New INCLO Report Shows how Surveillance is Violating Rights in Democracies Around the World
"Edward Snowden’s revelations of the United States’ mass surveillance
collection and storage program have radically altered our understanding
of digital surveillance and the way intelligence agencies operate.
However, outside the major 'Five Eyes' countries — the United States,
the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia — the range of
digital surveillance regimes — and even still more traditional
surveillance — and their impacts remain relatively unknown.
In its newest report, 'Surveillance and Democracy: Chilling Tales from Around the World',
the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO), of
which CCLA is a member, attempts to blow open the truth about this
growing international scourge and demonstrate the chilling impact that
unregulated and unrestrained surveillance can have – crushing dissent,
intimidating activists and undermining the dignity of ordinary citizens."
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Showing posts with label Canadian surveillance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadian surveillance. Show all posts
Government Use of Surveillance Devices must be Restricted: Privacy Experts
"Canada must acknowledge, and
then constrain, the government’s use of portable surveillance devices
that can indiscriminately dredge data from people’s smartphones without
them knowing, privacy experts say.
Everything
that is known or suspected about the government’s use of these machines
– called 'IMSI catchers,' 'cell-site simulators' or 'Stingrays' – is
chronicled in a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind, 130-page report
written by privacy experts and released to The Globe and Mail.
Federal police have used
these devices for more than a decade, but the practice was confirmed
only this year in a series of stories in The Globe. Now, researchers
Christopher Parsons and Tamir Israel say it’s time for civil society to
debate the pros and cons of IMSI catchers, even if many government
agencies still won’t discuss them."
View the Report
Law, Privacy and Surveillance in Canada in the Post-Snowden Era
"Years of surveillance-related leaks from US whistleblower Edward Snowden have fuelled an international debate over privacy, spying, and Internet surveillance. Much of the focus has centered on the role of the US National Security Agency, yet there is an important Canadian side to the story. The Communications Security Establishment, the Canadian counterpart to the NSA, has played an active role in surveillance activities both at home and abroad, raising a host of challenging legal and policy questions.
"Years of surveillance-related leaks from US whistleblower Edward Snowden have fuelled an international debate over privacy, spying, and Internet surveillance. Much of the focus has centered on the role of the US National Security Agency, yet there is an important Canadian side to the story. The Communications Security Establishment, the Canadian counterpart to the NSA, has played an active role in surveillance activities both at home and abroad, raising a host of challenging legal and policy questions.
With contributions by leading experts in the field, Law, Privacy and Surveillance in Canada in the Post-Snowden Era
is the right book at the right time: From the effectiveness of
accountability and oversight programs to the legal issues raised by
metadata collection to the privacy challenges surrounding new
technologies, this book explores current issues torn from the headlines
with a uniquely Canadian perspective."
View the Complete Publication
Related Article: Canada's National Security Agencies Too Secretive, Experts Tell Senate Open Caucus
View the Complete Publication
Related Article: Canada's National Security Agencies Too Secretive, Experts Tell Senate Open Caucus
The Governance of Telecommunications Surveillance: How Opaque and Unaccountable Practices and Policies Threaten Canadians
"The Telecom Transparency Project investigates how telecommunications data is monitored, collected, and analyzed for commercial, state security, and intelligence purposes. The Project is associated with the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto....
Core to the Telecom Transparency Project's work is interrogating the practices of telecommunications service providers (e.g., AT&T, Vodafone, and Bell Canada) that route data traffic between communicating parties and the mechanisms that third parties use to access the digital information that is endlessly flowing through telecommunications service providers' networks. Rendering telecommunications processes transparent will help citizens, politicians, and businesses understand how private or public, and how secure or vulnerable, their communications are to service provider-linked communications interferences and data disclosure."
View the Full Report
Related Article: How We Sold Our Souls - and More - to the Internet Giants
"The Telecom Transparency Project investigates how telecommunications data is monitored, collected, and analyzed for commercial, state security, and intelligence purposes. The Project is associated with the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto....
Core to the Telecom Transparency Project's work is interrogating the practices of telecommunications service providers (e.g., AT&T, Vodafone, and Bell Canada) that route data traffic between communicating parties and the mechanisms that third parties use to access the digital information that is endlessly flowing through telecommunications service providers' networks. Rendering telecommunications processes transparent will help citizens, politicians, and businesses understand how private or public, and how secure or vulnerable, their communications are to service provider-linked communications interferences and data disclosure."
