HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Leading Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail this week published an op-ed written by a legal scholar outlining fundamental issues with the Conservative-backed age verification bill currently making its way through Parliament.
Dalhousie University law professor Elaine Craig stated her opposition to S-210, which was originally set to be studied by a parliamentary committee in May. Although the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it “fundamentally flawed,” the opposition Conservative Party forced the bill to move forward without a study.
“Trying to lock curious and determined teenagers out of parts of the internet is like spitting into the wind: It will not get very far, and is likely to backfire,” writes Craig, who authored the book “Mainstreaming Porn: Sexual Integrity and the Law Online.”
“But with Bill S-210, a broadly worded age-verification law aimed at preventing those under age 18 from accessing online pornography, federal opposition parties in Canada appear set on trying anyway,” she adds.
Craig notes that the vast majority of young people have used or know how to use a virtual private network (VPN) to make it appear as if their IP address comes from a country without an age verification law.
“Anyone who doesn’t know can learn in a matter of seconds,” Craig observes. “Try searching ‘how to access blocked porn sites’ on Google.”
She also addresses several other issues with the bill, including privacy, possible threats to sex workers and freedom-of-speech restrictions.
The problem, she continues, is not simply that S-210 will be ineffective.
“It will make things worse,” she argues. “In addition to the considerable privacy issues that this law poses, and the harms that such regimes, when poorly designed, impose upon sex workers, there are concerns that the law will unjustifiably compromise the freedom of expression of adults, children, and youth. As University of Ottawa expert Michael Geist notes, Bill S-210 could capture sites like Google, preventing kids in school from doing internet searches.”
She also points to the much more effective remedy of parents having conversations with their children about adult content.
“Bill S-210 is not the answer,” she concludes. “If it causes lawmakers or parents and educators to focus our attention elsewhere because we think, ‘well, at least we have done something about online porn’ — then for that reason alone, this law will only make things worse.”
According to Craig, the aim of protecting minors from the allegedly harmful aspects of pornography “is much more likely to be achieved by talking with them about porn, about its harms and potential benefits, and about consent and desire, pleasure and sexism, and racism and power and violence.”
Read the full article here.