Post Tagged with: "c-13"

The Trouble With Bill C-13: My Appearance before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights

Earlier today, I appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to discuss my concerns with Bill C-13, the lawful access/cyberbullying bill.  My opening statement focused exclusively on privacy, pointing to problems with immunity for voluntary disclosure, the low threshold for transmission data warrants, and the absence of reporting and disclosure requirements.  I’ll post a link to the transcript once available.  In the meantime, I’ve posted my opening statement below.

Appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, May 29, 2014

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May 29, 2014 4 comments Committees, News

Canadian Bar Association Releases Recommended Reforms For Bill C-13

With Justice Minister Peter McKay insistent that the government will not be splitting Bill C-13 into the lawful access and cyber-bullying components, the Canadian Bar Association heads to Parliament hill today to appear before the Justice Committee to discuss the bill. The CBA’s submission features 19 recommendations, including the need […]

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May 27, 2014 2 comments News
Vic Toews by Mostly Conservative (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/5K32AS

From Toews to Todd: The Unravelling of the Government’s Lawful Access Sales Strategy

As criticism of Bill C-13 mounts, the government’s sales strategy for its latest lawful access bill is starting to unravel. Many will recall the immediate, visceral opposition to Bill C-30, the last lawful access bill that started with then-Public Safety Minister Vic Toews declaring the day before introduction that Canadians could either stand with the government or with the child pornographers. The bill never recovered as Toews’ divisive remarks placed the spotlight on the warrantless disclosure provisions and the lack of privacy balance. Within ten days it was on placed on hiatus and formally killed a year later.

While the government has removed some of the most contentious elements from Bill C-30, many privacy concerns remain (immunity for voluntary disclosure, metadata). Indeed, it appears that its primary takeaway from the last legislative failure – an incredibly rare moment in the life of a majority government – was that it was a botched sales job. So despite a promise not to bring back lawful access legislation, it did so months later, this time armed with a new marketing strategy. Bill C-13 was framed as a cyber-bullying bill and its primary sales people were presumably supposed to be the victims of cyber-bullying and their parents.

The turning point on Bill C-13 came ten days ago when they appeared before the Justice Committee studying the bill. Carol Todd, the mother of Amanda, led off and courageously insisted that the government stop using her child’s name to undermine privacy:

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May 23, 2014 14 comments News
Who’s Watching Whom: An Examination of Canadian Privacy and Surveillance

Who’s Watching Whom: An Examination of Canadian Privacy and Surveillance

Earlier this week I was pleased to speak at the monthly Geek Girls Toronto event. Hosted at the Mozilla offices, a sold-out audience showed yet again that there is enormous public interest and concern with recent privacy and surveillance developments. A video of the talk, which focused on the problems associated with lawful access, privacy reform, and surveillance, is posted below.

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May 22, 2014 4 comments Keynote Speaking, News, Video

Why Public Safety Minister Blaney Gets It Wrong on Privacy and Warrantless Disclosures

The House of Commons engaged in active debate on privacy this week, spurred by an NDP motion from MP Charmaine Borg. The motion reads:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should follow the advice of the Privacy Commissioner and make public the number of warrantless disclosures made by telecommunications companies at the request of federal departments and agencies; and immediately close the loophole that has allowed the indiscriminate disclosure of the personal information of law-abiding Canadians without a warrant.

The government voted down the motion on Tuesday, but the Monday debate provided new insights into the government’s thinking on privacy. Unfortunately, most of its responses to concerns about warrantless disclosures were either wrong or misleading. In particular, Steven Blaney, the Minister of Public Safety, raised at least four issues in his opening response that do not withstand closer scrutiny.

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May 7, 2014 3 comments News