Written by Lawmakers in the U.S. and Canada are considering two different, yet distinctly similar bills that critics say would forever end the concept of online privacy.
Both bills promise enhanced protections for children targeted by child pornographers on the Internet by mandating that Internet service providers (ISPs) maintain lengthy records of individual users’ electronic communications, which are to be handed over to authorities upon request.
In the U.S., Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act (PCIP) last year, and it finally cleared committee before January, putting it on the fast-track for a vote by the full House at-large. Two similar bills failed in 2009, but the latest attempt at data retention in the U.S has succeeded in part because it was overshadowed by uproar over another bill authored by Smith, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA, however, did not make it out of committee after the Internet’s first ever major work stoppage protest effectively scuttled most of the bill’s support.
