In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, an article in the National Post reports the government considering new legislation that would make it an offence to condone terrorist acts online.
Sources suggest the government is likely to bring in new hate speech legislation that would make it illegal to claim terrorist acts are justified online.
…
… the new legislation was crafted before this week’s events and is not “trauma tainted.”
A number of years ago, I had been active in exploring issues associated with policing illegal content on the internet. We have explored the technical capability as well as many of the policy and purely logistical issues associated with identifying and dealing with hate and illegal content on the internet.
Recall, it was just over a year ago that this government repealed section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, but at the time, we were told the government was committed to “buffing up the Criminal Code to ensure that [disadvantaged] groups would not be left open to hate speech.”
Over the past 8 or 9 years, much information has been gathered about hate and illegal content on the internet. As such, I thought it might helpful to review what has been written on this blog as the issue may become prominent over the coming months.
A partial bibliography of related blog posts can be found here:
- Responding to online hate • April 4, 2012
- Hate on the internet • November 10, 2010
- Ottawa dealing with hate • November 5, 2010
- Bounds on speech freedoms • December 21, 2009
- Indicting a hate-monger • December 12, 2008
- ISPs told to deal with online hate • November 25, 2008
- Shuttering hate • October 21, 2008
- Hate laws in an internet world • September 17, 2008
- France orders ISPs to block hate content • July 4, 2008
- Shutting down hate on the internet • October 29, 2007
- Continuing the war on hate • July 14, 2007
- The 11 hallmarks of hate messages • December 5, 2006
- Score one against hate • September 1, 2006
- Blocking content • August 23, 2006
- Cyber Hate Ruling • March 10, 2006
- Being held accountable • February 4, 2014
The Canadian Telecom Summit explored the issue of illegal content on the internet in previous years. Should the issue be on the agenda in 2015?
Are there bounds on freedom of speech in an internet world? Should there be?