No Internet Lockdown

Big Media lobbyists are trying to lock down the Internet in Canada through secretive agreements¹ and Bill C-56.²

Bill C-56, now under discussion in Parliament, includes provisions to criminalize and restrict your daily use of the Internet and give Big Media giants increased power to shut down websites without court oversight.³

We’re now looking at having Canada’s copyright rules overwritten with extreme Internet restrictions,⁴ including website blocking and even terminating your access to the Internet.⁵

This approach is backwards: it suffocates online innovation and is patently unfair. It's time for policymakers to stop listening to outdated conglomerates and work to put Canada on the map as a leader in Internet openness and affordability.

Please sign the petition—tell the Prime Minister and the Industry Minister to say no to this Internet lockdown before it's too late →

71,840 people have signed
(and counting)

Resources

No Internet Lockdown is supported by a coalition of organizations including:

Footnotes

[1] Canada has signed onto the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is an international intellectual property enforcement treaty, primarily lobbied for by big industry in Europe and the U.S. According to the EFF, ACTA raises "significant potential concerns for consumers’ privacy and civil liberties for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet legitimate commerce and for developing countries’ ability to choose policy options that best suit their domestic priorities and level of economic development."

Canada has also signed onto the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which is a multi-nation agreement that will rewrite the global rules on intellectual property enforcement, and as such could limit the future of the open Internet. Currently U.S. negotiators are pushing to include copyright measures that are far more restrictive than currently required by international treaties (including ACTA). For more, check out the EFF’s backgrounder here.

[2] The Canadian government recently introduced Bill C-56 aimed at ensuring the Canada complies with the widely discredited Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

[3] Michael Guest tell us that Bill C-56, “...includes the increased criminalization of copyright and trademark law as well as the introduction of new powers for Canadian border guards to detain shipments and work actively with rights holders to seize and destroy goods without court oversight or involvement.” Source: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6796/125/

[4] Additional powers for border security often result in abuse. EFF tells us that in other countries negotiating ACTA, border security agencies have seized domain names and taken down websites, which is a clear violation of free speech.

[5] Leaked drafts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement suggest that, once finalized, the TPP will provide big media conglomerates with more power to block websites, and terminate Internet access.