Canadian Politicians Want To Pass Internet Snooping Legislation
from the privacy-has-no-meaning dept
Well, it appears Canada is the latest country to propose overly broad internet snooping legislation. The proposed legislation would require ISPs to hand over all sorts of info to the police on request (without any court oversight -- think that won't get abused?). More importantly, it would require ISPs to install monitoring and surveillance equipment on their network, such that police could "tap" into any form of internet communication, including text, voice and video. This part is a little unclear, actually. The article linked above says that it would require the ability to tap such real-time communications, but Michael Geist notes that the government says it won't cover the actual content of the communication, but just the data about it (who is communicating with whom and how). That's similar to laws that have been passed elsewhere, though no less troubling. If this actually gets anywhere (a big question), it should probably boost the market for encryption technologies, yet again.
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Filed Under: canada, internet snooping, privacy, surveillance
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Frickin pervs !
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Almost scared to leave a comment.
The writing is on the wall.
Oh btw... did i mention that I think our glorious prime minster stephen harper is doing an excellent job, because he is.
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Why do they think that not knowing the precise content of a communication can't invade people's privacy?
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It's worth pointing out...
that there are two seperate issues here.
1. The warrantless issue is for providers to hand over personal information upon request. This has many Canadians worried (and rightly so). It was panned by the Canadian media immediately with only a few exceptions from Conservative-friendly news outlets.
2. The surviellance equipment requirement is a little bit less worrisome. Law enforcement already requires a warrant to tap real-time communications online just as they do for telephone communications. The problem is that they lack the means to execute those warrants. In addition, the government is prepared to subsidize the purchase of the equipment to help offset the cost.
Over all, this is very troubling legislation and given it's initial reception, it is not expected to pass in it's present form.
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Re: It's worth pointing out...
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IS this Tied into the "Secret Negotiations'
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Re: IS this Tied into the "Secret Negotiations'
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Uh, Oh!
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