Bill S-209, also known as the "Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act," is a Senate public bill introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne that aims to make it a criminal offense for organizations to allow internet users to access sexually explicit material without age verification.

What are the main concerns raised about Bill S-209?

Canadian officials and experts have voiced significant concerns regarding Bill S-209, citing its broad scope, technical impracticality, and potential implications for censorship and internet freedom.

Who has expressed opposition to Bill S-209?

Canada's privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne, Canadian Heritage Deputy Minister Owen Ripley, and University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist have all expressed concerns or opposition to Bill S-209.

Why is the age verification technology considered problematic for Bill S-209?

Internet expert Michael Geist stated that age verification technology "is simply not there yet" to achieve the bill's objectives and that it doesn't exist to permit age verification at scale.

Canadian Officials Raise Concerns Over Senator Miville-Dechênel's Age Verification Bill

Q: What kind of services could be impacted by Bill S-209?

As written, the proposed law could make it a rule for services like Netflix to verify the age of their users, which would have far-reaching implications for how Canadians access and use the internet.

Canadian officials and experts express significant concerns about Senator Julie Miville-Dechênel's Bill S-209, citing broad scope, technical impracticality, and potential implications for censorship and internet freedom.

Canadian officials and experts have voiced significant concerns regarding Senator Julie Miville-Dechênel's age verification bill, Bill S-209, citing broad scope, technical impracticality, and potential implications for censorship and internet freedom.

Parliamentary Scrutiny and Expert Opposition

During a recent parliamentary committee hearing, Canada's privacy commissioner, Philippe Dufresne, warned that Bill S-209, also known as the "Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act," carries broad censorship implications. Dufresne suggested the bill's scope should be "dramatically narrowed" to address concerns about the content it would affect. The Canadian Press reported on these comments.

Owen Ripley, Canadian Heritage Deputy Minister, also testified, describing Miville-Dechênel’s bill as "highly problematic for a number of reasons, including a scope that is much too broad, both in terms of regulated services as well as regulated content."

University of Ottawa law professor and internet expert Michael Geist characterized the bill as "fundamentally flawed," according to The Canadian Press. Geist explained that age verification technology "is simply not there yet" to achieve the objectives sought by proponents of the bill. He further stated that the bill is "fundamentally defective in its current form, and it can't be fixed without a complete overhaul," adding that "the technology simply doesn't exist to permit age verification at scale."

Ripley elaborated on the bill's potential impact, stating that, as written, "the proposed law would make it a rule for services like Netflix to verify the age of their users," which would have "far-reaching implications for how Canadians access and use the internet." He also noted that "website blocking remains a highly contentious enforcement instrument that poses a range of challenges and could impact Canadians' freedom of speech and Canada's commitment to an open and free internet and net neutrality."

Dufresne proposed an amendment to narrow the bill's scope to "providing sexually explicit material for commercial purposes."

Bill S-209: Scope and Legislative History

Bill S-209, formerly known as Bill S-210 and Bill S-203, is a Senate public bill first introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne in the 44th Canadian Parliament. The bill aims to make it a criminal offense for organizations to allow internet users under the age of 18 to access sexually explicit material for commercial purposes, unless an age verification system is employed, or the material has a legitimate artistic, educational, or scientific purpose. The bill also grants the government the authority to obtain court orders for internet service providers to block access to websites that do not comply with notices issued under the law.

The bill was passed by a voice vote in the Senate on April 18, 2023, during the first session of the 44th Canadian Parliament, and subsequently progressed to its first reading in the House of Commons. After its second reading, the bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security for study. Support for the bill has come from the majority of the House, including the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, the Bloc Québécois, the Green Party, and 15 Liberal Party MPs. However, most of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals have opposed the bill, as have internet and privacy advocates.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has described Canadian Senate Bill S-203 as a "woefully misguided proposal aimed at regulating sexual content online," asserting that it "fails to understand how the internet functions and would be seriously damaging to online expression and privacy." The EFF highlighted three specific problems: technical impracticality, competition harms, and privacy and security. The organization noted that S-203 would make any person or company criminally liable for any instance an underage user engages with sexual content through its service, even if the person or company believed the user to be an adult, unless a "prescribed age-verification method" was implemented. The EFF also stated that the bill would impose this burden on a broad range of the internet stack, potentially forcing many companies to eliminate sexual content due to the "costly and overwhelmingly complicated" technical infrastructure required for age verification, which would also introduce new security concerns.

Ministerial Perspectives and Miville-Dechêne's Stance

Culture Minister Marc Miller indicated that Canada is unlikely to incorporate age checks for pornography websites into its forthcoming online harms bill. Miller told The Globe and Mail that while he believes Senator Miville-Dechêne’s private member’s bill, which recently cleared the Upper House, has merit, he is not convinced that the federal government should emulate Britain's 2023 online safety law, which mandates rigorous age checks for pornography sites.

Miller previously stated that his department’s forthcoming online harms bill, which is expected to require online platforms to promptly remove child sexual abuse material and posts encouraging self-harm, would not be the appropriate vehicle for a new law mandating age checks for pornography sites. In March, Miller reconvened a group of 11 experts to advise him on the content of the online harms bill. The experts are also examining practical considerations such as workability, enforceability, and potential unintended consequences. The government recently asked these experts to consider whether "age assurance requirements" for accessing pornographic content should be included in the bill.

Miville-Dechêne, an appointed official and former journalist and broadcaster, has been described as not appearing to possess specialized knowledge of universal technical and systemic issues concerning third-party content moderation on the internet, as reported by XBIZ. In June 2021, she spoke to Radio Canada, a francophone CBC outlet, about the religious motivations behind an anti-Pornhub campaign led by MP Arnold Viersen with support from Laila Mickelwait of the Exodus Cry ministry. Miville-Dechêne stated that while she does not share Exodus Cry's ideology, she addresses sexual exploitation from a "feminist angle." She also noted that "the issue of children watching online porn as well as the presence of illegal content on porn sites have gathered a large coalition of Canadian citizens who are ideologically different, but who agree with each other on these two precise objectives."

In April 2022, Miville-Dechêne asserted that "protecting children against pornography is both a health and a public safety issue." She told the committee that "exposing minors, especially boys, to online porn is associated with a number of harmful effects: addiction, aggressive sexual behaviors, fear, anxiety and an increase in sexist beliefs that particularly affect girls and women."

During Tuesday’s hearing, Miville-Dechêne and her supporters argued that the bill’s purpose, "to shield minors from sexually graphic and violent material, is important enough that it should be passed, with the technical details to be sorted out through a regulatory process," as reported by The Canadian Press.

Key Facts

Bill S-209, also known as the "Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act," was introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne.
The bill proposes making it a criminal offense for organizations to allow minors to access sexually explicit material for commercial purposes without age verification.
Canada's privacy commissioner, Philippe Dufresne, and Canadian Heritage Deputy Minister Owen Ripley have expressed concerns about the bill's broad scope and potential for censorship.
University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist stated that the bill is "fundamentally flawed" and that age verification technology "is simply not there yet."
The bill passed the Senate on April 18, 2023, and is currently under study by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in the House of Commons.
Culture Minister Marc Miller indicated that age checks for pornography sites are unlikely to be included in the government's forthcoming online harms bill.