in the devices and remote controls offered to consumers.
To overcome these practices that have the effect of censoring national content, Australia and the United Kingdom have adopted legislation to bring TV terminal manufacturers to order. These laws have become necessary (even in these English-speaking countries), because most televisions offered on the market do not have applications allowing you to view programs from national broadcasters such as Radio-Canada, TVA, CTV, Noovo or Télé-Québec.
Passed this summer, Australia’s new law requires companies that make internet-connected TVs available in the country to ensure that their devices include by default applications that allow access to national services. The law provides a set of minimum requirements for the discoverability of national programming services.
Data vacuum cleaners
The sale of terminals that can receive audiovisual content is no longer just a matter of trading physical objects. It is increasingly an operation to valorize the data generated by individuals who use these connected objects. Connected televisions are equipped with devices capable not only of processing content available on the Internet, but above all of capturing information on the uses that individuals make of them and of generating data on the habits and behaviors of users of these “smart” terminals.
Like most digital devices, smart TVs come with their “terms of use”, those interminable documents on which we are asked to check “I accept” in order to authorize manufacturers to collect countless data produced by the uses that consumers make of their smart TV.
It’s not just TVs: increasingly, objects such as “personal assistants” and other devices with data processing capabilities pose similar challenges. When we talk about the need to update laws to meet the challenges of digital technology, this means putting in place proactive measures with regard to these accelerated developments. States must learn to innovate so as not to be constantly forced to row against the current.
The Quebec government, which is rightly concerned about discoverability challenges, should prioritize the adoption of measures requiring all those who offer connected devices to install by default what is needed to access Quebec and French-language content. At the same time, it is necessary to define the ability of these companies to capture and appropriate the valuable data generated by these connected objects.
The data captured by connected objects is of great value, particularly when it comes to targeting product and service offers to individual consumers. This data can feed algorithms to set prices for products and services based on factors such as the location or socioeconomic origin of individuals. This is now where several discriminatory practices come into play. Regulating connected objects is now essential to avoid practices that deny the right to live in French and other rights such as the right to equality.
The data we produce when we use connected objects is a resource that concerns the entire community. Data is now an input to several business operations in the networked world, characterized by artificial intelligence. Our governments’ digital policies must go beyond stating pious wishes: we must effectively mark out the practices of manufacturers of objects that collect data and hide the content produced here.
What is the point of exhausting ourselves defending the right to privacy and the right to live in French if we do not have the courage to demand that these priorities also appear on the menus of connected objects?