Posts tagged lawful access
Lawful access examples abroad a horror story of spending, abuse and minor benefits
Feb 17th
by Nestor E. Arellano
Proponents of Bill C-30, otherwise known as the Protection Children from Internet Predators Act, say that it will merely bring Canada in line with other countries that have some form of lawful access and data preservation and retention legislation.
Nestor Arellano
This is precisely why Canadians should be worried if Parliament decides to let the bill pass in its present form.
There is no shortage of research which indicates that implementation of an online surveillance regime in the European Union and the United States have been fraught with flaws, abuse and costs ultimately shouldered by Internet Service Providers tasked by government to essentially snoop on their customers. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Vic Toews against freedom?
Feb 14th
By Brian Jackson
It’s hard to imagine what points Public Safety Minister Vic Toews thinks he is scoring when he describes those concerned about the implications of increased government Internet surveillance as supporting child pornographers.
The Conservative MP made the statement in parliament yesterday while defending the government’s planned legislation that will require Internet service providers to hand over customer information to police without a warrant. Apparently the debate, in Toews own words, is reduced to “stand with us or with the child pornographers.”
Such stark extremes haven’t been presented to the public since George W. Bush earnestly told the world that “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” shortly following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. (Toews’ quote has already been added to the “with us or against us” Wikipedia entry.) Not only does the approach harken back to what is now a passé neo-conservative mindset, but it is actually a logical fallacy. Toews is arguing that child pornographers wouldn’t support the government’s proposed “lawful access” bill because it could lead to getting thrown in jail. Therefore, his broken logic goes, all those who oppose the lawful access bill must support child pornographers.
Brian Jackson, Associate Editor, ITBusiness.ca
It’s NOT “just a number!”
Jan 26th
by Ann Cavoukian
I am becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of understanding of a key privacy issue – the ease of data linkages in an ever-increasingly online world, that renders otherwise non-identifiable information, identifiable.
Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
New analytic tools and algorithms now make it possible, not only to link a number with an identifiable individual, but also to combine information from multiple sources, ultimately creating a detailed personal profile of a personally-identifiable individual.
In this information age, people are sharing personal information about themselves in new ways, including through personal blogs and social networking sites. Imagine a scenario where your “anonymous” comments on a newspaper website or in an online chat forum could be tracked back to you personally, simply by linking your IP address and browser data across multiple platforms. Read the rest of this entry »
