Appeared in the Toronto Star on May 31, 2014 as Why Has the Canadian Government Given Up on Protecting Our Privacy? In recent years, it has become fashionable to argue that Canadians no longer care about their privacy. Supporters of this position note that millions of people voluntarily post personal […]

Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh
Privacy
What if the Government Passed Lawful Access Without Hearing from Any Privacy Commissioners?
Yesterday I appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to discuss Bill C-13, the lawful access and cyberbullying bill. My comments focused on three issues: immunity for voluntary disclosure, the low threshold for transmission data warrants, and the absence of reporting and disclosure requirements. As Committee chair […]
The Trouble With Bill C-13: My Appearance before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights
Earlier today, I appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to discuss my concerns with Bill C-13, the lawful access/cyberbullying bill. My opening statement focused exclusively on privacy, pointing to problems with immunity for voluntary disclosure, the low threshold for transmission data warrants, and the absence of reporting and disclosure requirements. I’ll post a link to the transcript once available. In the meantime, I’ve posted my opening statement below.
Appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, May 29, 2014
In Defence of the Government Tracking Social Media Activity
For most of the past decade, many people concerned with digital rights have used the Internet and social media to raise awareness in the hope that the government might pay closer attention to their views. The Canadian experience has provided more than its fair share of success stories from copyright reform to usage based billing to the Vic Toews lawful access bill. Yet in recent weeks, there has been mounting criticism about the government’s tracking of social media. This post provides a partial defence of the government, arguing that it should be tracking social media activity provided it does so for policy-making purposes.
The controversy started with news that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has written to the government to express concern that an increasing number of government institutions are collecting publicly available personal information from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The initial report generated considerable media attention with claims that the activity may violate the Privacy Act (or at least the spirit of the legislation).
Last week, Treasury Board President Tony Clement told Jesse Brown that the collection was largely in aggregate form to track public sentiment and that a full review of current practices would be undertaken. However, a later report demonstrated that government officials tracking Bill C-30 (the earlier lawful access bill) did identify specific Twitter users and their tweets (many internal documents I’ve obtained under Access to Information suggest that the Public Safety officials have been exceptionally defensive about lawful access and often seem to drift away from a balanced position).