Hutchison Management

As usual, Michael Geist has hit the nail on the head. In his recent column in the Toronto Star, he has done a great job of summarizing a number of initiatives that Canada needs to get right if we really want to participate effectively in the 21st century with respect to economic growth and social prosperity:

Geist: Now’s our chance to ask candidates about Internet policy
By Michael Geist
Internet Law Columnist

March 25, 2011
Toronto Star

The federal election call marks the end for at least five government bills focused on Internet and digital policy. Bills on privacy, copyright, and Internet surveillance died on the order paper and will have to start from scratch when a new government is elected in May. Moreover, the much-anticipated digital economy strategy, set for release this spring, has likely been delayed until the fall at the very earliest.

While the legislative process may be on hold, the election campaign offers Canadians the chance to raise the profile of Internet and digital issues even further by voting for the Internet. The Internet is obviously not a political party, but a vote for the Internet means asking candidates for their views on the country’s top digital issues.

Read the complete article here in the Toronto Star. It’s also posted to Michael Geist’s blog here.

The lnternet legislation that has been tabled federally, and described so well by Michael Geist in the November 14th, 2010 edition of the Toronto Star, provides important new “rules of the road” that will be hotly debated. Michael provides an important service by clearly presenting excellent summaries of important issues in the online world and his recent column is no exception.

Lawful access legislation would reshape Canada’s Internet
By Michael Geist
Internet Law Columnist
The Toronto Star
Sunday, November 14, 2010

As Board Chair of the Kids’ Internet Safety Alliance (KINSA), I can certainly support the legislation, subject to a good debate, as it moves through committee discussions. Among other goals, most of the legislation’s provisions strike at the heart of being able to quickly identify and track those who destroy the lives of our children by luring and/or exploiting them online while displaying their sick abuse in action. Many companies with vested interests, and some of the general public, will decry the legislation while using “invasion of privacy” as their screen. But a civilized society needs new “rules of the road” to combat the downside of new technologies. We have had these new “rules of the road” debates many times before, ever since the development of the printing press and probably before then. I am sure we all remember the cries of “invasion of privacy” when seat belt rules were introduced … a simple example, but one of many. We test and license our drivers so we know who they are and where they live, another “invasion of privacy”.

Like all legislation, this legislation needs effective debate and study, but let’s remember the need to “minimize the downside” as we also celebrate the upside of the Internet and its future evolution. One “downside” is the rapid growth of today’s estimated one million crime scene images circulating on the Web of children as they are actually being sexually abused. It’s a horrible image to even mention but not as terrible as the inerasable experience being lived by our children. The images will circulate for years on the Internet while the abuse will forever change the lives of the abused.