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Born: March 2,1950
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.
- 1978-1980 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
2007-2007
- 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, continuing
board member
- Thirteen Strings of Ottawa, Chamber Orchestra, board member
1996-
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.
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
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