Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50882
Rights and Freedoms. "It was a pretty logical progression, because I was a precocious and argumentative child," he says. "Law was always presupposed by me and anyone who spent 10 minutes in conversation with me." Today he works with Google's global team on any issue in the world of public policy that affects Google — and that's an extensive list. In Canada, that list includes privacy, copyright law, telecom policy, broadcasting policy, innovation policy, competition, child protection, and any issue affecting the open Internet. "It's not surprising to know that a lot of countries in the world are struggling with some of the same public-policy issues — the disruption of old indus- tries, the fear of technology, the expan- sion of views that have entered public discourse and the disruption that has to traditional power structures," he says. "So I'm co-ordinating with my col- leagues globally on a regular basis." What that means on a day-to-day basis is working with all sorts of stake- holder groups, including the govern- ment, regulators, trade associations, and other companies, in an effort to advance those goals. "It means I spend a ton of time on e-mail, on Twitter, on the phone, meeting people in person, responding to ideas, and developing ideas to promote this agenda," he says. In Canada, he's the only lawyer on the team, but he often consults with colleagues in the United States to advise on Canadian legal issues, to help source local counsel, and to provide strategy on how to approach litigation. "Everything is converging to the Internet, so any attempts to regulate one aspect of technology or of law from one particular silo can have massive spillo- ver effects to the whole of the Internet," says Glick. "Part of the challenge is helping our policy-makers understand that as everything converges to the public Internet, they can't always con- tinue to regulate using existing frame- works, because those could have signif- icant unintended consequences on the broader public-policy issues in terms of the Internet and innovation." And that agenda — keeping the Internet open — keeps him continu- ously busy. He's been involved in CRTC proceedings, participated in legislative committee meetings, as well as spoken to members of Parliament and panels. 44 • JUNE 2011 INHOUSE ntitled-2 1 5/9/11 9:43:02 AM The Open Internet Coalition, for example, is a group in which Google has been actively involved in the United States. It advocates for open Internet. The OIC participated in the CRTC proceedings in Canada on traffic management two years ago and Glick was deeply involved in helping stickhan- dle that participation. The proceedings resulted in the CRTC setting out a framework for how net neutrality is going to apply in Canada. Glick is also regularly in touch with the federal and INHOUSE 6th Annual AUGUST ISSUE ... COMING IN THE INHOUSE/ACC ROUNDTABLE This year our experts tackle: Legal spend management, privacy concerns, protecting privilege, and following ethical guidelines in corporate governance For more information contact InHouse editor Andi Balla at andi.balla@thomsonreuters.com