Bill 66 explained in plain English
Education Statute Law Amendment Act (Electronic Sexual Material), 2010
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill requires Ontario school and public library boards to implement technology to block minors' access to certain online content and communications, and to set policies and monitor usage.
Bill 66, the Education Statute Law Amendment Act (Electronic Sexual Material), 2010, requires school boards and public library boards in Ontario to implement technology measures on computers accessible to individuals under 18 years old. These measures must block access to obscene, sexually explicit, or child pornography material online and in electronic communications. Additionally, they must block access to unauthorized sites or communications that may contain personal information about minors. Boards are also required to establish and publish policies on authorized computer use for minors and to monitor that use. The Act also makes similar amendments to the Public Libraries Act. The Minister is empowered to make regulations regarding the standards for these technology measures and other related matters.
- Requires school boards to ensure computers in schools accessible to minors have technology measures to block access to obscene, sexually explicit, or child pornography material on the internet and in electronic communications.
- Requires school boards to block access to unauthorized internet sites or electronic communications that could reasonably contain personal information about minors.
- Requires school boards to create and publish policies for authorized computer use by minors and to monitor this use.
- Amends the Public Libraries Act to impose similar requirements on public library boards for computers accessible to minors.
- Empowers the Minister to make regulations concerning the standards for these technology measures and other matters related to these new provisions.
- School boards in Ontario
- Public library boards in Ontario
- Students under 18 years old who use computers in schools or public libraries
- The Minister of Education (Ontario)
- School and library boards must implement technology to block access to obscene, sexually explicit, or child pornography online and in electronic communications on computers used by minors.
- School and library boards must block access to unauthorized sites or communications that may contain personal information about minors.
- School and library boards must establish and publish policies on authorized computer use by minors.
- School and library boards must monitor the use of computers by minors.
- Minors have the right to access computers in schools and libraries, subject to the new policies and technological blocking measures.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The specific standards that technology measures must meet are not detailed in the bill text and are subject to future regulations by the Minister.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance by school or library boards.
- The definition of "sexually explicit material" is provided, but its application in practice may be subject to interpretation.
- The bill allows for regulations to prescribe requirements for authorized access policies, indicating that further details will be provided in regulations.
Adds a new Part XIII.2, which imposes new obligations on school boards regarding the blocking of access to certain electronic materials and communications on computers accessible to minors, and requires policies and monitoring of such use. It also makes a minor amendment to Section 230.
Source: Sections 1, 2, and Part XIII.2
Adds new sections to Part III, imposing obligations on public library boards similar to those imposed on school boards by the Education Act, concerning the blocking of access to certain electronic materials and communications on library computers accessible to minors, and requiring policies and monitoring of such use.
Source: Section 3 and Part III
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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