The IT Nerd

This morning, I wrote about the fact that the Canadian government got access from Canadian cell carriers to eavesdrop on Canadians. Now The Globe And Mail who broke the original story is now following up that story with the news that the Canadian government tried to use the upcoming spectrum auction to get even more access:

The federal government tried to use an impending public-airwaves auction to alter the language of a surveillance accord with mobile-phone companies, acting on concerns that police lack the tools to lawfully intercept Internet data that passes through smartphones.

Records show that, following consultation with industry officials, the government pulled back on some of the proposed changes, which were not discussed publicly.

Here’s why you might want to pay attention to this:

Cutting through the jargon, observers say the proposed change would have opened up a vast new realm of surveillance on Internet data passing through Canadian mobile phones – not to mention a Pandora’s box of potential privacy problems.

“The changes that are proposed by Industry Canada represent a significant expansion of what communications could be placed under surveillance,” wrote Christopher Parsons, a PhD candidate at the University of Victoria and an expert in digital-privacy issues, in a blog posting early this year.

He wrote that the contemplated change would amount to an “entirely new means of communication that may be captured (e.g. e-mail, streaming music and video usage, TV-watching, gaming over wireless networks, etc.). … Thus, whereas carriers previously had a limited set of clear interception requirements, this simple change in language would substantially expand what they would be required to be able to intercept and preserve.”

This does not give me the warm fuzzies. Earlier today I mentioned that  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. But now after reading this latest article, I really feel that this has to brought out for discussion in the public realm sooner rather than later. The fact that this is basically being done behind closed doors is troubling and undemocratic. I truly believe that we can and should do better.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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?