Will anonymity and hyperlinks be illegal in Canada?

A new crime bill proposed by the Conservative government suggests that it would. The bill, one of several that is scheduled to be read in Parliament, would make it illegal to create hyperlinks to content considered to be illegal or to use a pseudonym online.

On the surface the idea is ridiculous. Both of these things are central to making the Internet what it is - a vehicle for citizen-centric dialogue and sharing information. Surely the government would never adopt such a position!

But during the past election campaign Stephen Harper made it clear that he intended to ram through a collection of crime bills within his first 100 days of office. These bills include, among other things, allowing government increased power to monitor your activities online. They also include a provision that would penalize people for linking to content that is considered 'hate speech' and for using names that protect their anonymity online.

These laws are meant to give police more powers to fight hate speech and harassment but as a recent Macleans article points out, they are poorly written and vague, leaving them far too open to interpretation.

While advocating and perpetuating hate should absolutely not be tolerated, the proposed crime bill does not make a distinction between people who are spreading hate and those who comment on it. Should it not be our right as citizens to be able to comment on things, regardless of their content? Restricting our ability to do so is a serious violation of our freedom of speech.

As written, the crime bill holds us responsible for the actions of other people. The content of websites on the internet changes all the time. Something that you link to today could contain hate speech tomorrow, and you have no control over that content.

This legislation will inhibit dialogues that need to happen in our society and punish people for exercising their right to freedom of speech.

Canadians need a citizen-centric and affordable internet that enables them to speak openly about issues that matter to them. It's clear that these new crime bills are taking us in the wrong direction.

This is why it is so important that we grow our Pro-Internet Community and continue to pressure the government to promote an open and affordable internet that serves the public. Together we can keep the government accountable and the internet free.

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Sorry for the misleading title, there weren't enough characters allowed so I had to shorten it. This pisses me off though. So what do you think? Is this something to be worried about or is it just fear mongering?

Harper's a Bush wannabe. He pisses me off with his strict regulations.

The bill is ridiculous and it just seems like the guy doesn't know a damn thing about how the Internet actually works. He'd be shutting Canada off from the world with his old fashion mindset.

I'm part of Open Media, which is fighting to keep the internet affordable and open for everyone. Join it and sign the petition if you want your two cents in on the bill, Aconcit.

Hey Althe, I'm glad others are signing the petition, I've signed it as well. It's actually a good idea to plug that site in this topic. Even countries other than Canada should take interest in this issue because it could very well become a standard in other counties as well.

I doubt Stephen Harper is going to do a good job in reviewing these 100 or so bills. I don't know why he was trusted with a majority in the first place.

If anyone's interested in what OpenMedia stands for then they should check out their "About Us" page.
http://openmedia.ca/about-us
There's also a mailing list that informs you on news pertaining to the issue.

Retarded. But this is the type of shit to be expected when people vote for the Conservative Party.

There's a reason why I can't stand Harper and people who vote for the Conservative Party. It makes me sick how so many people from the Praries, especially Alberta, vote for these douche-bags . . .

...Haha, Canada.

Dumbasses.

In all seriousness, though, this'll never happen. Politicans are technoilliterate d-bags in general, and this isn't any different. The Internet is a series of tubes.

No idea Chair. I didn't vote Conservative. =P

Yeah, I went NDP, but that doesn't seem to matter too much now. I really do fear for Canada's future, but I doubt we'll fuck it up really bad.

God, how did this happen? Anyone who didn't vote just pisses me off because we could have maybe avoided something like this. Just maybe. I doubt it though.

:| Well fudge. If it happens let us know here. But damn, Canada. Someone needs to assassinate the Harper, I swear...

To be honest the internet is scaring me lately. All this data collection whether it be giant companies or hackers, lack of privacy, governments wanting control, kill switches, and addiction. I feel like leaving it for good. It seems to bring out the worst in me, and is a cause for most of my problems.
There could be a law in Canada that makes it required for the ISP to spy on it's customer's for illegal activity. That leaves me paranoid and I hate to know that I'm in a position with the lowest amount of power who can only let the big guys push me around.

I hope for you all they won't do this.




True. Last year our liberal-conservative government wanted a new media law for youth protection. It said that practically all sites on German servers should get rated by age - no matter if it's a blog, a private homepage or a forum. Every administrator should display the age limit on their sites - based on the content on them. This caused a outcry - and oh well, suddenly the government decided to oppose their own idea in the end.

In the US, we've recently had news of both the fact that the gov't has once againnn reached its credit limit and will probably raise the debt ceiling even more astoundingly high as well as the fact that we have a "new and improved!" internet blacklisting bill that is supposedly going to "curb piracy" by allowing certain URLs to be targeted, but will reduce user anonymity as well. Politicians and corporate whores can suck my dick!! I'm sick of not only hearing about it like it is some far-off event, but actually experiencing things here and there, too. Like the fact that fucking Google wants just a little more of my private info like every other day or else I'm not allowed to sign in to the account anymore. The linking of Google accounts with YouTube pissed me off and being forced to put in my full name and address and such to log-in to Gmail is even more stupid. Not doing it.