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Born: March 2,1950
Since January 2009: member, Board of Trustees, American Registry of
Internet Numbers and since January 2011, Chairman.
Since August 2008: National
Commissioner, Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
Since 1990: Principal, T.M.Denton Consultants, renamed tmdenton.com
in 1999
A firm which conducts
- legal advocacy
- policy analysis
- strategic planning and
- government relations,
and obtains radio spectrum licences in telecommunications, internet,
broadcasting and other federally-regulated matters.
I have been intensely involved in domain name policy in the ICANN structure since 1999, and the remaking the telephone
number-addressing system in North America compatible with VoIP, through a protocol called ENUM.
Project Manager, user-ENUM trial in the United States (2006-2007)
Secretary, ICANN-Registrars Constituency, in the Domain Name Supporting
Organization of ICANN 2001-2003
Member of the Board, Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA),
representative of the .ca registrars 2002-2004
1987-1989 Policy Advisor, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, office of
the federal Minister of Communications.
- 1980-1986 Senior Associate, Nordicity Group Limited. Telecommunications, broadcasting
and regulated industries.1980 Assistant to the Vice-Chairman, Telecommunications, CRTC
- 1976-1980 Staff writer, Royal Commission on Financial Management and Accountability
- 1974-1976 Machinery of government directorate, Privy Council Office, Ottawa
- Masters in Law (Law and Technology propgram) University of Ottawa 2007-2008
- Bachelor of Civil Law, McGill University, 1973
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours) 1970
- Lower Canada College, senior matriculation, 1967
- McGill Society of Ottawa, president 1993-1995
- Thirteen Strings of Ottawa, Chamber
Orchestra, board member 1996-1997
- Ashlar Lodge, Ottawa
- Carleton Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons
French and English, spoken and written
- US Enum LLC
- ICANN Generic Names
Supporting Organization
- Cisco
Systems
- Canadian Internet Registration Authority
- Hickling International (Introduction
of VoIP into Bangladesh)
- Apec Tel, the telecommunications committee of APEC, on international charging
arrangements for Internet services, which is paid for by the Singapore Telecommunications
Authority.
- Internet Direct Inc., Cyberus
On-Line, British Columbia Internet Association
- RISC, Responsible Internet Service Companies
- CAIP, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers
- LanSer Wireless Inc., a Canadian PCS spectrum applicant
- Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (then
RadioComm Association of Canada)
- Consumers' Association of Canada
- City of Toronto (long distance competition)
- Unitel Communications Inc.
- Federal Department of Industry
- Federal Department of Heritage
- Canadian Radio-Television and
Telecommunications Commission
- Department of Indian and Northern Affairs
- Secretary of State Department
- Canadian National Institute for the Blind
Since graduating from law school in 1973, I have held the following
positions.
National Commissioner, Canadian Radio-Television and
Telecommunications Commission (since August 1,2008)
I was appointed a national
commissioner on August 1, 2008 for a five year term.
T.M. Denton Consultants (since 1990)
I run a legal and consulting firm which advises and represents clients in
respect of regulated matters, such as telecommunications and broadcasting, on such matters
as hearings, obtaining licences, the drafting of legislation, and the process of
government generally. I also work to keep unregulated things like the Internet free within
the boundaries of the rule of law. I also represent clients before federal boards and
tribunals. I conduct studies of the implications of technology for policy. Specific pieces
of work and clients are listed further below.
Minister's Office, Federal Department of Communications
Between February 1987 and February 1989, I was on contract to the federal
Minister of Communications. In that time I was part of a team that developed the
Broadcasting Act (1990). I advised the minister on the substance of policy and cabinet
appeals on telecommunications. I maintained liaison with other ministers' offices,
industry associations and Members of Parliament, and frequently acted as a kind of
ombudsman for the public with the department.
In this period I was involved in significant issues related to the
evolution of Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications policy, including the fight to
legitimize long-distance resale, which led to long distance competition in Canada in 1992.
Consulting
In the period 1980-1986, I worked at Nordicity Group Ltd. writing reports
and studies, principally in relation to telecommunications and the law, but also program
evaluation, speech writing, drafting regulations and government organization.
