A proposal to give Internet service providers the power to shut down hate-mongering or pornographic websites received an enthusiastic response Monday by top telecommunications executives, said the plan's creator.
Bernie Farber, chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, presented the idea at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto to senior managers from such major Internet providers as Rogers, Cogeco, and Sympatico, owned by BCE Inc.
"It was very well received," he said. "It speaks well for their desire to do something about this."
Most service providers are unable to remove objectionable content from their servers unless it has been found illegal through a lengthy court process, Farber said in his speech.
Farber proposed that major Canadian Internet providers devise a protocol based on existing laws that would allow them to remove hateful or pornographic material at their own discretion.
"It doesn't take a lot to discern what is pornographic and what is hate," Farber said. "As long as the context is there ... they have some expertise to make those decisions."
Farber said while his proposal was very well-received, there was some concern about how customers would react if certain content were filtered or removed.
"My response is, let them sue you," Farber said. "This is a commercial business."
"A newspaper doesn't have to accept every letter to the editor, and an ISP doesn't have to accept everybody as a customer if they choose not to."
While nearly every ISP posts a disclaimer saying offensive material won't be tolerated, Farber said the warnings are meaningless under the current system.
"It's all talk," he said. "They have the option to do it, but they'll only do it if there is a finding of illegality. And that was basically admitted here."
Members of police hate crime units were also receptive to Farber's proposal, saying that universal guidelines would help curtail the electronic distribution of hateful or pornographic material.
Det. Don McKinnon, a member of the hate crimes unit with the London, Ont. police force, said the technology needed to monitor on-line content already exists.
He said hate crime could be significantly reduced if ISP's were permitted to use it as they saw fit.
"The technology that is available ... is much similar to call blocking," said McKinnon, explaining it's basically a website blocker.
"It is complicated, but if you know what you're doing, it's not impossible."
Both McKinnon and Farber said events in the past few weeks likely made telecom executives more open to today's proposal.
The recent arrests of 17 terrorism suspects from Toronto alerted the world to the ease with which marginal communities can evolve on-line.
On June 8, an Edmonton man made history when he was convicted of promoting hatred of Jews on his website, making him the first Canadian to be successfully prosecuted for such a crime.
After the encouraging response Monday, Farber plans to organize meetings between national ISPs to ensure the proposal becomes reality as soon as possible.
