Canadian Government looks to increase web surveillance to an extreme

Published on June 19th, 2009

CTV Toronto – Government looks to increase web surveillance – CTV News, Shows and Sports — Canadian Television — This is just going to force people to do everything encrypted via proxies. Or just get off the net. The only reason for this is to spy on political enemies, by the way.

Under two proposed bills presented Thursday, police would be able to:

Get an Internet user’s name, address and email contact without a warrant
Charge someone for arranging sex exploitation with another person over the Net
Gain data about the origin and destination of an online discussion
Turn on tracking devices inside cell phones

The rules would also force:

Internet providers to keep data on their hard drives in case a user tries to delete information relevant to criminal investigations
Telecommunications companies to research ways in which they could intercept online conversations

Found by Aaron Warner.

26 users responded in " Canadian Government looks to increase web surveillance to an extreme "

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# 1 Misanthropic Scott said, on June 19th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Godwin’s Law, no?

# 2 sargasso said, on June 19th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Most OS permit hard drive data encryption, learn how to remote boot off an encrypted thumb drive. There are offshore VPN services which will encrypt all your traffic – I think Pirate Bay are starting one. Next, get a cheap mobile phone with a bunch of prepaid SIM cards and burn them when they expire. Don’t use Google, FaceBook, Myspace or Twitter – they’re being mined for data.

# 3 Douglas Saddlewood said, on June 19th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

The bill is not likely to pass into law. Parliament is about to rise for the summer recess, and when legislators return in the fall, there will likely be an election that will cause this and the other 10 crime bills to die on the order paper. Even in the event that the Prime Minster manages to hold off an election, because he only controls a minority government he’d need the support of two opposition parties to pass this bill into law, and they are not likely to be forthcoming with their support. Also the constitutionality of this legislation is questionable.

# 4 The Crypticone said, on June 19th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Oh well more and more of us need to just learn how to use proxies, encrypt our emails, don’t sign up to email accounts with our real information or real names any more and stop putting all your information out there on the web so voluntarily.

The great thing about the web is you can have some anonymity so you should take advantage of it.

http://www.twitter.com/thecrypticone

# 5 Buzz said, on June 19th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

Let’s allow only Canadians to reply to this.

# 6 deowll said, on June 19th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

“Charge someone for arranging sex exploitation with another person over the Net.”

I would have thought this would have been against the law without regard to how the communication occurred?

The only reason I can come up with for no warrant is that they don’t have a good reason for demanding the information to start with.

They are kind of ignorant if they think the tracking device needs to be inside the cell phone. As long as the thing is on it can be tracked and if it is sending out messages at other times that can be detected and the phone trashed.

The ability to turn it on and listen to what is said even when the phone is not in use might be more useful but people are going to know something is up when their batteries don’t hold up.

# 7 WmDE said, on June 19th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

“Look! Over there!…………”

# 8 hazza said, on June 19th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

Canada in finally in front of the USA… at removing citizens rights… but the USA are determined not to be beaten and are sure to bring out more legislation that removes even more of your rights that the Patriot Act in the name of “protecting” you.

# 9 hazza said, on June 19th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

Canada is finally in front of the USA… at removing citizens rights… but the USA are determined not to be beaten and are sure to bring out more legislation that removes even more of your rights that the Patriot Act in the name of “protecting” you.

# 10 gmknobl said, on June 19th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Look what happens to your rights when you let neos get into power. Happened in the U.S.; now it’s happening in Canada.

# 11 Jägermeister said, on June 19th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

http://www.torproject.org/

# 12 Noel said, on June 19th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

For anyone who might not be up to date on Canadian parliament, non financial government bills can be defeated without triggering an election in a minority government situation. This bill is unlikely to pass, the Tories only need one opposition party to support it, but as it is not a confidence motion, there is no particular pressure to support anything right of the party platform. These posts about proposed Canadian laws come up on this blog a lot, but because we have had a minority government for the last few years, not many of the really crazy ones have gone into effect. While our government might be right of centre at the moment, they can’t enact any of their War Measures Act style bills without support. It seems odd to me that the Conservatives are preaching smaller government one moment and coming out with these things the next. I would be surprised if this bill made it past the second reading.

# 13 brm said, on June 19th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

What the hell does “sex exploitation” mean? This is very different than “sex with minors.” Are they going to apply “sex exploitation” even when the other person agrees to the sex?

Ripe for abuse.

# 14 Jägermeister said, on June 19th, 2009 at 4:45 pm

#11 – Noel – It seems odd to me that the Conservatives are preaching smaller government…

Preaching is one thing, reality proves something else…

# 15 Greg Allen said, on June 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pm

C’mon Geeks! The world needs you!

Build security and privacy into all our internet tools!

All email should be encrypted. All surfing anonymous. Everything should be by proxy and end-to-end encrypted, so Big Brother and the snoopy IT guy can have no idea what you are doing.

Step up, geeks! Be heroes! Only you can do this.

Microsoft isn’t going to do it. The government isn’t going to do it.

