Well, this might be a bit troubling. According to a report in The Globe And Mail, Canadian wireless companies agreed to give the government the ability to monitor calls and get their hands on phone data:
Documents show that court-approved surveillance in Canada is governed by 23 specific technical surveillance standards known as the Solicitor General’s Enforcement Standards (SGES).
Any firm taking part in a wireless auction can obtain a copy, but the contents are not available to the general public.
But The Globe and Mail has obtained past and current versions of the accord, which governs the way that mobile-phone companies help police pursue suspects by monitoring telecommunications – including eavesdropping, reading SMS texts, pinpointing users’ whereabouts, and even unscrambling some encrypted communications.
The troubling part is that this has been going on for nearly 20 years without Canadians knowing about it. Now you know with a story like this, there will be some explaining to do. Let’s start with the carriers:
Canadian carriers say they support the need to supply surveillance information. “Telus fully supports law enforcement’s need to carry out interception of communications with a properly executed court warrant,” said company spokesman Shawn Hall, before adding that Telus “will challenge court orders we think overreach.”
Mark Langton, a spokesman for BCE Inc., also said his company only provides police access to its systems if it sees a court-approved warrant. “The standards are public and are a requirement for a wireless licence – they would for example be made available to anyone taking part in a spectrum auction,” he said.
Now let’s hear what the government has to say:
“This document contains sensitive content and is not publicly available,” said Jean-Paul Duval, a Public Safety Canada spokesman, in an e-mail declining an interview.
Oh, they had nothing to say.
Now there are a few ways to look at this:
- Nobody should be surprised that this is going on. After all, there are likely all sorts of things that revolve around national security that are secret. Thus there’s nothing to see here and this is nothing to be concerned about.
- We should be outraged that the government did not tell Canadians about this. We should be wondering if there’s oversight and what is actually being done with the info they’re collecting. If they are collecting data. We should also be wondering if the government is just going after “bad guys” or anyone they feel like.
I personally fall into a third camp. I see the need for this and I’m not shocked that this is going on, but I would like to know when and how this is used and what oversight there is.
How do you feel?
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This entry was posted on September 16, 2013 at 7:57 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, National Security, Privacy, wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Wireless Companies Gave Government Access To Spy On Canadians: Report
Well, this might be a bit troubling. According to a report in The Globe And Mail, Canadian wireless companies agreed to give the government the ability to monitor calls and get their hands on phone data:
Documents show that court-approved surveillance in Canada is governed by 23 specific technical surveillance standards known as the Solicitor General’s Enforcement Standards (SGES).
Any firm taking part in a wireless auction can obtain a copy, but the contents are not available to the general public.
But The Globe and Mail has obtained past and current versions of the accord, which governs the way that mobile-phone companies help police pursue suspects by monitoring telecommunications – including eavesdropping, reading SMS texts, pinpointing users’ whereabouts, and even unscrambling some encrypted communications.
The troubling part is that this has been going on for nearly 20 years without Canadians knowing about it. Now you know with a story like this, there will be some explaining to do. Let’s start with the carriers:
Canadian carriers say they support the need to supply surveillance information. “Telus fully supports law enforcement’s need to carry out interception of communications with a properly executed court warrant,” said company spokesman Shawn Hall, before adding that Telus “will challenge court orders we think overreach.”
Mark Langton, a spokesman for BCE Inc., also said his company only provides police access to its systems if it sees a court-approved warrant. “The standards are public and are a requirement for a wireless licence – they would for example be made available to anyone taking part in a spectrum auction,” he said.
Now let’s hear what the government has to say:
“This document contains sensitive content and is not publicly available,” said Jean-Paul Duval, a Public Safety Canada spokesman, in an e-mail declining an interview.
Oh, they had nothing to say.
Now there are a few ways to look at this:
I personally fall into a third camp. I see the need for this and I’m not shocked that this is going on, but I would like to know when and how this is used and what oversight there is.
How do you feel?
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This entry was posted on September 16, 2013 at 7:57 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, National Security, Privacy, wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.