I’m a paid Shaw subscriber – they give me my daily Internet smack and so far I’ve been very happy with their services — except for their Internet phone service, but that’s another story. I was surprised to read an article the other day about how Shaw will now be blocking access to a list of sites without letting me know they’re doing it, why, or which sites.
This is, quite simply, censorship – and it is certainly for a good cause. They will be using a blacklist of sites provided by a government-funded operation called Cybertip.ca. They are aiming to reduce (eliminate?) child exploitation on the Internet, and I am 100% behind their goal. Child porn and pornography in general are not aspects of the Internet that should be ignored until they go away – they need to be addressed as the real problems they are.
But this initiative makes me a little uneasy, frankly. I have a few questions that I can’t find answers to:
- Was Shaw intending on telling me about this initiative? I’m paying them for access to the Internet and now, unannounced, they’ll be silently blocking parts of it
- What sites are on this blacklist? As a person affected by it I feel uncomfortable not being able to see what sites are included on it. My experience with blacklists is that inevitably some site ends up blacklisted that shouldn’t have been. How is the site operator to know why their traffic dropped overnight? Email blacklists like this exist in an attempt to stem the flow of Spam emails in the world – another initiative I can get behind. However they are publicly searchable for this very reason – people are put on it accidentally and as a website operator I need to be able to find out if I am listed on any of those lists to take corrective action.
- Who works for Cybertips, and what qualifications are required to become a person who decides whether or not my site is available to 80% of Canadian Internet visitors?
- Since Cybertips can only do this because it is explicitly against the law to consume this trash, what can we expect from the future? What is stopping politicians from deciding to enforce other laws in Canada this way? For example politicians are not known to stand up to powerful lobbying bodies like the Copyright Cartel in Canada (CRIA). This is giving the government a certain degree of control over what sites I can visit on the Internet – where is the guarantee that this will not become a standard practice for enforcing any other laws, whether or not I agree with them?
- Why is the user not given some kind of message as to why the site is not available? It sounds like anyone who tries to access a blacklisted site will simply be pushed off into some kind of DNS dead-end. No special webpage explaining the situation, or giving the person resources to report a problem or miscategorized site. Is this really the best way to handle the problem?
These are just some questions I haven’t been able to find answers to. It’s a frightening article frankly because it feels like the tip of the proverbial iceberg – we’re giving the government of Canada a new level of control over the Canadian experience of the Internet and I don’t think it is being done the right way, assuming it should be done at all.
Is this censorship? Yes
Is this censorship good in this case? Yes
I agree that censorship is a slippery slope, and letting Shaw get away with this may be the first step towards an oppressive though controlling dictatorship, but at the same time the government is charged with protecting the population. If this censorship can either prevent or protect children from abuse in any way, then the population would cry foul if steps were not taken.
Steps haven’t been taken for years. Why now? Why only non-domestic sites? Sites located within Canada will not be blocked, but rather will be left to Cyberips.ca to handle using their own process and resources (funded by the taxpayers I believe). If this is in the general interest of the public, why leave the domestic sites up until the languid court systems can deal with them?
Why, why, why? I’m not seeing answers here John, just more questions – thanks a bunch pal!
Sites within Canada are different. They are within reach of the criminal code and legal action can be taken against them. Any Canadian site which creates or hosts illegal activities doesn’t need to be blocked since they can be charged with the criminal code and that is much more effective than just blocking them. Outside the country there is little that the Canadian law can touch, so it is just easier to shut the door. Still it isn’t a perfect system, just because Shaw is blocking these sites does not mean that other ISPs are blocking them or that some good or bad sites have slipped through the cracks.
I don’t understand what you’re saying John. Block those sites outside of Canada, but those inside can go through months of court work and lots of money so don’t block them? Is it any less illegal to view the content on Canadian servers? if we’re blocking because it is illegal, I don’t understand why we don’t block internal as well.
As for just Shaw, actually those articles state that the 8 big ISPs in Canada have signed on, which accounts for about 80% of the Internet subscriptions in Canada, as I understand it.
Michael Geist has an interesting discussion going on his blog that discusses these issues and more. Well worth checking out if you’re interested.