Privacy

All three countries have policies allowing citizens freedom of speech and to protect their privacy. The United States has a restriction to freedom of speech when it comes to the issue of children viewing pornography. The People's Republic of China restricts freedom of speech based on a clause in the Chinese Constitution for criminal investigations and in the interest of public safety. Canada does not make any restrictions whatsoever. Though all three countries guarantee freedom of speech, they take different approaches to it. Therefore it becomes useful to classify these countries into three separate categories; pro-government, pro-citizen, and middle-ground.

China appears to have a pro-government stance on Internet policy. This means that China favors regulating the use of the Internet. The interest of public safety allows China to restrict its citizens from viewing content that contains pornography, pro-democracy sentiment, or content that encourages ethnic hatred. China can also monitor all Internet communication, and does not restrict spyware/cookies, further strengthening its ability to monitor the Internet.

Canada has seemingly the exact opposite view on all Internet policies, adopting a pro-citizen stance. This means that the government instead opts to empower its citizens, giving them complete control of what Internet content they view. They also restrict online data collection with the citizen once again determining what data is provided and to whom.

The United States appears to be in-between these other two countries adopting a middle-ground stance. Closer to Canada's viewpoints, nearly all online content goes unrestricted except the viewing of pornography by minors and spyware is restricted unless consent is given from the user.

Country Comparison