My primary cause for concern is the generally-espoused attitude I see that the 'Net has nothing to do with the average person, and any regulations aimed at controlling your online activities must be in your own best interest. A lot of regulations have been passed around the world (Most notably in Britain and Australia) that are designed to force Internet Service providers to censor the internet feed of people connecting from within those countries. I'm not in favor of blind censorship of any form. A couple of years ago, a small group of programmers took it upon themselves to crack programs similar to NetNanny and Cybercop, programs supposedly designed to restrict childrens' access to the Internet, block out pornographic sites. They found that there were large numbers of totally innocent sites whose content was in no way pornographic that were also blocked. They also got sued by the makers of the blocking software. A large number of ISP's censor things on a regular basis. So, what's being blocked from you? Why is it being blocked? Would you agree with the reasons it's blocked, if you knew what it was? How can you ever tell, when accountability to the general public is not required?

A lesser cause for concern is the constantly-decreasing distinction between the electronic world and the physical world. The US government has increased its ability to monitor, record, and use electronic communications without a warrant. Recently, a man was convicted and jailed for child pornography when a journal he had written and never intended anyone else to read came to light. In this case, the man had done nothing wrong, but write some fiction in a book meant only for himself, in a house only he lived in. It was proven that he had no intention of carrying out any physical acts against anyone, nor had he ever intended anything but a literary work. As far as I know, he's still in jail. Have you ever written about doing something illegal as a joke, in an email? In an electronic document somewhere? Shouldn't the government have to have a reason, and follow some process of law before they take that email from your computer and convict you of wrongdoing? How similar are the two cases? The music recording industry apparently wants the power to break into your computer and delete MP3's you didn't pay them for. How far a step is that from breaking into your home and taking your workout mix tapes? How far is it from a police state where we all wear microphones and our lives are recorded for evidence? Why would we allow the electronic version to happen, when the other would outrage us?

So, yes, perhaps I'm overstating the case. And I'm not aware of any current Canadian plans for legislation of this sort. I do, however, think it's a problem, and I'd rather more people noticed this sort of thing before we find the jack-booted thugs at our own electronic doors.