Today, Canada’s Federal Minister of Public Safety introduced Bill C-30 in the House of Commons. The proposed legislation’s short title is ”Protecting Children form Internet Predators Act”. The proposed legislation is more broadly directed than its short title would suggest. The main purposes of the Bill are to require telecommunications service providers to deploy surveillance technologies and to enhance the investigative powers of the police with respect to electronic communications.
As noted in my previous post on this topic, the subject-matter of the Bill is controversial. In upcoming posts, we will examine the surveillance obligations imposed on internet and other telecommunication service providers and the enhanced powers of the police to conscript material from those service providers in an effort to fight crime.
The joint press release of the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Justice may be found here. The Ministry of Public Safety’s backgrounder on the legislation can be found here.
For a counterpoint, Ottawa University Professor Geist has prepared a FAQ dealing with prior iterations of the Bill, which can be found here.
