Glenn Lane

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As IT security expert and a Canadian public servant of 25 years, I would like to share my comments on website blocking.

Please consult with IT security experts before considering granting Internet service providers this sort of power. Experts will tell you it is technologically impossible to block nefarious services that are insistent on remaining available. Consider "The Pirate Bay", the most prevalent distributor of copyrighted material in the world for nearly 20 years. They are still going strong; and this is not due to lack of legislation. It is due to evolution of technology and infrastructure. And technology continues to evolve to make evading such efforts even easier:

  • Internet Protocol v6
  • Increasing prevalence of anonymization networks (Tribble, Tor)
  • Secure cloud execution (enclaving)

You can't legislate-away these technologies, since they are pivotal to privacy, integrity, and non-repudiation (in private, government, and corporate uses).

When blocking illegitimate services is impossible, the only remaining use of such a legislative power is to block legitimate services: actions like censorship, and anti-competitive behavior. This presents powerful and lucrative opportunities for big media and service providers. But that's not the reason they're asking for this capability, is it?

All I ask is that you first consult with independent experts on the technical feasibility of what these companies propose. If the power they ask for can't possibly achieve what they say they need it for, then they intend to use it for something else.