The submissions posted here serve—I hope—as a starting point for regular contributions to public consultations on issues of information policy. Sadly, participation in these efforts is typically limited to corporate interests and lobbying groups, and those voices dominate the discussion. Much more is needed, and I’m always interested in helping out. If you’d like to collaborate on a submission you think I’d be interested in, please contact me.

Research

Analysis of Wireless Spectrum Auctions

Winner of the 2018 CRTC Prize for Excellence in Policy Research (Master’s category)

Since 1999, the Canadian government has relied on auctions to allocate wireless spectrum licences used to deliver high-speed internet services. This study investigates the theory, posited by small Canadian internet service providers, that valuable wireless spectrum licences for high-capacity, fixed-wireless broadband services are being monopolized by large, incumbent internet service providers. This paper presents an investigation of seven wireless spectrum auctions, tracing auctioned licences to current equipment deployments to understand how licence ownership and use has changed over time. The analysis highlights problems with data needed to track the use of specific spectrum licences, revisits the wisdom of auction-based mechanisms for spectrum allocation, and suggests policy changes that may improve the monitoring and management of Canada’s wireless spectrum and spectrum licences.

Read the full paper here in English or in French.

Advocacy

Why my sexuality will be on full display at Pride

An essay published on Medium, inspired by my work on Dr. Maureen Engel‘s Go Queer project and in response to neo-conservative notions that the best version of queerness is one where the culture rejects its own history and characteristics for the sake of heteronormative acceptance.

I have always asserted my queer identity—a consciously-transgressive act, since I often present to strangers as a “typical straight white guy.” I am only two of those three things, recognize the privilege I have been afforded, and refuse to coast on it.

Our persecution–because of our sexual practises, and because of our visible and invisible differences with heteronormative society–are the source of the equality we enjoy today and the engine that drives the ongoing battle.

Kris Joseph

Read the full essay.