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Canada to Launch Cybersecurity Task Force?

In April 2004, the Liberal government released a report on Canada’s National Security Policy that included plans to establish a public-private cybersecurity task force.  More than two years later, it appears that the Conservative government is preparing to follow through on that commitment by launching its own task force.  Although the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness does not list any information about the task force on its site, GEDS, the government’s electronic directory service, was recently updated to include a Cybersecurity Task Force Secretariat.  The Secretariat apparently at least includes an Assistant Deputy Minister and a senior policy analyst (Allan MacGillivray, who most recently worked on the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel).  With staff in place, can the task force be far behind?  Will it include full representation of privacy and civil liberties interests?  With movement on cybersecurity, can a reintroduction of lawful access legislation be far behind?  Important questions for an issue that could generate considerable controversy later this year.

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