Electronic Frontier Canada
	Thursday, November 28, 1996

Françoise Bertrand, Chair
Canadian Radtio-Television
and Telecommunications Commission
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2

fax: (819) 953-1555, and (819) 994-0218

Dear Ms. Bertrand,

I am writing to you in my capacity as President of Electronic Frontier Canada (EFC), a non-profit organization having hundreds of members drawn from every province and territory, all devoted to the preservation of Charter rights in cyberspace.

We were very alarmed to read about your recent remarks about the Internet quoted in the November 18 Ottawa Sun.

We do not believe the CRTC has, or should have, jurisdiction over the Internet, which we do not believe constitutes broadcasting. The rationale for the regulation of broadcasting has always depended on the supposed scarcity of the airwaves, and the pervasive nature of the medium. Neither applies to the Internet.

We do not believe that the proper way to ensure Canadian content is to regulate the kind of software that people may use to access the World Wide Web. In our view, Canadian content can be encouraged through grants and subsidies.

We do not believe that Internet Service Providers (ISP's) should be made responsible for all content accessed by their users. Such a decision, in addition to being impractical because of the sheer volume of material, would have the undeniable effect of chilling all types of controversial speech. This chilling is precisely what the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is intended to avoid.

We urge you, before taking any further action, to inform yourself further about the issues. A good place to start is our own web site, full of Canadian content, at http://www.efc.ca We'd also be happy to meet with you, at your convenience, to discuss these issues further.

Yours Cordially,

David Jones, PhD
President, Electronic Frontier Canada

email:	[email protected]
web:	http://www.efc.ca
phone:	(905) 525-9140 ext. 24689
fax:	(905) 546-9995