Much talk is in the media right now about the bastard lawyer's child, Bill C-47, otherwise known as the Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement in the 21st Century Act. It is an unnecessary, and indeed terrible piece of legislation for a number of reasons. As citizens of a free and democratic society we should not permit this kind of legislation to be passed by our elected representatives.
What is wrong with it?
It is an anti-democratic expansion of powers for law enforcement. If this bill should pass, law enforcement representatives would be able, without warrant, request subscriber and traffic information from internet service providers. Worse, ISPs would be required not only to turn over this information but to install in advance, the necessary tools and equipment to make this kind of warrantless snooping possible. This also includes, where possible, the decryption of encrypted traffic (such as HTTPS).
Even the authors of this bill are aware that it is anti-democratic. It is not once, but twice stated within the text of the bill:
Nothing in this Act derogates from any other authority under law to
obtain the information referred to in subsection 16(1) from a
telecommunications service provider.
That's right - the authors of this bill know damn well that they already have the powers to get this information by getting a warrant. That want to skip that little bit of oversight... an oversight that prevents arbitrary tapping of telephones and such.
There is a reason we have laws that require our law enforcement to run their little intrusions past a judge before implementing them: so they aren't abused. And even then, a certain amount of abuse gets through. I feel somewhat comfortable knowing that a random cop can't just wake up one day and ask for my ISP for my personal information and internet traffic - like he can if this bill passes:
17. (1) A police officer may request a telecommunications service provider to provide the officer with the information referred to in subsection 16(1) in the following circumstances:
- (a) the officer believes on reasonable grounds that the urgency of the situation is such that the request cannot, with reasonable diligence, be made under that subsection;
- (b) the officer believes on reasonable grounds that the information requested is immediately necessary to prevent an unlawful act that would cause serious harm to any person or to property; and
- (c) the information directly concerns either the person who would perform the act that is likely to cause the harm or is the victim, or intended victim, of the harm.
The police officer shall inform the telecommunications service provider
of his or her name, rank, badge number and the agency in which he or
she is employed and state that the request is being made in exceptional
circumstances and under the authority of this subsection.
On the surface, that may seem OK, but there's very little to prevent malicious claims from, shall we say exhuberant, law enforcement officials. All someone needs to do is call up, say "Hi, I'm Officer Soandso from the police, badge number 12345, and I want all the dirt, er information on Squid." That's frightening when you think about it... it's not like we can actually trust these people not to abuse such powers. Let's face the facts here: within 5 years, should this bill pass, there is going to be an abuse scandal. Anyone who has lived in Canada long enough and who has read the bill can see that coming like lights in the tunnel.
In fact, lest we forget, it was abuse of power by the RCMP that led to the formation of CSIS in the first place. Now it is proposed to give both of those organizations expanded powers of search without warrant. This bill is a slap in the face to all Canadians.
The best part of this bill is Section 21, which requires that ISPs be paid for providing the information. Perhaps the fee will be 30 silver dollars?
Please note here that I'm not droning on about "internet freedom" or any of that New Age bollocks that so many people erroneously consider to be rights or properties of the internet. I don't believe there is such a thing as internet freedom and I consider people who do to be more than a little deluded - certainly they are unknowledgeable about the origins and purpose of the internet. The problem with this bill is that is goes contrary to what Canadians have historically considered appropriate powers of law enforcement. It's bad because it puts an onus for enforcing that abuse of power on internet service providers. It's bad because it grants law enforcement the ability to act abusively with little or no immediate oversight. We do not need to be giving our law enforcement more warrantless powers.
I want to make this absolutely clear to the Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party of Canada, and the Bloc Québecois: If you vote for this legislation, you are insulting Canadians. You will be demonstrating your contempt for the people of Canada. In short, you will be showing that you are UNWORTHY of representing Canadians at the federal government level. The Conservative Party has already lost my financial support for even tabling this ill-conceived bill. Any party that supports this bill will gain my opposition in word, deed, and financially... even if, dare I say it, that means supporting Green or NDP because I'd rather live in a bankrupted country than a police state.
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