Post Tagged with: "cna"

“Retreat” on Lawful Access Must Mean Government Stops Misleading on Subscriber Data

With the government now said to be “retreating” from its initial position on the Internet surveillance bill – Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says the government will entertain amendments – the starting point should be to stop misleading on the privacy concerns associated with subscriber data. Concerns about warrantless access to subscriber information such as email and IP addresses have been at the forefront of the Bill C-30 criticism, but the government persists in claiming this information is “the modern day equivalent of the phone book.” According to the Public Safety talking points on the bill:

Myth: Basic subscriber information is way beyond “phone book information”.

Fact: The basic subscriber information described in the proposed legislation is the modern day equivalent of information that is accessed from the phone book. These identifiers are often searchable online and shared between individuals in online communications.

The government persists in justifying its mandatory disclosure of subscriber information without a warrant on the basis that the information is as openly available the phone book, yet this is plainly untrue.

February 16, 2012 — 38 comments — News

Ombud for Victims of Crime Calls For ISPs To Disclose CNA Data Without Court Oversight

The Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime has issued a new report calling on the government to introduce legislation to make it mandatory for ISPs to give law enforcement basic customer name and address information upon request.

June 4, 2009 — 3 comments — News

CNA Expresses Concern With Press Freedoms Under C-61

The Canadian Newspaper Association has issued a position paper with its views on C-61. While the paper addresses several issues, its concerns with the anti-circumvention provisions are the most striking. The CNA notes that:

Bill C-61 makes it an offence to bypass any technological protection used on Internet sites. This is not normally an issue for newspaper public sites, but might apply to sites requiring registration, and to paid archive services. While this is positive for rightsholders seeking to protect content from unauthorized access, it could have implications on newsgathering, news reporting, and press freedom broadly, as is shown in the discussion below.

Under section 29.2 of the current legislation, there is a fair dealing defence to copyright infringement for news reporting. As drafted, Bill C-61 throws up roadblocks. For instance, if documents are encrypted, it will be illegal to break the encryption. This means that journalists who come across or are sent electronic documents (for example from a whistleblower) may be unable to use them without incurring very significant liability, even though there are no barriers on using the same materials in print format. It might also mean that citing video or other content from a digitally protected work (say, a DVD movie in which a newsmaker once appeared) could incur liability.

July 2, 2008 — 9 comments — News

Canadian Newspaper Online Revenue on the Rise

Kirk LaPointe points to the Canadian Newspaper Association's latest release on Canadian newspaper revenues. Print revenue declined by 2.4 percent, while online revenues grew by 29 percent.

April 7, 2008 — 1 comment — News