Critics call cyberbullying bill a Trojan horse

Civil libertarians say the federal government’s new cyberbullying bill will erode Internet privacy by reviving many elements of the Tories’ controversial online surveillance legislation.

Groups that oppose undue intrusion by the state are painting the cyberbullying legislation as a Trojan horse containing dozens of pages of provisions from Bill C-30 — killed by the government earlier this year following a public outcry.

“This is not a bill about cyberbullying,” said Micheal Vonn, policy director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

“It’s a bill essentially to reintroduce most of the components of Bill C-30, despite the government’s assurances that they would not do so.”

OpenMedia.ca, a lobby group on digital policy, welcomed action on cyberbullying but expressed concern that the new legislation would make it easier for the government to spy on the activities of law-abiding Canadians.

“Legal experts are telling OpenMedia.ca that the bill consists of 2.5 pages about cyberbullying, and 65 pages of lawful access (online spying) legislation.”

Justice Minister Peter MacKay denied the government was trying to sneak through new measures.

The bill makes it illegal to distribute “intimate images” without consent and makes it easier to get such pictures removed from the Internet.

But the cyberbullying legislation also encourages Internet service providers to voluntarily disclose information about customers without a court order by making them immune from criminal or civil liability, said Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law.