Category: Links

Telecom giant Rogers got 175,000 info requests from government:

Rogers is the first major Canadian telecommunications company to issue a so-called transparency report on co-operation with law enforcement.

However, one of Canada’s smaller telecommunications companies, Teksavvy, issued a similar report yesterday in response to a request from University of Toronto researchers. Its report revealed that it received just 52 requests from government and law enforcement agencies in 2012 and 2013. It said it complied with a third of the requests and denied the rest.

The releases come as civil libertarians and privacy advocates urge companies and governments to be more forthcoming about when and how customer data is shared.

A study by University of Toronto researchers recently gave low marks to Canada’s internet service providers about how they handle customer information — including whether they routinely give personal data to spy agencies.

Rogers says it does not allow agencies direct access to its customer databases, nor does it hand over metadata — the routing codes and other data about emails and calls — without a warrant.

“We only provide the information we are required to provide and this information is retrieved by our staff.”

Rogers opens curtain on warrantless government snooping:

OTTAWA—Rogers Communications gave Canadians their first real peek behind the curtain of warrantless government snooping Thursday, revealing they were asked almost 175,000 times for their customers’ data in 2013.

Rogers became the first major Canadian telecommunications provider to issue a transparency report, revealing aggregate numbers on how many law enforcement requests they receive in a year.

More telecom and Internet service providers are expected to follow suit, as Canadian customers learn more about the scope of government access to their personal data.

Rogers got 175,000 official requests for customer info last year:

An informal coalition — including The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, academics and civil liberties organizations — said in March that Canadians have only a vague understanding of how, why, and how often companies have disclosed information to government agencies.

This week the coalition received an updated response from Internet provider TekSavvy Solutions — one of Rogers’ smaller competitors — saying it received 52 requests from government authorities in 2012 and 2013. It made 17 disclosures related to criminal investigations and denied the remaining 35.

Christopher Parsons, a postdoctoral fellow with The Citizen Lab, said the Rogers and TekSavvy reports are “positive steps in the right direction.”

He singled out TekSavvy’s response as “the gold standard” for company transparency on handling of subscriber information due to the extensive detail in its report.

“The bar has now been set: transparency reports are expected when doing business in Canada,” Parsons said.

“There’s only a question of how long until other companies adhere to what is becoming an industry best practice in Canada.”

Rogers, TekSavvy first to divulge customer data requests (Subscription):

As Cartt.ca reported, a coalition of Canadian academics and consumer groups asked the country’s biggest telecommunications service providers in January to reveal the extent to which they pass on their customers’ private information to government agencies when asked. Sixteen different telcos were asked to respond or commit to responding by March 3, 2014.

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When contacted by Cartt.ca, Telus said it is preparing a transparency report and plans to issue it this summer. A spokesperson reiterated that the company only provides confidential customer information to third parties pursuant to valid court orders or other applicable law, and that it contests orders if it believes they “overreach”.

Bell responded to Cartt.ca, but did not specify whether it would issue a transparency report. “Bell releases information to law enforcement agencies only when required by law and always in compliance with federal privacy and CRTC regulations”, reads the spokesperson’s emailed response.

In shadow of NSA revelations, Rogers, TekSavvy open up on government data requests:

In the wake of blockbuster revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Canada’s telecommunications companies are starting to pull back the curtains on their relationships with government authorities around the sharing of customer information.

Rogers Communications Inc. on Thursday released what it called its 2013 Transparency Report, a brief four-page document detailing the number and types of requests the company has received, and the legal framework governing its response.

The Rogers report comes on the heels of similar disclosure from independent communications provider TekSavvy Solutions Inc. Other providers are expected to follow suit later this year.

Teksavvy and Rogers publish transparency reports highlighting the extent of government data requests:

Third-party internet provider Teksavvy and Rogers, one of the largest ISPs in Canada, have published the first Canadian telecommunications transparency reports.

Both Teksavvy and Rogers have released documents detailing the subscriber information both companies have released to police and spy agencies over the last few years. Teksavvy disclosed their transparency report first and then Rogers followed soon after.

Canada’s ISPs Are Finally Revealing How Often the Government Requests User Data:

Two Canadian telecommunications companies—Rogers Communications and TekSavvy Solutions—are the country’s first to disclose the number of requests they receive from government agencies each year, and also detail what customer data they will and will not hand over upon request.

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TekSavvy’s disclosure data was published in a letter to the Munk School of Global Affairs’s Citizen Lab released late Wednesday evening, in response to questions submitted by Citizen Lab researcher Christopher Parsons and other privacy academics in late January. TekSavvy has promised that regular transparency reports are still to come.

“I’m hopeful that this will provide the clear rationale for other companies to come forward with equivalent responses,” Parsons said in an interview. “This is especially the case for companies such as TELUS, which stated in their responses they were investigating how much information they could place on the public record.”

At the time of publication, TELUS had yet to respond to a request from Motherboard for comment.

When asked if Bell would release a similar transparency report, a spokesperson would only say that the company “releases information to law enforcement agencies only when required by law and always in compliance with federal privacy and CRTC regulations.”