The Great Firewall of Canada

engtech writes "Canadian carriers Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, TELUS, and Videotron have all opted in to a blacklist, dubbed Project Cleanfeed Canada, provided by Cybertip.ca, the Canadian tip-line against child exploitation. The idea of having a national blacklist sends shivers down my spine. I'm a pessimist, I believe that any form of censorship will eventually be abused despite it's good intentions." Besides engtech's post on the subject, Dr. Michael Geist has some considered comments about this issue. From that post: "Critics are quick to draw parallels to Internet censorship in countries such as China. However, those countries involve state-based content blocking, with no transparency or legal recourse. In fact, several democracies — most notably Australia — have established limited blocking rules, while British Telecom, the UK's largest ISP, voluntarily blocks child pornography as part of its CleanFeed program. Even with various legal safeguards, many Canadians would undoubtedly find the blocking of any content distasteful. Yet to do nothing is to leave in place an equally unpalatable outcome that silences those would speak out against unlawful hate speech for fear of personal harm."

Comments

Re:Hold on there, Cowboy

[Pig Hogger]

We are not talking about silencing political speech here. Canada is not China, period. We have had laws against hate crimes and child porn for quite awhile now, and there are specific exceptions allowed in our constitution such that there can be no hiding behind the banner of free speech for these things. They are, unequivocably, criminal acts.

Really?

Currently, in Montréal, there are several controversies:

- A YMCA blanked out windows to a gym because the sight of lycra-women doing aerobics was "distracting" to hassidic boys in the rabbinical college accross the lane. (1, 2, 3).

- Hospital and other health center violate the law by preventing fathers from attending neonatal classes, because it upsets muslim women. Likewise, muslim men won't let male doctors touch their wives.

- The Montréal police union is up in arms over an article published in an internal paper, which says that women police should avoid talking to hassidim jews, and let their male colleagues do it instead.

Now, if I go around and say that jews are a bunch of assholes by thinking they can shove their fucking dirty garbage values down the throats of everyone else, I can be jailed. And if I the same thing about islam, I can be jailed, too. But now, some political leaders are starting to slowly raise a stink about it. Now what's gonna happen? They gonna be jailed too? Their websites will be censored?

(Yes, I think that jews are assholes; 20 years ago, the same hassidic jews outlawed bathing suits in a Montréal suburb; they could not bear the sight of human beings sunbathing in city parks!!! They found a very attentive ear in the same mayor who, 15 years earlier, as justice minister, thought nothing of suppressing individual freedoms and liberties by declaring martial law (and for which 400 people were jailed without trial).