I love being treated like a criminal. At border crossings and airports is when I feel most at home. I like intrusive questions, strip searches, official paranoia, and constant suspicion. Hey, if I haven't done anything wrong, what do I have to worry about?
So I'm happy--so happy I could punch holes in the wall--about new legislation introduced in Ottawa last week by the federal Conservatives. It will give the government and the police unprecedented access to all my electronic communications and personal information.
Yipee!
The government calls it legislation "to fight crime in the 21st century." In fact, the bill itself is called the "Investigative Powers for the 21st Century (IP21C) Act." I suppose the Conservatives want it to sound like The Jetsons, but their tactics have more in common with the Keystone Kops.
There are two components to the legislation.
First, all Internet service providers (ISPs) in Canada will be required to create the ability for police to tap into online communications.
Second, police officers will be able to demand subscriber information from ISPs, without a warrant.
The first provision is likely to be expensive, and in fact, smaller ISPs will have up to three years to become compliant. So the government says it wants to close loopholes and shut down zones where bad guys operate... but, you know, not until 2012. Also, I'm not sure that making every single ISP in Canada tappable is a good idea. I'd love to see what some actual geeks say about this.
Remember that this includes more than just emails. Opening one person's Internet communications will affect potentially hundreds of people they correspond with via email, instant messaging, and voice over Internet protocol (VoiP), including Skype.
The second part is also more problematic than it appears on the surface.
Here's how the government defines what they're going to let the police get, warrant-free: "Subscriber information refers to basic identifiers such as name, address, telephone number and Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, service provider identification and certain cellphone identifiers."
This is the kind of information that lends itself to fishing expeditions. Police can go down to an ISP with a list of names of people who face no charges and come away with a fat database. Currently, ISPs can demand a warrant signed by a judge before turning over any of this. Think about it. Your bank wouldn't give out your address, account numbers, and phone number without a warrant.
Why are ISPs singled out?
Finally, we should note that the Liberals tried to bring in similar legislation in 2005 when they were in power, and that the Tories have since lied and claimed they wouldn't try to seek extra powers for police on this front.
"We are not, in any way, shape or form, wanting extra powers to police to pursue items without a warrant. That is not what our purported legislation is going to be doing." So said then public safety minister Stockwell Day in 2007. Guess Day didn't tell Peter Van Loan when the latter took over the ministry, nor apparently did he talk to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who's also behind the proposed bill.
After the bill was introduced last week, it faced a storm of criticism from ISPs--some worried that the cost to install surveillance equipment on their networks would be prohibitive--and privacy groups concerned about the government's about-face on intruding on the rights of Canadians.
Parliament also began its annual summer break last week and won't be back until the fall, so the fate of this legislation has been delayed.
If it passes, the Internet in Canada will be fundamentally changed. It will be like using a hammer
on Jell-O.
In three years, the really bad guys will slither around these laws. They'll be using encrypted emails, or darknets. And encryption, by the way, is both cheap and easy. As for darknets, I doubt Van Loan or Nicholson has heard of them.
Three years from now, there'll still be crime online, and those of us who've done nothing wrong will be looking over our shoulders.
Source:
Matthew Claxton
Vancouver Courier
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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