A lawful access bill that would give police and intelligence agencies new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications and get telecommunications subscriber data without a warrant is needed to protect against child pornography, says Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
"I believe that unless this legislation is adopted, this will in fact allow child pornographers and organized crime to flourish," Toews said at a news conference Tuesday after the proposed "protecting children from internet predators act" was introduced in the House of Commons.
"The focus here is the protection of children."
The bill, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, includes no mention of children or predators except in the title, which appears to have been changed after it was sent to the printers.
Like similar legislation introduced in the past by both Conservative and Liberal governments, the new bill includes provisions that would:
With files from CBC
