Thank you.
The question that you ask really goes to the heart of the work of the committee on this issue. It's certainly not an easy task, partly because, as Ms. Charlton has said, this is an unprecedented situation, in that the attacks in question come from an unknown entity. The name Anonymous is there. As I understand it, that particular title or brand is out there; the various loose grouping of people who operate under its banner encourage the use of that title for people who are protesting in various ways.
If I may be very blunt, I don't see much to be gained by trying to identify the culprit as such. I think that this exercise—and in this sense I'm very happy that this isn't an in camera meeting and that we can talk this way—is a very useful educational opportunity for everyone to realize that for all of the advantages and for all of the extraordinary.... I remember reading somewhere somebody comparing the Internet to having at your disposal the library at Alexandria.
For all that this is the case, there's also a sort of darker side to it, an ability for people who want to make mischief or who want in fact to engage in activities, as the Anonymous group do in the threats they have uttered.... That's also a possibility there.
The Sergeant-at-Arms and I were discussing this question this morning when the three of us were meeting prior to coming before you, and he was reminding me that it's a criminal offence to threaten a public official. One can assume that the Minister of Public Security has talked to the authorities with regard to whatever appropriate inquiry is to be made at a policing level.
With regard to this committee, frankly I'm not sure that seeking out a culprit as such wouldn't be a giant waste of time, because I think that the nature of these attacks, as I understand it and from the reading that I've done, is that they're extremely fluid. It is not even that you have—as you might have, for example in the Wikileaks situation, wherein you have Julian Assange saying he's the head of this and wherein he has taken ownership of a particular approach to information and so forth.... This is really a set of people whose way of protesting, I gather, is basically to cause difficulties for various institutions. It has a whole anarchic side that is very dark indeed.
At the same time, I think that what is important for this committee to recognize and to applaud is the many ways in which informed citizens are using the Internet and using social media to have conversations about political issues and to take sides and to advocate in one way or another. The engagement—and the engagement over space and time—that the Internet permits is something that is to be applauded. We shouldn't let the people who want to use this for evil, for lack of a less simplistic way of putting it, carry the day. That's one thing.
In terms of remedies, I think really awareness is the most important thing, awareness that if you're using Wi-Fi in a cafe somewhere and are on the Internet, you're more likely to be open to attacks than if you're just sort of looking at new sites and so forth.
I don't know that this answers your question fully, but that would be my take on it.