By Fiona McMurran
On February 14, federal Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews gave Canadians an unusual Valentine. He introduced a “lawful access” bill, C-30, an “Act to enact the Investigating and Preventing Criminal Electronic Communications Act and to amend the Criminal Code and other acts”.
Ready and willing to hack your computer
Reaction was swift. A coalition of groups forming the Stop Inline Spying Coalition claimed that the bill’s provisions “would force Internet service providers to surrender the personal information of any Canadian at any time to authorities without court oversight—a move that public interest groups, legal experts, and privacy advocates say will fundamentally reshape the Internet in Canada.”
The Stop Inline Spying Coalition expressed its concerns; Bill C-30, they say, is;
- Warrantless: A range of “authorities” will have the ability to access the private information of law-abiding Canadians and our families using wired Internet and mobile devices, without justification.
- Invasive: The laws leave our personal and financial information less secure and more susceptible to cybercrime.
- Costly: Internet services providers may be forced to install millions of dollars worth of spying technology and the cost will be passed down to YOU.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dZILMivNgI&feature=youtu.be
Yet the Harper Tories have been nothing if not persistent in their attempts to pass “lawful access” legislation. Similar attempts by the Harper government (Bills 50, 51, and 52) were lost when the election was called last May, but the Conservative platform promised the reintroduction of these measures in the new session. Police were fully supportive, the government claimed. It’s certainly true that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair voiced his approval of the proposed legislation that would give police unprecedented powers, powers needed, Blair said, to track on-line sexual predators.
Civil liberties associations, however, reacted differently. They were joined by federal, provincial and territorial privacy commissioners, all of whom expressed the fear that such legislation would open the door to “back-door” surveillance of ordinary Canadians.
Then, in December, Stephen Harper made public the details of the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan he had signed with U.S. President Obama. Although supposedly designed to streamline trade between the two countries, the agreement also implements measures to deal with criminal and terrorist threats. These measures apparently necessitate “informal information sharing”, which will involve a massive handover of personal information of Canadians to American authorities.
So when Toews introduced Bill C-30 back in February, he was ready for some major opposition. Liberal MP Francis Scarpelaggia questioned whether the Harper government should be granted such sweeping powers – powers that would enable them “to read Canadians’ emails and track their movements through cellphone signals, in both cases without a warrant”. Toews retorted, “He [Scarpelaggia] can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.
Toews’ comment certainly drew public attention to the bill. Pressure from Canadians, including a 80,000-signature petition from Stop Online Spying, and a survey by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, forced “lawful access” out of the omnibus crime bill. Bill C-30 seemed to have died a quiet death.
Last month, however, Toews announced that the government is still intent on passing Bill C-30, and will send it to Committee for discussion and possible changes, before bringing it back to the House. In response, the Stop Online Spying Coalition and openmedia.ca have launched a new campaign, asking Canadians to call upon MPs and party leaders to stand against the bill.
Canadians have taken the freedom of the Internet for granted. Now we all need to refuse to allow our government to keep us under surveillance.
Stand up for your right to privacy. Join thousands of other Canadians to Stop Online Spying: send a message to your MP at openmedia.ca/stand .
You can also check out the following video on this subject by clicking on
http://youtu.be/6dZILMivNgI .
Fiona McMurran is a Welland, Ontario resident, community activist and Niagara representative of the Ottawa-based citizens group Council of Canadians.
(Niagara At Large encourages you to send that message to your MP and to also share your views on this issue with us in the comment space below.)
Niagara At Large 
The Canadian government is nothing but a bunch of glorified crooks out to get you and your money….there is no more democracy here in Canada….we are under the dictatorship of Stephen Harper and the progressive Conservative government!!!
LikeLike
The bill has everything to do with censorship and police-state surveillance, and nothing to do with on-line predators. If police have reason to investigate predators, they get a warrant. There’s a reason for that; otherwise, they and the government have too much power, which can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Goodbye democracy, hello police state.
LikeLike
Anytime a government passes legislation like this, the first thing we should ask ourselves is who else could benefit from legislation like this?What else could it be used for?
The government is trying to convince people that its intentions are altruistic – This time its to “track internet predators of children and other criminal activity.”
I think the irony here is that this legislation looks perfect for catching the millions of teenagers and young adults who download music and movies for free on the Internet. This is a huge loss to the American music and movie industries and a regular trade issue with the United States.
LikeLike
Can you spell “Patriot Act”.
Goodness, we wouldn’t want a forum on which we could disseminate information about surreptitious government activities.
Print and broadcast “journalism” is already largely censored so now comes the taping shut of the mouths of citizens.
LikeLike