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“We have a responsibility to do more as a country than we are presently doing,” Mr. Deibert said. “Why isn’t [the Canadian government] out there with a comprehensive vision of how this system should be governed?”

By labeling the bill the “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act,” the Conservative government is projecting an atmosphere of fear, one which threatens to erode the freedoms of law-abiding Canadians, according to Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner.

“If you can make this about being here to protect your children, if you can engender that kind of fear on the part of the public, who is going to object to that?” Ms. Cavoukian said in an interview.

“This act extends far beyond these heinous crimes, it extends into areas of activity that aren’t even criminal acts. When you lead with fear like this, people will not inspect whether the measures you’re introducing are real or are they illusory. Inceasingly, this government is engaging in privacy theatre. When the public is scared, they’re willing to allow for the erosion of their freedoms because they want to feel safe.”

Balancing the citizenry’s right to privacy with the increasing need for authorities to hunt down criminals in an age of hackers, online predators and organized cyber crime is a challenge of monumental proportions. It will not be fixed with a single piece of legislation.

It’s still early days for the Internet. We are still writing the rulebook for the Web. If we get it right, Canada can serve as a leader in the digital world, a guiding light in the emerging age of cyber diplomacy.

If we get it wrong, our actions could have dire consequences, resulting in the invasions of privacy for thousands of law-abiding Canadians, snuffing out the transformative potential of the Web.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the federal government has let fear get the better of it this time.