In a statement, McLellan said the proposed legislation would reduce the ability of criminals and child pornographers to use new technologies to carry out illegal activities. "Currently, under the law, police and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) can only intercept communications with (court) authorization. This Act will not change that," said McLellan. However, the bill also authorizes law enforcement agencies to obtain subscriber information from service providers – name, address, phone number, e-mail address, IP address – without a judicial warrant. This is an extremely disturbing bill. Aside from the information already mentioned, there are some interesting definitions used for service providers. It looks as though any citizen running a wireless router, open access or otherwise, could have their equipment seized on suspicion as well. If they can argue that a citizen is a service provider, they can also demand the means to removing any private encryption said citizen is employing on their private correspondance. I'm working on a form letter for my MP and McLellan. |
