Canada set to censor internet porn to ensure it’s 'Canadian' enough

National Post ^ | June 24, 2002 | Tristin Hopper

[Loyalist]

Canada could be on the cusp of a bizarre new era in which federal regulators will be empowered to figure out whether our online porn is sufficiently Canadian — and levy the requisite punishments if it isn’t.

Bill C-11 — the Liberal push to subject much of the internet to CRTC control — has passed the House of Commons with NDP and Bloc Québécois support. Absent any major revisions by the Senate, the likes of Netflix, YouTube and even Instagram will soon be forced to subject their content to Canada’s famously onerous strictures on Canadian content.

But less discussed is how Bill C-11 will also apply to the internet’s vast wilderness of streaming pornography. The legislation applies to all programs broadcast via “online undertaking.”

The most controversial aspect of Bill C-11 is how it would force online streamers to “ensure the discoverability of Canadian programming.”

Right now, YouTube uses complex algorithms to pair users with content they might find interesting. Under C-11, those algorithms would be tweaked by federal mandate to disproportionately pair users with content that regulators have deemed to be sufficiently Canadian. Non-Canadian content, meanwhile, would need to be artificially hidden. As to what content qualifies as Canadian, everything from Netflix feature films to basement YouTubers would need to submit to the CRTC’s onerous “points system.” Under the system — which is already mandatory for TV channels — content creators must file detailed budgets with the CRTC to prove minimum quotas of Canadian actors, Canadian crew and even the quantity of production costs that were verifiably spent in Canada.

[Scrambler Bob]

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