Entry 4: Internet Regulation
I believe that the Canadian government should attempt to regulate the internet, and treat offensive and harmful messages online the same way they treat them in real life. The internet is massive, occupied by billions of people unaffected by distance and borders. When used responsibly it can do wonderful things, allowing communication between people in different cultures with different life experiences, and spreading important information rapidly and to large audiences. When used incorrectly, however, these advantages can be used to harm others, resulting in the mass spread of false and offensive information, the formation of dangerous alt right internet communities, and inappropriate content posted anonymously.
Numerous tragedies, such as mass school shootings and Toronto’s van attack, were made possible by the internet. Violent groups such as the incel community are well known for radicalizing young men, and encouraging them to commit atrocities. In many instances, those planning to engage in acts of violence will post about it beforehand. This means that monitoring dangerous groups directly saves lives, and if handled expertly may even be able to prevent the radicalization of these individuals in the first place. Every system set in place to protect citizens — police, security cameras — comes at the cost of allowing yourself to be a little more monitored, losing a little bit of your freedom. These systems are still in place because the pros outweigh the cons, and in my opinion the possibility to save numerous lives is well worth a bit of internet surveillance.
The thing is, the restrictions applied on the internet in Canada would be the same as those in our regular freedom of expression laws, restricting only extremes such as child pornography, hate speech, and defamation. Quite reasonable, and no different from what Canadians are used to in real life. Some of the anonymity the internet allows might be lost, but considering people often use it as a weapon to attack others is that really so much of a problem? Turning the internet into a safer space is undoubtedly worth it.
The real difficulty of monitoring the internet is the question of how. How can an individual government with its own laws possibly monitor its citizens on a massive community that ignores country borders and operates with a high degree of anonymity? The answer is that we can’t, it’s quite impossible. Ideally an unbiased party separate from the government would do this monitoring, to prevent the government from exploiting the power according to their needs and biases. They would not stand a chance of regulating everything potentially dangerous or illegal, but that doesn’t mean we as a country shouldn’t try, as even a small difference results in meaningful improvements.