More groups across Canada are warning a Liberal bill to censor the Internet is“aggressive,” “punitive” and “disturbing.”.Blacklock’s Reporter says Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault will reintroduce the bill after it lapsed in the last Parliament and would penalize bloggers, Facebook users and Internet publishers for legal content deemed harmful..“The proposals fail to account for the importance of protecting the kinds of expression that are most central to a free and democratic society including journalism, academic scholarship and public interest research, debate, artistic creation, criticism and political dissent,” the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab wrote in a submission to the heritage department..Bill C-36 would ban legal content “likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group” under threat of $70,000 fines or house arrest..Internet content would be policed by a federally-appointed digital safety commissioner..The Citizen Lab called the bill “sweeping,” “overbroad and incoherent” and “potentially exploitive (sic) and unconstitutional” without “clear safeguards against abuse of process” and restriction of free speech..Even public consultation was “grossly inadequate” after Guilbeault’s department arranged “a series of private, invite-only meetings” with advocates of Internet controls, it said..Access Now, a human rights group, wrote Bill C-36 had provisions to block websites and order removal of content and reflected the worst of Internet regulation worldwide..“Canada must ensure its policies and laws do not restrict the right to freedom of expression,” wrote Access Now..“Unfortunately the government’s proposal mirrors the most harmful aspects of the worst intermediary liability regimes around the world.”.“The proposed framework threatens fundamental freedoms and human rights. Web blocking is a blunt measure that interferes with freedom of expression and has been condemned as a violation of human rights by the United Nations.”.The heritage department in a July 29 Discussion Guide proposed to appoint a safety commissioner with powers to investigate anonymous complaints about websites and conduct closed-door hearings into legal but hurtful content..Any anonymous complainant could trigger a federal investigation of websites deemed to “distort the free exchange of ideas by discrediting or silencing targeted voices” or “threaten national security, the rule of law and democratic institutions,” it said..The safety commissioner would be empowered to block websites or “make the content inaccessible” in Canada..“Social media is being used to spread potentially illegal and abusive content,” Guilbeault said at the time..“We need consistent and transparent rules.”
