Canada's Privacy Commissioners have issued a resolution calling on the government to proceed with caution on its lawful access legislation. The resolution calls for evidence that the new provisions are needed, seeks alternatives, and sets conditions for striking the right balance.
Privacy Commissioners Urge Caution on Lawful Access
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More important than copyright
I hope we can get the same kind of popular support speaking out against this legislation as we did with Bill C61. While balanced copyright reform is important, the ability to freely and privately communicate on the Internet will become increasingly fundamental for a democratic society; there’s a reason why oppressive regimes censor and spy on their net users.
In case anyone missed it, here is a June Search Engine interview with Minister Peter Van Loan about the proposed legislation:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/m5enrj
Highlights include:
-Fearmongering “think of the children” rhetoric
-Van Loan’s assertion that Canadians have no legitimate expectation of privacy when they use the Internet
-Inaccurate, misleading parallels between an IP address and a phone number
Urgent for this 2011 election:
It’s surprising there’s only one comment on this important notice about the obvious deep concern of Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial privacy commissioners about the proposed legislation.
The Commissioners are all speaking with one voice on this. The federal Privacy commissioner is a servant of Parliament. The resolution addresses not just the Prime Minister and his party, but all Parliamentarians.
Can you tell us whether and where responses to the Commissioners have been made by the government? By other MPs?
Are there any journalists or advocates who are particularly advancing or following this legislation?
These aren’t rhetorical questions – I would seriously appreciate knowing or be pointed toward the answer. I would like to ask well-founded questions during this election. Thanks.
I’ve just seen your chat with Marc Garneau. Thanks for this work.
T.