Michael Geist

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Who Is Watching the Watchers?: Ten Questions About Canada’s Secret Metadata Surveillance Activities

The surveillance story may have started last week in the U.S. with the leak of several secret surveillance programs including massive surveillance of the metadata from all cellphone calls, but the Canadian questions continue to mount. The U.S. disclosures immediately raised questions about the possibility of Canadian involvement or the inclusion of Canadian data. Given the common communication infrastructure and the similarity between Canadian and U.S. laws, it seemed likely that Canada was engaged in much the same activities.

By Monday, the Globe was reporting that the CSEC has its own metadata surveillance program with approval granted through a ministerial directive from Defence Minister Peter MacKay in 2011. When questioned about the issue, MacKay sought to assure Canadians that the surveillance only involved foreign communications. Despite those assurances, the questions have continued to mount:

June 13, 2013 — 10 comments — News

Will Canada Stand Up for the Rights of the Visually Impaired?

New technologies have opened the door to greater access for millions of people who are visually impaired, yet copyright law frequently stands in the way. This is particularly true in the developing world, where digital works are often unavailable due to legal restrictions. My weekly technology law column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) notes that on June 17, delegates from around the world will gather in Marrakesh, Morocco for a diplomatic conference to negotiate the final text on a new United Nations treaty that is designed to improve access to copyrighted works for people who are blind or have other perceptual disabilities.

The Treaty for the Visually Impaired, which has been the subject of years of discussion at the World Intellectual Property Organization, seeks to address the access problem in two ways.

June 12, 2013 — 2 comments — Columns

Library and Archives Canada Delays Paywall Plans

Library and Archives Canada has delayed plans for a major digitization initiative with Canadiana.org. The plans leaked online earlier this week, attracting considerable criticism for the creation of a paywall.

June 12, 2013 — 2 comments — News

20th Century Laws Meet 21st Century Surveillance: Why Metadata Surveillance is a Serious Concern

The concerns about telephone and Internet surveillance moved north yesterday as the Globe revealed that Canada has its own metadata surveillance program. The program was discontinued in 2008 after concerns that it could involve illegal surveillance of Canadians, but was secretly restarted in 2011. It is not clear what change sparked the policy reversal (if there was a reversal – some believe the program was never stopped). The issue was raised in the House of Commons, but the response from the government focuses on two claims: (1) that the surveillance does not target Canadians; and (2) that the data captured is metadata rather than content and therefore does not raise significant privacy issues.

Neither response should provide Canadians concerned for their privacy with much comfort as it increasingly apparent that Canada has 20th century protections in a world of 21st century surveillance.

June 11, 2013 — 6 comments — News

University of Toronto, Western Provide Notice to Access Copyright That They Will Not Extend Licence

Ariel Katz reports that the University of Toronto has notified Access Copyright that it will not extend the current licence agreement. It points to a range of factors – the SCC decisions, copyright reform, and open access among them – to argue that there should be substantial reductions in the […]

June 11, 2013 — Comments are Disabled — News