Canada privacy scandal averted
p2pnet news | Politics:- Canada’s mainstream media have picked up on a privacy scandal first broken online by Dr Michael Geist (below), Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa on Tuesday.
He was one of a “hand-picked, secret group,” as he described it, drawn into a “semi-public consultation on one element of lawful access” being studied by Public Safety Canada and Industry Canada.
The consultation, “asks for comments on the provision of customer name and address information by telecommunications companies to law enforcement,” he said, emphasising it wasn’t available online and that he was asked not to post it.
The cut-off date was September 25 and, “I believe that the government should hear from all interested stakeholders, not a hand-picked, secret group,” he stated.
Public safety minister Stockwell Day quickly and correctly arrived at the conclusion that the “consultation” was showing all the signs of becoming a massive controversy, with him cast in the role of bad guy.
Among other things, “It is extremely disappointing to see that the departments continue to believe that ISPs should be required to hand over potentially sensitive personal information without a court order or other judicial oversight,” Geist noted.
Now, “the federal government will not force Internet service providers to hand over customers’ personal nformation to police without a warrant – a move that will surprise critics who have been expressing alarm this week that the Harper government appeared poised to intrude on the civil liberties of Canadians,” says the Ottawa Citizen, going on:
“We have not and we will not be proposing legislation to grant police the power to get information from Internet companies without a warrant. That’s never been a proposal,” Mr. Day said.
“It may make some investigations more difficult, but our expectation is rights to our privacy are such that we do not plan, nor will we have in place, something that would allow the police to get that information.”
Day claims the consultation document went out without his knowledge or consent, says the story, adding, “the government has extended the discussion period until Oct. 12 and has rewritten the consultation document to include civil-liberties groups among those it is seeking comment from.
“Mr. Day said he expects to be able to table legislation on this issue in the fall session, once the consultation period has ended.”
Also See:
first broken online – Canada’s secret ‘lawful access’ study, September 1, 2007
Ottawa Citizen – Warrant needed to pull data on Internet users: Day, September 14, 2007
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