Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh

Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh

Privacy

Web Surveillance Legislation Requires Study, Not Speed

With the new Parliamentary session scheduled to kick off within the next few weeks, two major initiatives will dominate the initial legislative agenda: passing a budget and introducing an omnibus crime bill that contains at least 11 crime-related bills. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the prioritization of the crime legislation is consistent with the Conservative election platform, which included a commitment to bundle all the outstanding crime and justice bills into a single omnibus bill and to pass it within the new Parliament’s first 100 days.

The Conservatives argue that the omnibus approach is needed since the opposition parties “obstructed” passage of their crime and justice reforms during successive minority governments. Yet included within the crime bill package is likely to be legislation creating new surveillance requirements and police powers that has never received extensive debate on the floor of the House of Commons and never been the subject of committee hearings.

The package is benignly nicknamed “lawful access,” but isn’t benign. If the Conservatives move forward with their complete lawful access package, it would feature a three-pronged approach focused on information disclosure, mandated surveillance technologies, and new police powers.

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May 20, 2011 32 comments Columns

Web Surveillance Legislation Requires Study, Not Speed

Appeared in the Toronto Star on May, 15, 2011 as Web Surveillance Legislation Requires Study, Not Speed With the new Parliamentary session scheduled to kick off within the next few weeks, two major initiatives will dominate the initial legislative agenda: passing a budget and introducing an omnibus crime bill that […]

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May 17, 2011 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Government Reaffirms Plans for Lawful Access

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews yesterday re-affirmed the government’s commitment to passing lawful access legislation within 100 sitting days.

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May 10, 2011 5 comments News

Clement Open To Penalties for Data Breaches

Industry Minister Tony Clement says he is open to adding new penalties for privacy breaches to a bill that would establish mandatory security breach disclosures.  The comments come following the high profile Sony PlayStation Network breach and calls from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada for tougher penalties.

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May 9, 2011 1 comment News

“An Attack on Our Liberty”

Plans to include lawful access bills within the Conservative omnibus crime bill has begun to attract some negative attention. The issue has been much discussed on Free Dominion, where there are particular concerns about potential liability for linking to hate material.  The Toronto Sun’s Brian Lilley calls the bill an […]

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May 9, 2011 3 comments News