On February 9th 2022, Faculty member Dr. Michael Geist appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to discuss the Bill S-210 that purports to restrict underage access to sexually explicit material.
Dr. Geist offered his comments on the bill that would require age verification requirements for sites and mandated website blocking for sites that fail to comply with the verification requirements. Dr. Geist warned against reliance on website blocking and on age verification technologies likely backed by face recognition technologies.
- The opening comments of Dr. Michael Geist are available here.
- The audio recording of the hearing is available here.
Dr. Michael Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-Commerce Law, a Faculty member at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, and a Full Professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa.