Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic
Election 2006
Election 2006: Internet Issues
The year 2006 was a busy one for federal policy and law-makers, as Parliament and federal civil servants considered ways of dealing with many challenging issues arising from the use of the internet and new technologies. Old issues such as privacy, spam, identity theft, and copyright law reform remain unresolved, while newer issues such as spyware, digital rights management abuse, lawful access, and telecom policy reform are hitting the agenda. Canada's private sector data protection law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, is scheduled for Parliamentary review in 2006. Lawful Access and Copyright law reform were both subjects of government bills in the last Parliament, and are expected to reappear in 2006. The civil service has been hard at work on legislation to deal with spam, spyware, and identity theft. And big stakeholders in the telecom industry are pushing hard for significant changes to the Telecommunications Act.
While they may not make the headlines, these issues have immediate and significant impacts on ordinary Canadians as well as large corporate stakeholders. CIPPIC is posing a few targeted questions on these issues to each party running in the 2006 federal election, so that voters can find out where different parties stand on internet issues that matter to them. Party responses will be posted once we receive them.
We encourage individual voters to pose these questions to their candidates during the campaign.
Summary of Issues and Questions (En Français)
Copyright Law and Technical Protection Measures Do you agree that we need legislation to protect Canadians from harmful technologies like the Sony-BMG rootkit DRM?Copyright Revision and InnovationDo you support Canadian innovators' rights to reverse engineer or otherwise deal with a work for the purposes of security or interoperability research?SpywareDo you agree that we need stronger laws and enforcement mechanisms to protect Canadians from unwanted behaviours associated with spyware?SpamWhat would your government, if elected, do to stop the flood of spam that continues to plague Internet users?Lawful Access Do you agree with civil liberties groups that:
- There should be no increase in state surveillance without full justification, including clear evidence of the need for such new capacities and powers and of their likely effectiveness?
- Searches and surveillance should require judicial authorization on a "reasonable and probable cause to believe" standard; and that exceptions to this rule must be narrowly limited, subject to strict conditions and safeguards, and should not be expanded to include subscriber data
- All state search and surveillance activity should be subject to rigorous oversight by an independent body to guard against police abuse of these intrusive powers?
PrivacyHow would you reform Canadian privacy laws in order to provide meaningful privacy protection in the Internet era?Do you support amendments to PIPEDA that would allow for class actions and penalties, so that companies are held accountable for privacy breaches affecting large numbers of Canadians?Identity TheftDo you support a Canadian law requiring companies to notify individuals of security breaches that expose the individuals to identity theft?Telecom PolicyDo you support continued government and regulatory intervention in telecommunications so as to ensure that Canadians of all income levels and in all regions of the country, including those with disabilities, have access to good quality, reliable, and functional telecommunications services at affordable and reasonable prices? Do you agree that the following policy objectives currently set out in the Telecommunications Act are fundamentally important and should remain the guiding principles of Canadian telecommunications policy:
s.7(a) "to facilitate the orderly development throughout Canada of a telecommunications system that serves to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the social and economic fabric of Canada and its regions";
s.7(b) "to render reliable and affordable telecommunications services of high quality accessible to Canadians in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Canada"?
Do you agree that any reforms to the Telecommunications Act should be subject to a full public review five years after they have been enacted?
Links and References
- CIPPIC News Release
- Election 2004 Page
- "Make the Internet an Election Issue": Michael Geist, The Toronto Star, Dec.12th
- "Liberals leave raft of unfinished e-business": Michael Geist, The Toronto Star, Dec.5th
Party Responses
This page last updated: June 2, 2007