# 16 Fat_Anarchy said, on June 19th, 2009 at 6:06 pm

It seems like every other day there is a new law coming out which is looking to monitor us through the internet. Yes, this one might be quashed, or what not, but there are always new ones coming up, and some do get through. Gone are the golden years of the 90s. You have to remember that the law makers were out of touch old men, so back then they didn’t know much about the internet. However, there is a new generation who, although far from being ‘tech-savvy’, are a lot more aware of the power and scope of the web, and even more worryingly (for them) is that they don’t control it!

This news item is more an indication of the trend we are seeing more and more. It the same old thing, with the same rhetoric. We have to be able to monitor you, cause of pedos and terrorists. Thats their excuse for everything. Pedos and terrorists.Pedos and terrorists.Pedos and terrorists. The media is doing its part of not reporting this, and overplaying the pedos and terrorists fear-mongering with their dateline shows, and constant accusations of terrorism at every corner.

My advice is to go back to paying for everything with cash. What was once the bastion of freedom, is now becoming the very construct that the government is going to use to monitor us. Yes you can use a proxy or a VPN, but even they have their risks. Unless you know the proxy personally, then someone else can monitor your web traffic, and therefore your usernames and passwords etc. Not to mention its hell-a-slow!

Thats the problem with torproject…it doesnt encryp. I would suggest that if you want to go down that route, you use “JAP”, as it encrypts, sends to a prxy, which encryps and sends to another proxy to encrypt again so the proxy can’t even see your data. As you’d imagine…its also slow.

In the future, you may have to come off the grid all together to avoid the snooping. OR of course, we could actually revolt against it…but thats aint gonna happen in this lifetime, with the vegetable population of the west.

# 17 OvenMaster said, on June 19th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

One word: Tor.

# 18 Xanthippa said, on June 19th, 2009 at 7:50 pm

OK, I AM a Canadian. And, I usually vote Conservative….

This is such a betrayal of my core values, I do not know where to start!

I am so angry, I am at a loss for what to say.

Several of my good friends are being persecuted under the ‘thought crime’ provision (section 13) of our ‘Human Rights Code’ – which is used more to LIMIT our Human Rights than it is concerned with protecting them…

THIS is just going from bad to worse!

The Conservatives were our hope to lift this curse – and now, they are planning to deepen it!!!

If I did not have parents here to look after, I would be so gone! But, of course, the US is trying so hard to match the Canadian insanity, I don’t know if moving South would help me by much more than 4-6 years….where is there left to go???

# 19 Uncle Patso said, on June 19th, 2009 at 10:27 pm

If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear, right?

Right?…

# 20 Greg Allen said, on June 19th, 2009 at 10:31 pm

Onemaster,

I’ve tried TOR and it works OK. Double key encryption works great.

But, the trouble with these technologies is that if you use them in Saudi Arabia or China, it gets you flagged by the government.

We need these privacy technologyies standard, and built-in to ALL our tools so that no individual stands out.

# 21 HMeyers said, on June 20th, 2009 at 12:27 am

I’m starting to think that all governments should be banned from the internet entirely.

# 22 Patrick said, on June 20th, 2009 at 5:06 am

Off shore encrypted proxy, encrypted HD = gov’t S.O.L.

# 23 Fat_Anarchy said, on June 20th, 2009 at 7:02 am

The irony is of course, is that if I were a pedo or a terrorist, I could very easily bypass these government snooping tactics with proxies, and make it even harder for them to track me than the current methods.

It’s what I call “classroom justice”. Its a situation where 99% of the population is punished for 1% of the population’s crimes. It’s like in school where the whole class would be punished for a few disruptive pupils, like making the whole class stay late. You see, it takes effort to deal with the individual involved, as it takes investigation and some work, so a much lazier alternative is to just punish everyone…that way you know you’re getting the right person.

It’s like with them wanting to man guns and whatnot.Instead of looking at the very few people who use guns improperly, and dealing with , and investigating the many factors which go into making a situation like that occur, they just ban guns for everyone. It makes things much easier for the law makers.

Its funny. If you heard a judge couldnt be bothered to investigate a murder, so just decided to execute/jail ALL suspects just to be sure he got the right man, you’d be outraged. Yet, we let the government do the same thing to us with laws like this all the time!

# 24 Magsec4 said, on June 20th, 2009 at 7:42 am

Now, when they say “charge” for arranging….

They mean they’re getting a cut of the payment? or charge as in, criminal charges… because I think the wording is vague on purpose *rolls eyes slowly*….

# 25 Tired Canadian said, on June 20th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

When did we (Canadians) become such a bunch of whiny crybabies ? The government wants to pass a bunch of laws so that the RCMP can keep an eye on you and everyone you know on the internet. Why should I care? I am not a terrorist or a sex offender so if “the man” wants to watch me as I am looking at dvorak.org/blog , TWIT, TSN and or Riderville I just hope they aren’t to bored. If these proposed laws bother you so much that you feel like leaving Canada, please do so! Move to Europe or Asia were they just love whiny jackasses that moan and complain about every fricking little thing.
Thanks and have a swell day !!

# 26 brendal said, on June 22nd, 2009 at 7:49 am

They already censor their media – anyone who has lived there should know that the only reason they play that crap Alanis music is because they have content quotas – never been a free country – let alone sovereign – that ugly chick is still all over their money. When she comes off, then we’ll talk. Until then, be lucky you’re not a US Nat’l Park – although you’d all look great in those brown uniforms and brown socks and shoes.

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