Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Bill C-51 will turn ISPs into Internet gatekeepers

Should telecom network companies and Internet service providers function as arms of law enforcement and national security? Yes, according to the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act (Bill C-51), a bill that was introduced in the last Parliament and set to be reintroduced in the new Government omnibus crime bill soon.

The bill would make it mandatory for telecom providers, ISPs and search engines to monitor, store, retain and not disclose e-mail, Internet and telephone communications at the request of law and security officials. No warrant necessary.

It won’t take a lot to implement this bill. The government plans to tuck it into its “super Crime Bill.” This is telecom, internet and privacy policy by stealth. It will be easy to impose, because concentrated media markets are easy to regulate.

The big six ISPs that dominate Internet access in Canada – Bell, Shaw, Rogers, Telus, Quebecor and Cogeco – have been relatively quiet about their views on the subject. Hitting the big six would cover three quarters of the population with the new regime of surveillance and security and would be relatively easy, especially if ISPs remain quiescent.

Furthermore, since the search engine Google accounts for eighty per cent or more of all online searches in Canada, it would be an easy target, too.

In some ways, Bill C-51 would seem to make good sense. Who could be against modernizing our laws for the digital age? ISPs, telephones and search engines have become the electronic crossroads of the world, facilitating commerce and communication in some incredible ways. They also enable some extremely nasty things too: kiddie porn, copyright infringement, hacking, identity fraud, espionage – a veritable swamp of murky stuff.

Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail 

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