Government
From 1978 to 1980 I worked as the executive assistant to the Vice-Chairman
of the CRTC for Telecommunications. I was involved in the cross-examination of
expert witnesses, drafted parts of decisions, and generally learned about issues in
Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting.
In the Lambert Royal Commission, I dealt with ministerial responsibility
and wrote those parts of the report dealing with the role of the deputy minister. An
article generated from work at that time is still used in university political science
classes.
In the Privy Council Office between 1974 and 1976, I worked on:
1. The reorganization of departments and agencies pursuant to changes in the mandates
of ministers;
2. Shepherding legislation on government organization through the bureaucracy and
cabinet committees;
3. All dealings of the Prime Minister with royalty and royal representatives; and
4. Legislation on Crown corporations, the Access to Information Act and the Human
Rights Act.
Broadcasting and Telecommunication Studies
Studies conducted after 1996 are available directly from my website.
Ones that I did before modern web-editing software are listed below.
Check other pages of this website (Publications and its offshoots)
for studies and reports since 1996.
The Consumer in the Information Society, with Glen Milne and Louis
Vagianos, for the Executive Director, Consumers' Association of Canada, March 24, 1995. In
the electronic marketplace, the rights of producers are the rights of citizens and
consumers, and not merely broadcasters and newspapers.
The Competition Act and the Program Delivery Marketplace, for the
Director General, Broadcast Policy, Department of Heritage, March 1995. An examination of
the moral basis of the Competition Act and its contrast with the assumptions, tools and
objectives of the Broadcasting Act. "In a fully broadband interactive digital
universe, every telephone number is a potential source of television programming."
{from p.24}
Information Highway Issues in Foreign Jurisdictions, for the
Minister of Industry and the Information Highway Advisory Council, September 1, 1994,
which examined which foreign jurisdictions understood the implications of the combined
computer-bandwidth revolutions.
Transactions, not Transmissions: The Electronic Marketplace and the
Computer Revolution, for the Bureau of Competition Policy, March 10, 1994.
"Computer-mediated markets can be global, competitive, and almost instantaneously
accessed, used, and, if need be, continuously reconfigured." The paper that became
the basis of the Bureau's approach to the Internet.
Television Advertizing, Fragmentation, and Viewer Choice, for the
Director General, Broadcast Policy, Department of Communications, December-February 1993
Issues in Television, briefing and analysis for the Consumers'
Association of Canada, December 1992, for the CRTC's hearing on cable television.
Licence Fees: The Case for Relief, for the RadioComm Association of
Canada, September 1992
Telecommunications Services in Canada, March 1990 A wide-ranging
study of telecommunications developments since 1984 in Canada and the United States, for
the Consumers' Association of Canada, illustrating what has and has not happened as a
result of long-distance competition in the United States, and the relationship between
technology and pressures for competition (January - March 1990), with Hans Kieferle
The Pro's and Con's Of Long Distance Competition for the City of
Toronto, January 1991, for the City of Toronto
Final Argument for the Consumers' Association in proceedings
pursuant to Telecom Public Notice 1990-73 (long distance competition)
Final Argument for the City of Toronto in proceedings pursuant to
Telecom Public Notice 1990-73
A Policy Framework for the Consumers' Association of Canada, which
related the results of the above study to the issues before the Association, and which
examined telephone consumption patterns and the issue of consumer subsidies, with Hans
Kieferle, April 1990
The Prospects for Competition in International Telecommunications,
for Unitel Communications, of Toronto, in 1990
Cabinet Appeals in Telecommunications Matters, for Unitel
Communications of Toronto, in 1990
An examination of different Institutional Arrangements for Canadian
Direct Broadcast Satellites, for the Department of Communications (1983)
A study of the Potential Impact of U.S. Direct Broadcast Satellite
Services on the Canadian broadcasting environment, for the Department of
Communications [DOC] (1982)
A study of Legal and Regulatory Implications of Electronic Publishing
in Canada, including videotext, for DOC (1985)
Proposals for amendments to licence fee regulations, for the CRTC,
in the wake of the licensing of pay television (1983);
Legal and Regulatory Issues pertaining to the Introduction of Optical
Fibre Transmission Plant, and its effect on the cable television industry (the
telco-cable crossover issue, for DOC 1986.
