How the Toews-sponsored Internet surveillance bill quietly died

The Internet surveillance legislation sponsored by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has disappeared down a dark legislative hole. For all intents and purposes, the bill is dead.

If the Harper government still wants to pass a law that would make it easier for police to track people who use the web to commit crimes, it will have to start from scratch.

That new bill, if there is one, will probably be shepherded by a different minister. That’s how much damage this botched legislation inflicted on the government and on Mr. Toews.

Bill C-30, also known as the lawful access legislation, would allow police to compel Internet service providers to cough up identifying information about anyone using the Internet.

Read on...

Facing a backlash, Ottawa moves to retool cybercrime bill

The Harper government has blinked in the face of a backlash over legislation that would give authorities new powers to police the Web, saying it’s now prepared to accept a broad range of changes to a bill criticized as a major intrusion into Canadians’ privacy.

The government’s new conciliatory tone comes only two days after Public Safety Minister Vic Toews beat back criticism of the legislation by declaring that critics either stood with the Conservatives “or with the child pornographers.”

The climb-down came the same day that some Conservative MPs, in a rare display of candour, went public with their concerns over Bill C-30, which the Harper government has named the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.

“I think it’s too intrusive as it currently stands and does need to be looked at,” said New Brunswick Tory MP John Williamson, one of several MPs to talk to reporters. “There’s a lot of concern, I think, across the country as well.”

Read on...

Do you trust them to make this right? Tom