View the Full Report
Related Article: How We Sold Our Souls - and More - to the Internet Giants
Communication Security Establishment's Cyberwarfare Toolbox Revealed
"Top-secret documents obtained by the CBC show Canada's electronic spy agency has developed a vast arsenal of cyberwarfare tools alongside its U.S. and British counterparts to hack into computers and phones in many parts of the world, including in friendly trade countries like Mexico and hotspots like the Middle East.
The little known Communications Security Establishment wanted to become more aggressive by 2015, the documents also said.
Revelations about the agency's prowess should serve as a 'major wakeup call for all Canadians,' particularly in the context of the current parliamentary debate over whether to give intelligence officials the power to disrupt national security threats, says Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, the respected internet research group at University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs."
"Top-secret documents obtained by the CBC show Canada's electronic spy agency has developed a vast arsenal of cyberwarfare tools alongside its U.S. and British counterparts to hack into computers and phones in many parts of the world, including in friendly trade countries like Mexico and hotspots like the Middle East.
The little known Communications Security Establishment wanted to become more aggressive by 2015, the documents also said.
Revelations about the agency's prowess should serve as a 'major wakeup call for all Canadians,' particularly in the context of the current parliamentary debate over whether to give intelligence officials the power to disrupt national security threats, says Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, the respected internet research group at University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs."
Bill C-51 Backgrounder #2: The Canadian Security Intelligence Service's Proposed Power to "Reduce" Security Threats Through Conduct that may Violate the Law and Charter
"If bill C-51 passes, CSIS will be expressly authorized to 'take measures, within or outside Canada, to reduce' very broadly defined 'threats to the security of Canada'. Where authorized by Federal Court warrant, these 'measures' may 'contravene a right or freedom guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms' or may be 'contrary to other Canadian law'.
The CSIS changes are dramatic, even radical. In 1984, parliamentarians granted CSIS a very broad mandate – found in the definition of 'threat to the security of Canada' in s.2 of its Act – but were careful to accord it very limited powers. It has been an intelligence service – it collects and analyzes information and supplies assessments to the government.
That will change in Bill C-51.
The government proposes radically restructuring CSIS and turning it into a 'kinetic' service taking physical action well beyond intelligence collection — and competent to act beyond the law and even the constitution. We doubt the legality of this proposal for a number of reasons explored in detail in our backgrounder."
Read the Full Analysis
"If bill C-51 passes, CSIS will be expressly authorized to 'take measures, within or outside Canada, to reduce' very broadly defined 'threats to the security of Canada'. Where authorized by Federal Court warrant, these 'measures' may 'contravene a right or freedom guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms' or may be 'contrary to other Canadian law'.
The CSIS changes are dramatic, even radical. In 1984, parliamentarians granted CSIS a very broad mandate – found in the definition of 'threat to the security of Canada' in s.2 of its Act – but were careful to accord it very limited powers. It has been an intelligence service – it collects and analyzes information and supplies assessments to the government.
That will change in Bill C-51.
The government proposes radically restructuring CSIS and turning it into a 'kinetic' service taking physical action well beyond intelligence collection — and competent to act beyond the law and even the constitution. We doubt the legality of this proposal for a number of reasons explored in detail in our backgrounder."
Read the Full Analysis
Our data, our laws
Over the past six months, the steady stream of disclosures from
former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has
revealed a massive surveillance infrastructure that seemingly touches
all Internet and telephone communication across the globe.
While the issue has generated robust debates in many countries, the Canadian political response has been relatively quiet. In an effort to address the lack of oversight over Canadian surveillance activities, Liberal MP and former public safety minister Wayne Easter recently introduced Bill C-551, which would establish a National Security Committee of Parliamentarians.
The bill is a welcome move towards providing greater transparency and accountability for Canadian intelligence agencies, yet attention to oversight is not enough. We also need to address the legal framework under which these agencies operate, and the privacy protections granted to Canadians under the law.
Read on...
While the issue has generated robust debates in many countries, the Canadian political response has been relatively quiet. In an effort to address the lack of oversight over Canadian surveillance activities, Liberal MP and former public safety minister Wayne Easter recently introduced Bill C-551, which would establish a National Security Committee of Parliamentarians.
The bill is a welcome move towards providing greater transparency and accountability for Canadian intelligence agencies, yet attention to oversight is not enough. We also need to address the legal framework under which these agencies operate, and the privacy protections granted to Canadians under the law.
Read on...
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