Today’s Speech from the Throne, which sets out the government’s agenda for coming Parliamentary session, includes a considerable number of digital issues. These include: a digital economy strategy: “a digital economy strategy to drive the adoption of new technology across the economy” copyright reform: “to encourage new ideas and protect […]
Post Tagged with: "lawful access"
Ten Players Who Will Shape Tech Law and Policy in 2010
Predictions about future technology law and policy developments are always fraught with uncertainty, yet identifying the key players is a somewhat easier chore. Although Parliament is not scheduled to resume until March, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) tracks ten who are likely to lead the way in Canada in the coming year.
Tony Clement, federal Industry Minister. From anti-spam legislation to the national copyright consultation, Clement demonstrated a keen interest in technology issues during his first year as industry minister. 2010 should be no different, with privacy reform legislation, a new copyright bill, and rules for another wireless spectrum auction all on the agenda. To top it off, Clement has sent strong signals that he wants to forge ahead with a long-overdue national digital strategy.
Anti-Spam, Lawful Access To Die With Parliament Prorogation
Reports this morning indicate that the government plans to prorogue Parliament, effectively shutting it down until March. One of the effects of prorogation is that all bills that have not received royal assent die and must be restarted from the beginning when a new Parliament begins. While the government can […]
Privacy Commissioner Posts Initial Letter on Lawful Access
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has posted her initial letter and analysis of Bills C-46 and C-47, the lawful access legislation.
Reacting To Lawful Access: Comparing the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP
Earlier this week, I posted on the Liberals first reaction to Bill C-46, part one of the lawful access package. Rather than focusing on substantive issues, the immediate response was "what took you so long," an obvious effort to appear even tougher on crime. C-46 was sent to committee for further study on Tuesday. Immediately afterward, C-47, the other half of lawful access came up for second reading. This part of the bill is particularly problematic is it raises the prospect of mandatory disclosure of personal information without a warrant and requires ISPs to install new surveillance capabilities on their networks.
The warrantless access to information is incredibly troubling as it runs counter to a pledge from the previous Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, has only been supported a mischaracterized incident from earlier this year, and raises fundamental problems with the privacy vs. security balance. In fact, the bill goes even further than the Liberal version of the bill from years ago, by adopting an exceptionally broad definition of customer name and address information.
Once again, the reaction to the bill was telling.
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