Tag: Politics

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Privacy issues could not be ignored in 2014 (video)

This links to the full video interview I gave to Postmedia about privacy issues in 2014. On the whole I’m actually pretty optimistic about things: we know more than in the past about the extents to which governments engage in surveillance. The organizations and individuals who subsequently act on this knowledge are more capable, today, than they were even two years ago. And the political class is increasingly aware that privacy and transparency issues are becoming more and more important to their constituents.

Now, does this optimism mean that things will necessarily improve dramatically in 2015? Of course not. But momentum continues to build and more and more individuals and organizations are taking privacy issues seriously. And that’s cause for some celebration as far as I’m concerned.

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Privacy issues could not be ignored in 2014 (Transcript Summary)

Privacy issues could not be ignored in 2014 (Transcript Summary):

Telecom and online security expert Christopher Parsons, post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and director of the Telecom Transparency Project, reviews how Canadians’ shifted in 2014 and what to expect in the new year.

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Conservatives mulling legislation making it illegal to condone terrorist acts online

Conservatives mulling legislation making it illegal to condone terrorist acts online:

Sources suggest the government is likely to bring in new hate speech legislation that would make it illegal to claim terrorist acts are justified online.

The Prime Minister told the House of Commons on Thursday that Canada’s law and policing powers need to be strengthened in the areas of surveillance, detention and arrest. He said work is already under way to provide law enforcement agencies with “additional tools” and that work will now be expedited.

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The Conservative MP said the new legislation was crafted before this week’s events and is not “trauma tainted.”

Never waste a crisis: one way of using them is to to pass legislation that’s crafted ‘well in advance’ of any given crisis, but that could likely only pass with the support of the House and/or the citizenry in the face of the crisis.

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Nicky Hager’s house raided by police

Nicky Hager’s house raided by police:

While working on the book, Mr Hager said he was prepared for a raid-type situation, but did not believe the police would conduct one on his property.

This is exactly the kind of thing that political reporters shouldn’t have to prepare and defend against is democratic states. But more and more are because of overzealous state secrecy laws combined with bullying policing tactics.

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Inside Citizen Lab, the “Hacker Hothouse” protecting you from Big Brother

Inside Citizen Lab, the “Hacker Hothouse” protecting you from Big Brother:

Starting out in the basement of the Munk School of Global Affairs with a handful of students in the Spring of 2001, Deibert’s Citizen Lab now operates out of a third-story office on Bloor Street, on the northwest edge of the University of Toronto campus. But like the agencies its members often criticize, Citizen Lab has collaborators operating everywhere, supplying information about how state power is being exercised in cyberspace.

Deibert doesn’t mind the comparison. In fact, much of his inspiration for the Lab came from working inside the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs in the mid-‘90s, where he studied the use of satellite reconnaissance for arms control verification. The working group he was part of conceptualized a kind of “earth monitoring system” to enforce bans on nuclear testing—a worldwide system of satellites, underwater fences, and seismic stations designed to hold entire nations to account.

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Still, when it comes to what a “people’s intelligence agency” might look like, it’s hard to find a better template than the one created by Citizen Lab. And its hacker ethos is reflected in those it calls its allies.

One of the better descriptions of some of what we do, on a daily and ongoing basis, at the Citizen Lab.

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Political Staffers Tried to Delete the Senate Scandal (and Other Bad Behaviour) from Wikipedia

Political Staffers Tried to Delete the Senate Scandal (and Other Bad Behaviour) from Wikipedia:

VICE Exclusive: Canadian political staffers are using their work time to delete large sections of Wikipedia articles in order to remove controversies, misinformation, and unpleasant truths.

Surprising? No. Sad? Kinda. Reason to ban House of Commons IP addresses from editing Wikipedia? Almost certainly.

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A Crisis of Accountability — The Canadian Situation

A Crisis of Accountability — The Canadian Situation:

The significance of Edward Snowden’s disclosures is an oft-debated point; how important is the information that he released? And, equally important, what have been the implications of his revelations? Simon Davies, in association with the Institute of Information Law of the University of Amsterdam and Law, Science, Technology & Social Studies at the Vrie Universiteit of Brussels, has collaborated with international experts to respond to the second question in a report titled A Crisis of Accountability: A global analysis of the impact of the Snowden revelations.

You can read about the state of Canada, as well as the rest of the report, over at Technology, Thoughts, and Trinkets.

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Aside Humour

Harper: Trust Me

Cartoon by Greg Perry

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Critics decry new Privacy Commissioner’s appointment

Critics decry new Privacy Commissioner’s appointment:

Daniel Therrien, nominated as Canada’s next privacy commissioner, is too close to the data-mining programs he must critque, the opposition says

For the letter the civil liberties groups, academics, and concerned citizens signed onto, see this .pdf

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The Pressure’s On Harper to End Online Spying — Let’s Keep it Up

The Pressure’s On Harper to End Online Spying — Let’s Keep it Up:

And let’s not forget that criticism of the online spying bill comes from across the political spectrum. We’ve seen leading figures from the NDP, the Liberals, and the Green Partyall speak out against this reckless online spying plan. None of this would have happened without you and tens of thousands of other Canadians taking action to pressure decision-makers. And our own Steve Anderson is planning to take your voices directly to leading MPs. Steve is currently scheduled to testify on June 3 before key MPs on the Parliamentary committee examining Bill C-13 – we’ll let you know early next week how you can help shape Steve’s testimony.

That’s not all. In the past few days alone we’ve seen two major efforts from members of Canada’s largest-everPrivacy Coalitionto curtail the government’s out of control spying. First, coalition members at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association joined with leading expert Dr. Chris Parsons to announce alandmark constitutional challengeto the parts of Canada’s privacy legislation that enable the government to obtain our private information without a warrant.

Second, dozens of top privacy experts, supported by pro-privacy groups including OpenMedia.ca, launched the Ottawa Statement on Mass Surveillance – a set of high-level proposals to rein in out-of-control government spying for once and for all. (Learn more and sign on to the Statement here)

A good summary piece of the actions taking place in opposition to contemporary Canadian government surveillance practices. There’ll be another piece coming out in a while that’s even more comprehensive: it’s actually pretty amazing how much is going on in Canada post-Snowden once you list it all!