For the past couple days, I was in Ottawa, attending the Experts Forum associated with of The Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA). The conference started with a powerful speeches delivered at the opening reception by Governor General David Johnston and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. Monday’s formal program opened with strong commitments to zero tolerance by Prime Minister Stephen Harper [videos of the major speeches are available on YouTube].
Tuesday’s Internet Hate session was moderated Christopher Wolf, a partner at a Washington law firm. He had an Op Ed in the Ottawa Citizen, New media, old hatred, that is worth reading. It opens with:
Suppose Osama Bin Laden wanted to hold a worldwide rally in Toronto to condemn Jews, promote his extremist ideology and recruit a new generation of terrorists.
First of all, it is unlikely he would venture out of his cave to make the trip, given his guaranteed arrest or assassination. And it is also unlikely the rally attendees from abroad would make it across the border, given their purpose in visiting Canada and immigration rules. Even assuming that municipal authorities would issue a rally permit, no right-minded vendor would help with the logistics of video screens, microphones, speakers and the like.
A global rally to promote anti-Semitism and terrorism, fortunately, is a far-fetched notion.
Or is it?
It has been a number of years since I have focused on the issue of illegal content on the internet, but perhaps it is timely to return to this issue. As I have discussed recently, we have new anti-spam legislation that is seeking to ban electronic communications that are perfectly legal in printed form.
Why would we have a digital exemption for publications that are banned by Canada in print form? The Canada Border Services Agency is charged with the responsibility to prohibit the importation of materials that contravene its policy on Hate Propaganda, Sedition and Treason. It is a starting point.
As reported by The Gazette, among the commitments to emerge from what is being called The Ottawa Protocol:
Establishing an international task force of Internet specialists comprising parliamentarians and experts to create ways to identify and monitor anti-Semitism and other hate crimes online and to develop policy recommendations on how governments can address the problems.
There is much more work to be done.