Online Spying

The US government is proposing to expand wiretap design laws in order to intercept Internet audio and video chats. This expansion will require software companies to change their current operations, and those that are not able to do so will face fines. If allowed to go through, this expansion could pose serious security risks to ordinary users of the Internet, allowing thieves & foreign agents a new and discreet way to listen in on conversations.

We must remain vigilant to ensure that such proposals do not take hold here in Canada. Speak out at: http://stopspying.ca/

Article by Somini Sengupta from The New York Times:

Surveillance can be a tricky affair in the Internet age.

A federal law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act allows law enforcement officials to tap a traditional phone, as long as they get approval from a judge. But if communication is through voice over Internet Protocol technology — Skype, for instance — it’s not as simple. Read more »

The federal government may be the biggest risk to Canadians' privacy as "some government departments have suffered breaches virtually every 48 hours."

The government continually pushes for more of our private data, yet history shows it as a great deal of troubling protecting it. We deserve better. Call for a pro-privacy commitment now: http://openmedia.ca/stand

Article by Michael Geist for the Toronto Star:

As Canadians focused last week on the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the RCMP arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack Via Rail, the largest sustained series of privacy breaches in Canadian history was uncovered but attracted only limited attention. Canadians have faced high profile data breaches in the past – Winners/HomeSense and the CIBC were both at the centre of serious breaches several years ago – but last week, the federal government revealed that it may represent the biggest risk to the privacy of millions of Canadians as some government departments have suffered breaches virtually every 48 hours. Read more »

This week, comments from Stephen Harper about police powers for investigating online crimes have privacy advocates worried that the government might exploit Canadians’ fears around cyberbullying to reboot its failed online spying program. Using language pulled directly from bill C-30 talking points, Harper noted that law enforcement encounters difficulties because “investigative tools for our police officers have not kept pace with the Internet age. That must change.” This is in spite of the fact that law enforcement has to date failed to provide factual evidence that the current framework is ineffective.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen sensitive issues used to justify an inappropriate response; in a failed attempt at positive spin the bill itself was renamed the “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.” In a much worse PR blunder, Safety Minister Vic Toews incited uproar from Canadians when he suggested that citizens and privacy commissioners who voiced concerns over the invasiveness of the bill were aligning themselves with criminals. Read more »

This week is Privacy Awareness Week, and we are pushing harder than ever for a firm pro-privacy commitment from the government. When we see over 3,000 privacy breaches and only about 13% are reported, we know the "status quo is unacceptable." Tell the government to respect and protect your privacy.

Article by Jordan Press for Postmedia News:

Canada’s privacy commissioner is being asked to investigate thousands of data breaches that weren’t reported to her office over the past 10 years. Read more »

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week, after a last-minute amendment that some have argued will allow for even broader application of the bill. It is now awaiting a vote in the Senate, though the Senators don’t seem to be in any hurry to get to it. In fact, the ACLU is reporting that the Senate will almost certainly kill the bill. But that doesn’t mean we can rest easy; CISPA has been resurrected in the past.

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CBC Spark's Dan Misener talks CISPA, a U.S. warrantless online spying bill, and the threats it poses to Canadians' privacy.