The Ottawa Citizen has published a masthead editorial on the new lawful access legislation. Titled Out of Balance, the editorial notes that law enforcement has not made the case that the current system has stymied investigations.
News
Canada’s Digital Economy: Toward A Safer, Stronger Online Marketplace
I appeared earlier today at Industry Minister Tony Clement's Canada's Digital Economy Conference. I shared the stage with Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart and Tim Wilson from Visa Canada on a panel titled Toward A Safer, Stronger Online Marketplace. My prepared remarks are posted below:
Canada’s Digital Economy: Toward A Safer, Stronger Online Marketplace
Michael Geist, June 22, 2009
Let me begin by thanking Minister Clement – both for the invitation to speak here today and more importantly for his leadership on this critical issue. We all recognize the importance of the digital environment for commercial, cultural, educational, and communication purposes. Canada was once a proud leader in this arena and I think most would acknowledge that we have failed in recent years to articulate much-needed vision, strategy, and perhaps most importantly – urgency.
Minister Clement opened today’s conference by citing confidence as one of his key concerns. I think he’s identified a crucial concern. Privacy and security are key components in instilling this confidence, but there are other issues. I recently wrote about a digital action plan and I want to tease out several points that arise within the context of building confidence.
The Guardian’s Crowdsourcing Success
The Guardian reports on its crowdsourcing success of sifting through hundreds of thousands of records involving MP expenses. In a matter of days, 20,000 people have examined about 160,000 documents.
Liberals Take A Stand For Net Neutrality
Yesterday's Question Period featured an unexpected and welcome surprise – the federal Liberal Party has expressed its support for net neutrality. Industry critic Marc Garneau rose on the floor of the House of Commons and asked (video version here): Mr. Speaker, in a free and open democracy in the 21st […]
Government Introduces Bill To Require Surveillance Capabilities, Mandated Subscriber Disclosure
As expected, the Government has taken another shot at lawful access legislation today, introducing a legislative package called the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century (IP21C) Act that would require mandated surveillance capabilities at Canadian ISPs, force ISPs to disclose subscriber information such as name and address, and grant the police broad new powers to obtain transmission data and force ISPs to preserve data. Although I can only go on government releases (here, here), the approach appears to be very similar to the Liberal lawful access bill of 2005 that died on the order paper (my comments on that bill here) [update: Bill C-46 and C-47]. It is pretty much exactly what law enforcement has been demanding and privacy groups have been fearing. It represents a reneging of a commitment from the previous Public Safety Minister on court oversight and will embed broad new surveillance capabilities in the Canadian Internet.
The lawful access proposal is generally divided among two sets of issues – ISP requirements and new police powers.
1. ISP requirements
There are two key components here. First, ISPs will be required to install surveillance capabilities in their networks. This feels a bit like a surveillance stimulus package, with ISPs making big new investments and the government cost-sharing by compensating for changes to existing networks. The bill again exempts smaller ISPs for three years from these requirements. While that is understandable from a cost perspective, it undermines the claims that this is an effective solution to online crime since it will result in Canadians at big ISPs facing surveillance while would-be criminals seek out smaller ISPs without surveillance capabilities.
Second, the bill requires all ISPs to surrender customer name, address, IP address, and email address information upon request without court oversight. In taking this approach, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan has reneged on the promise of his predecessor and cabinet colleague Stockwell Day, who pledged not to introduce mandated subscriber data disclosure without court oversight.
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