The Harper government's view of freedom of speech!

Good Day Readers:

Ever get the impression the real people we should be worrying about are the likes of Vic Toews, Rob Nicholson, Stephen Harper and the rest of the Conservatives. More and more it's beginning to appear as though they have a wanton disregard for The Canadian Charter and, therefore, do not respect voters' constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression

Picture this. Under C-30 your personal information could be compromised and you wouldn't even know. How? Authorities gather it and as we all know government agencies at times can be notoriously sloppy. One of their data bases is hacked and the rest is history. Isn't the Anonymous hacker group already on the public record as saying it will attack government websites if Bill C-30 becomes law and Vic Toews doesn't resign?

 Time to throw the Conservatives out of office come next election? We think so!

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

Postscript

Wonder how long it will be before as part of his damage control strategy Mr. Toews goes public with something like, "Oh, this is the first I've heard there's a built-in C-30 gag order!"  

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'Gag order' in Internet snooping bill prevents Canadians from knowing whether personal information is handed to authorities

Amy Minsky/Global News/The West Block
Sunday, February 19, 2012

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is more concerned with danger than statistics; he told a Senate Committee while defending the Conservative government's controversial and sweeping crime legislation. (Photo Credit: Sean Kilpatrick, Canadian Press)

A "gag order" written into the government's proposed Internet snooping bill makes it an offence for telecommunication companies to tell customers whether their personal information has been handed over to investigators, police or government.

The contentious and dense piece of legislation intends to make it easier for government and law enforcement authorities to get warrantless access to personal information of any Canadian using the Internet, under the pretence of protecting children from online predators.

The law would compel Internet service providers to hand over a person's name and home and emailing addresses to the government, RCMP, CSIS or even the Competition Bureau. But that individual has no right to know their information was tapped -- even long after an investigation has been closed.

The "gag order," as a leading privacy lawyer called it, is contained in Section 23 of Bill C-30. The paragraph is very technical and references provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

"Under that law, if an individual asks about a disclosure of their information, the commercial entity -- so in this case the telecommunications companies -- can not disclose it unless the RCMP, CSIS or whoever gives express permission. It would be an offence for the company to hand over that information," said David Fraser. "That's a gag order." (emphasis ours)

Fraser, who is partner with the McInnes Cooper firm in Nova Scotia, suggested this provision could violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms -- but the gag order would prevent a Canadian from ever knowing their rights were violated.

"So you're never going to have standing to challenge it," he said.

The only way someone would find out their information was disclosed under C-30 is if they become a defendant in a criminal trial where the information is used, he explained.

"The only people who are going to hear about this ever happening are the people who end up in court because of child exploitation or other nasty sorts of things," he said. "Nobody with clean hands who might have had their information inappropriately disclosed will find out. So, nobody with clean hands will be able to bring (the violation) to court."

Analysts, lawyers, security experts and MPs on both sides of the House of Commons have criticized the bill for overreaching and invading the privacy of Canadians.

Under current laws, Internet service providers hand over customer name and address information without a warrant in about 95 per cent of cases involving exploitation investigations, said Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor who holds a Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce law.

The shift towards "warrantless access" is one of the professor's main concerns with the proposed legislation, he said during an appearance on The West Block with Tom Clark.

"Mandatory disclosure of that information really strikes at a bedrock principle of privacy," Geist said. "That, for me, is the top issue, but there are others. Because what's ultimately happening here is that we are truly reshaping the Internet in Canada, creating a full-surveillance infrastructure."

Once that happens, he said, there's no undoing it.

"Once we install surveillance capabilities, there will be no way to take them away."

Matt Torigian of the Waterloo Regional Police Force and a representative of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said it's high time the surveillance laws are updated.

"We need legislation that is current," he said on The West Block with Tom Clark. "Some of the legislation we have that provides the investigative tools necessary to capture some of the most serious offenders in the country were written at a time during rotary phones."