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Canadian Commission Considers
Internet Regulations

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is welcoming public comment until October 21 on whether it should regulate the Internet and private computer networks. The agency, which is the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, intends to incorporate the comments, as well as testimony from a hearing slated to begin on November 23 in Hull, Quebec, into a report.

The CRTC is contemplating whether it should bar pornography and hate speech, as well as whether it should extend its Parlimentary mandate to "ensure the availability of high quality and diverse Canadian programming" to cyberspace.

Reaction was swift: "The long regulatory arm cannot reach out into digital space," telecommunications consultant Iain Grant told the Globe and MailAugust 1. Mark Genius, executive director of the National Foundation for Family Research and Education, countered that while the government shouldn't become "our thought police," online child pornography "crosses the line."

Posted August 10, 1998.

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