Canadian Liberal Party Border Bill Also Includes Warrantless Access Provisions ⇥ michaelgeist.ca
The government yesterday introduced the Strong Border Act (Bill C-2), legislation that was promoted as establishing new border measure provisions presumably designed to address U.S. concerns regarding the border. Yet buried toward the end of the bill are lawful access provisions that have nothing to do with the border. Those provisions, which raise the prospect of warrantless access to information about Internet subscribers, establish new global production orders of subscriber information, and envision new levels of access to data held by electronic service providers, mark the latest attempt in a longstanding campaign by Canadian law enforcement for lawful access legislation. Stymied by the Supreme Court of Canada (which has ruled that there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in subscriber data) and by repeated failures to present a compelling evidentiary case for warrantless access, law enforcement has instead tried to frame lawful access as essential to address everything from organized crime to cyber-bullying to (now) border safety. […]
As has become frustratingly typical for laws of this type, there are secrecy requirements and warrant workarounds based on urgency. But it is tucked into an unrelated bill that only exists because of provocations from our southern neighbour. This is a completely dishonest runaround to legislate long-desired capabilities.
Update: Jeremy Appel, the Orchard:
I have a Liberal campaign flyer pinned to my office wall, where I place election campaign literature I accumulate from various elections, which reads: Making life more affordable, protecting your rights and standing up to Trump.
This legislation doesn’t do any of these things, and in fact does the opposite of two of the three.
Profound weakness masquerading as strength and confidence.