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Critics say proposed new federal legislation could unfairly target some Internet users.

It’s almost impossible to have a discussion about the federal government’s proposed lawful-access legislation without conjuring up visions of George Orwell’s Big Brother. Allow me to mention it now so we can all move on.

Last week, Manitoba’s senior politician in Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, tabled Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. The legislation would require Internet service providers to give police certain personal information about their customers when asked (name, address, phone number and email, for example) with no warrants needed.

ISPs would also be required to update their equipment so that police would have the ability to conduct surveillance on those same customers. Though they’ll need a warrant to do so, this means police will now be able to track the online activities and cellphone movements of any person deemed suspicious enough to deserve it.

Ostensibly, the point of Bill C-30 is to curb the spread of child pornography online by providing police with tools to investigate those who create and propagate it; hence the name, which, incidentally, is a great example of how to effectively frame a position. After all, who isn’t in favour of protecting children from predators? How do people argue against this thing without appearing to align themselves with molesters and perverts, as Toews himself suggested?

Apparently, you do so by dubbing such legislation akin to "online spying." (Not as bad as molestation, to be sure, but still pretty bad.) You join 90,000 other people in signing an online petition against it, and you ask the government to rethink where to draw the line between public safety and individuals’ privacy.

Or you take the low road and release juicy divorce details of a certain public safety minister on Twitter...
Like it or not, the Internet is now where many of us live. Online communication has become an intrinsic part of our day-to-day activities, and criminals (be they child predators or teenage rioters) are no different in this regard. I feel for authorities, tasked with enforcing the rule of law in an online Wild West of lawlessness.

However, I don’t trust them, which is why I think this legislation needs both some sober second thought and some additional checks and balances.

Canada’s current government, remember, has chosen to paint environmentalists concerned about oil pipeline projects as "radicals." Canada’s national police force, remember, includes officers who Tasered an unarmed Polish immigrant to death in a Vancouver airport, then lied about it.

And does anyone need to be reminded of the actions of a few police officers at the recent G20 summit in Toronto?

Call me a cynic, but I doubt very much that the only people who will be targeted for surveillance should Bill C-30 pass will be child predators. Frankly, arguing that those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear is naïve.

So yes, let’s improve Canada’s laws. Let’s give police additional tools to catch bad guys. But let’s also make sure proper oversight is part of the deal.

Tread carefully, Ottawa.