Various specific interventions for the Consumers' Association of Canada,
1990, before the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, committees
of the House of Commons and the Senate.
Policy Studies (outside telecom and broadcasting)
Cryptography Issues and Internet Service Providers: A Consultation for
Industry Canada, September 5, 1997
Response of CAIP to the Department of Justice Initiative on Undue
Exploitation of Violence, June, 1996
"The Civil Service and the Economy" A briefing for the
panellists at the annual APEX Conference of senior civil servants April-May 1993 tracking
21 years of expenditure growth
"An Examination of Options for the Delivery of Book Publishing
Subsidies", for the Director, Publishing Policy and Programs, August 20, 1992
A Report on New Media (informatics and new telecommunications
media) for the Director General, New Media, Department of Communications, April 1992
"Copyright Royalties and the Consumption of Blank Tape",
for the Director General, Cultural Indistries, Department of Communications, January 1992
"Legal and Economic Issues in Marketing Government Databases",
for the Interdepartmental Working Group on Database Industry Support, February 1992
Selected Demographic and Income Characteristics of the Secretary of
State Department's Clientèles, with Hans Kieferle, September, 1984
Grants and Contributions to the Voluntary Sector, Secretary of
State Department, December 1984
Youth Policy, Secretary of State Department, September 1985
A thought-piece on reform of the civil service, for John Edwards,
Chairman Task Force 2000, January 1990
Legal Studies (Outside of Communications)
Recreational Fisheries Regulation in Canada, Department of
Fisheries and Oceans, Spring 1986
The Status of Governor-in-Council Appointees: Tenure and Severance,
Federal Progressive-Conservative Party, Committee on Government Planning, April 1984
The Foundations of Local Self-Government: A comparison of municipal
with proposed Indian Band Government, DIAND, June 1982
Publications, Papers
Gaining Access to Telecommunications Facilities, an address to the
British Columbia Internet Association, Whistler, BC, May 12, 1998.
The 1994 Electronics Consumer, by Hans Kieferle, a multi-client
study published by TMD. The first comprehensive statistical and pictorial report on
Canadian patterns of consumption of electronically-based or -delivered goods and services:
computers, phones, CDs, cable, and so on.
The Impact of Convergence on Canadian Cultural Policy, a paper
delivered to the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu on January, 1995, and
published as part of its proceedings.
"Ministerial Responsibility", in Schultz, ed. The Canadian
Political Process, 2nd edition, 1980
"The Impact of American Direct Broadcast Services in Canada" in
Proceedings of the 11th Telecommunications Policy Review Conference, Annapolis, 1982
"Dancing in our Lenses: Why there are not more intelligent
civilizations", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, November, 1984, being
a look at why our radio telescopes are not filled with alien signals: a rebuttal to Carl
Sagan.
"A better way to make the budget", with James Burns, in Policy
Options, May-June 1983. (The government has since followed these recommendations).
A brief outline of Telecom Decision 85-19: Resale and Shared Use and
Interconnection of Interexchange Systems", a presentation to the Canadian Business
Telecommunications Alliance in Toronto, November 1985 and Montreal, February 1986
"Cable Retransmission and Copyright Liability in Canada", 14th
Telecommunications and Policy Research Conference, Airlie House, Virginia, 1986
"The GST Watchdog Agency", for the Consumers' Association of
Canada, June 1990, a presentation by the CAC to the House of Commons Standing Committee on
Consumer Affairs.
Program Evaluations
Consultations with Associations in the Food Sector, March 1985, for
Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada
Beaufort Sea Environmental Assessment Review Intervenor Funding Program,
April 1985, DIAND
Funding of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, July 1984, for DIAND
Funding of Native Representational Organizations, September 1985, DIAND
and Secretary of State |
