Lawful Access — The Return
p2pnet news view Politics | Security:- Lawful access is back.
Two developments this month suggest that there may bi-partisan support for the always controversial attempt to establish new Internet surveillance powers for law enforcement.
First, the Globe and Mail reports today that new Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan (right) has indicated that lawful access legislation is being prepared that will force ISPs to allow law enforcement to monitor Internet-based conversations.
The power to compel will apparently be subject to court order.
Second, Liberal MP Marlene Jennings has reintroduced her lawful access private member’s bill, called the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act.
The Jennings bill is a virtual copy of a failed Liberal lawful access bill that died in 2005.
Given the past proposals, there is plenty of reason for concern since earlier lawful access initiatives focused on new instrusive powers, some without any court oversight. That said, the government has the option to provide law enforcement with the powers it needs with appropriate oversight.
For example, the Jennings bill would require ISPs to disclose customer name and address information to law enforcement without court oversight. In 2007, then-Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day committed to court oversight for such disclosures. I believe Canadians expect the government to stand by that commitment (and I amazed that Jennings would propose a more intrusive approach).
Further, earlier proposals to mandate surveillance equipment have been rendered moot as most ISPs already have the technical capabilities to monitor Internet traffic.
So what is the way forward?
For starters, I think Van Loan should commit to active consultations with the privacy community before introducing the legislation; renew the government’s pledge for full court oversight (including for customer name and address information); and there must be full hearings on the bill that place the burden on law enforcement to demonstrate that there is a problem with the law as it currently stands.
Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.]
February , 2009
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February 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
He who sacrifices freedom in the name of security deserves neither.
February 13th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Who is the real fool, the fool or the fool that follows him?
February 13th, 2009 at 6:11 am
amd wjy is it all these conservative guys look over weight. Are they really eating so much off our taxes?
Seriously have a good look at the fat factor of these guys.
February 13th, 2009 at 11:48 am
What? No bashing of the Conservatives yet? I guess because this was a Liberals bill in the first place, it cannot be that bad. Well, it is a very bad bill that no government that is fighting for freedom in Afghanistan should even consider. It was bad when the Liberals brought it in and even through there are some more restrictions, it is bad now. Of course we have to do it for the kids to protect them from paedophiles and perverts. Oh, right, the police cannot deal with the ones that they already know of now.
This just goes to show that both sides of the house have their good and bad sides. In this case it is bad on both sides.
Of course with all the different monitoring techniques being implemented, many things are going encrypted on the net. One day, even p2pnet will have an SSL connection to protect their viewers and posters.
Time to learn GPG, TrueCrypt, Luks, SSL, SSH and all those other nice security terms.
Also, from what I have been reading, there are now tools that Microsoft has created to allow police forces to look at your hard drives, even when encrypted with BitLocker.