Senate Bill and Age Verification
A Senate bill, formerly Bill S-210 and now S-209, proposes granting the government regulatory power to mandate age verification for search, social media, and AI services. This bill has been making its way through a Senate committee, with various witnesses appearing over the past two weeks.
Michael Geist notes that while there are some improvements in the new bill, such as excluding sites that "incidentally and not deliberately" host pornographic material, concerns remain. These concerns include the privacy implications of mandated age verification technologies and the potential for website blocking requirements that could block access to lawful content in Canada.
The bill still raised concerns, including the privacy implications of mandated age verification technologies and the establishment of website blocking requirements that would block access to lawful content in Canada.
Author's summary: Senate bill proposes age verification for online services.