|
Wednesday April 25, 2012 |
The European Data Protection Supervisor has issued a new
opinion
on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, expressing serious concerns
about the impact of the agreement on privacy and data protection (a prior opinion
was released in 2010). The
EDPS states:
Many of the measures that could be
implemented in the context of Articles 27(3) and 27(4) of ACTA would
involve a form of monitoring of individuals' use of the Internet,
whether by detecting actual IP rights infringements or by trying to
prevent any future infringements. In many cases, the monitoring would
be carried out by right holders or right holders' associations and
third parties acting on their behalf, although they often seek to
delegate such task to ISPs.
acta, Counterfeit, Counterfeiting, edps, privacy Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday April 25, 2012 |
|
View
|
|
|
Monday April 23, 2012 |
|
The National Post reports
that plans to introduce new Internet surveillance legislation is
threatening the current British ruling coalition. The bill has yet to
be introduced, but has attracted criticism from MPs from all parties.
internet surveillance, privacy, uk Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday April 23, 2012 |
|
|
Monday April 16, 2012 |
The Supreme Court of Canada issued an important decision last week on
the wiretap provisions in the Criminal Code that should have an impact
on the lawful access/online surveillance bill currently before
Parliament. In R. v. Tse,
a unanimous court ruled that the current emergency wiretap provision
that allows for surveillance without a court order is
unconstitutional. The court's analysis is important because it speaks
to one of the major criticisms of Bill C-30 - the lack of
accountability. In this particular case, the court rules that
warrantless wiretap may be permissible in emergency situations, but
that such circumstances make an accountability particularly important:
The jurisprudence is clear that an
important objective of the prior authorization requirement is to
prevent unreasonable searches. In those exceptional cases in which
prior authorization is not essential to a reasonable search, additional
safeguards may be necessary, in order to help ensure that the
extraordinary power is not being abused. Challenges to the
authorizations at trial provide some safeguards, but are not adequate
as they will only address instances in which charges are laid and
pursued to trial. Thus, the notice requirement, which is practical in
these circumstances, provides some additional transparency and serves
as a further check that the extraordinary power is not being abused. In
our view, Parliament has failed to provide adequate safeguards to
address the issue of accountability in relation to s. 184.4. Unless a
criminal prosecution results, the targets of the wiretapping may never
learn of the interceptions and will be unable to challenge police use
of this power.
c-30, lawful access, privacy, tse, wiretap Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday April 16, 2012 |
|
View
|
|
|
Wednesday April 11, 2012 |
Last week, I posted
about a recent Justice Committee report that includes recommendations
that would expand Bill C-30, the lawful access/online surveillance
bill, in several important ways. Toward the end of the post is a
comment from Bell on the issue. While the source
article is no longer available online - it appears to have been
pulled - the company spokesperson states:
"Our primary concern in this area has
always been the capacity of industry to implement any new requirements
and who bears the cost."
The message from Bell that it prioritizes cost on the lawful access
issue should not come as a surprise. For years, the telecom and
Internet provider community have focused most of their attention on the
costs associated with divulging subscriber information or responding to
other law enforcement requests. While recouping the costs associated
with installing new surveillance-capable equipment is an obvious issue,
the potential to turn subscriber information disclosures into a new
revenue source is particularly troubling.
c-30, lawful access, privacy Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday April 11, 2012 |
|
View
|
|
|
