A future Conservative government would change the law to require that porn websites verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the content, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre signalled on Wednesday.
When asked whether his government would require porn websites to verify the age of users, Poilievre gave a one-word answer: 害羞草研究所淵es.害羞草研究所�
He didn害羞草研究所檛 offer further explanation, and his office quickly followed up with a clarifying statement asserting that the Tories don害羞草研究所檛 believe in the imposition of a digital ID.
The Tories are sponsoring and supporting a Senate private member害羞草研究所檚 bill that promises to require age verification for people to access pornography online.
Bill S-210 passed in the Senate in the spring and New Democrats, Bloc Qu茅b茅cois and Conservative MPs voted to send it to a House of Commons committee for study. No such meetings have been scheduled yet.
The proposed law would require websites to verify users害羞草研究所� ages before they can access sexually explicit content, and it would penalize sites that don害羞草研究所檛 comply.
But it does not specify how that would be done.
Options could include the use of a digital government ID, as some U.S. states have legislated, or services that can estimate age based on a scan of a person害羞草研究所檚 face.
Such suggestions have prompted widespread concern from privacy experts about their overarching impacts 害羞草研究所� from the risks associated with asking Canadians to share personal information with an external provider to the use of measures such as facial recognition technology.
Sebastian Skamski, a spokesperson for Poilievre, said shortly after the leader害羞草研究所檚 remarks Wednesday that Conservatives do not support any measures that would allow the imposition of a digital ID or infringe on the privacy of adults and their freedom to access legal content online.
The bill making its way through Parliament was introduced by Sen. Julie Miville-Dech锚ne, an Independent Senators Group member.
Conservative Ontario MP Karen Vecchio is sponsoring the bill in the House of Commons.
In a speech to the Commons in November, Vecchio said 害羞草研究所渢here should be no direct collection of identity documentation by the site publisher from the pornographic site, no age estimates based on the user害羞草研究所檚 web browser history and no processing of biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying or authenticating a natural person.害羞草研究所�
The Conservatives have not proposed any alternatives for how porn sites could verify users害羞草研究所� ages without such systems.
Some websites that feature adult content, alcohol or cannabis currently ask for a user害羞草研究所檚 age to enter the website, but the sites do not verify the information and rely on an honour-system approach.
The Liberals were the only ones to vote against the bill in the House, saying it doesn害羞草研究所檛 do enough to protect children and promising pending online harms legislation will offer a more comprehensive suite of policies on child safety.
The company that owns Pornhub recently told The Canadian Press that blocking access to Canadians is among options it would consider if the Senate bill passes.
Similar laws requiring internet porn sites to verify a user害羞草研究所檚 age have been passed in several U.S states. After Louisiana required that a government ID be used to access Pornhub, traffic took a nosedive.
The company is fighting the bill and argues any regulations that require sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information will put user safety in jeopardy.
An executive with Ethical Capital Partners, which owns Pornhub害羞草研究所檚 parent company, Aylo, said it would prefer an approach that would verify a user害羞草研究所檚 age through a device, such as their smart phone.
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