Stop the Spying

Last Wednesday began like any other. I arrived at school early, drank my morning coffee and headed for my MGD427 class, better known as advanced legal issues. Other than following the outline of the syllabus, I didn’t expect to learn anything out of the ordinary.
However, the one-hour lecture and subsequent discussion changed my understanding of the Internet in Canada and how it is posed to change drastically in the very near future.

For those of you who don’t know, Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Bell and Rogers, use a technique known as throttling to slow down Internet speeds, especially during hours of peek traffic. With the ever-increasing speed of online data transfers, Canadian ISPs have gone one step further and began setting bandwidth caps on their users. Compared to many developed nations which set no bandwidth caps, Canada’s miniscule limits, as low as 25 gigabytes a month, seem ridiculous in a society were the Internet plays a central role both economically and socially. Even more worrisome than caps and throttling, is the idea of ISPs using deep packet inspection (DPI). Data transferred over the web is broken down into smaller pieces known as packets. DPI allows for the scanning of packets to essentially see the data content being sent, as well as information such as who sent it and who the intended recipient is. DPI is currently illegal in Canada, but Bell has already gone on record stating that they not only have the technology, but also use it for “enhanced billing and traffic management purposes”[i].

So where am I headed with all this? Well my MGD427 class really got interesting when the professor mentioned a set of new bills being pushed into law by the Conservative party of Canada. The three new bills, C-50, C-51 and C-52, make amendments to our Criminal Code that will not only allow the use of DPI, but also require all ISPs to use it on their customers.

Bill C-50, known as the Improving Access to Investigative Tools for Serious Crimes Act, “permits a peace officer or a public officer…to install and make use of a number recorder without a warrant”. Bill C-51, known as the investigative Powers for the 21^st Century Act, amends the Criminal Code to make illegal, among other things, “offences relating to …false information (and) indecent communications. The last, and most worrisome Bill, known as the Investigating and Preventing Criminal Electronic Communications Act, “requires telecommunications service providers to put in place and maintain certain capabilities that facilitate the lawful interception of information transmitted by telecommunications and to provide basic information about their subscribers to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Commissioner of Competition and any police service”.

This is all starting to sound like something out of George Orwell's 1984

Bill C-52 is particularly frightening because it turns our legal system on its head, scrapping the “innocent until proven guilty” doctrine for a totalitarian warrantless wiretapping of the masses. We need to understand that while the authorities may have our security and our best interests in mind, we cannot allow them to bypass our right to privacy. With Bill C-52, an officer can theoretically gain access to your name, address, telephone number, IP address, e-mail address, electronic serial number and a host of other information, all with a simple written request (not a warrant). Under the new law, ISPs would have no choice but to hand that information over.

If you’re still with me, I’d like to congratulate you on reaching the silver lining of this sobering post. The good news is that these Bills haven’t been passed into law – yet. Luckily for us, we live in a democratic society where the voice of the people can sway the decisions of our lawmakers. You’ve already completed the first step by becoming aware of the issue at hand. If what you’ve read here today struck a sensitive chord, I invite you to read further by visiting the following links, where you can view the Bills in their entirety for yourself:

Bill C-50:

http://parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=4740653&file=4

Bill C-51:

http://parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=4745885&file=4

Bill C-52:

http://parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=4753163&file=4

I also ask that you sign the petition at www.stopspying.ca. Visit www.openmedia.ca for additional information relating to Canadian Internet issues and most importantly spread the word in whatever way you can. Tweet about the Bills, update your Facebook status or simply talk to your friends and get the message out!