Criminal Law Amendments Introduced in Canada to Force ISPs to Report Child Pornography

Bill C-58, the Child Protection Act (Online Sexual Exploitation), has been introduced in Canada. If enacted, it will place new reporting obligations on Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ISPs would be required to report tips they receive to designated authorities concerning IP addresses or URLs associated with child pornography. Additionally, if an ISP has reasonable grounds to believe that its service is being used for a child pornography offence, it must temporarily preserve the data and notify the police. However, the ISPs would not be required or permitted to independently search for such offensive content. The Bill further protects the ISPs from being sued for complying with the legislation, and compliance with similar provincial regulations is to be sufficient compliance with this legislation. Penalties for non-compliance are fines punishable on summary conviction. As a result of the definition of “internet service” in the Bill, it is not only ISPs that would need to comply, but anyone providing Internet access, Internet content hosting or electronic mail. As a result, the scope of the Bill may well extend to providers of social networking sites (such as Facebook), e-mail providers (such as Gmail), as well as to newsgroups and similar services. For the full text of Bill C-58, see: http://tinyurl.com/yk3xybo For a copy of the Backgrounder of the federal Department of Justice, visit: http://www.canada.justice.gc.ca/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2009/doc_32456.html Links to parallel provincial child welfare legislation in: Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia Summary by: Lea Epstein