Proposed privacy bill prompts PSA warnings

[Tape Splicer]

This is from CTV/BC's web site and was run on the 5 PM and 6 PM newscasts 9/15/11.
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Proposed privacy bill prompts PSA warnings


By: Sarah Massah, ctvbc.ca
Date: Thursday Sep. 15, 2011 2:51 PM PT
A Vancouver-based communication watchdog agency has launched three PSA-style videos online warning Canadians about a proposed bill that would allow authorities to access their private information.

Bill C-52 would allow Internet service providers to give police access to user information, including addresses, phone numbers and information from their IP address. This information includes websites they have visited and people they have talked to online – all without a warrant.

The PSAs by OpenMedia.ca are satirical depictions of various situations where expectations of privacy are violated. According to OpenMedia.ca's communications manager, the videos were a way to get Canadians to discuss the bill and find out about the consequences.

"We decided the Conservative government had not done enough to inform Canadians about the bill," said Lindsey Pinto. "We want to videos to encourage Canadians to stand up for online rights, engage the broader public and bring awareness."

In one of the videos, a woman answers her phone and is approached by a police officer who grabs the phone and listens in to the conversation. In another, the police officer is found in an apartment rummaging through the fridge. All the videos end with the statement, "you wouldn't let a police officer do this without a warrant."

Related: Check out the videos here.

The bill, which has been defended by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, was proposed as a way to investigate and prevent criminal electronic communications. But privacy watchdogs say the bill would give police carte blanche to view private information.

"It's warrantless, evasive and costly," said Pinto. "The bill would have huge implications on your freedoms. We want people to use the internet to the fullest extent possible without having to worry about authorities obtaining the information without a warrant."

Pinto said she hopes Canadians become more aware about the bill and pressure the government to listen and get rid of the proposed bill.

"We hope to forward the idea of openness and engage Canadians in order to make sure the Internet stays open," she said.

[PMC]

The Conservative Ottawa puppets are following the american government policies of the u.s. Patriot Act and the u.s. Digital Millenium Control Act. Do a google search for these topics, and you can find plenty of negative info, but not attached to many names, because individuals don't want to be victims of the facist laws that have been created.... publicly complain about the government and you get labeled as unpatriotic, and then the bureaucrats find dozens of ways to make your life miserable etc.

The U.S. is not the best government on the planet, only their propaganda and the NSA/CIA claims that. Their government is corrupt, their politicians practice dog eat dog rules of conduct, while claiming democracy as their religion.

Today, around Washington itself, there are billions of dollars being spent on building deep underground digital data storage facilities. They are tracking and will be tracking everything. They keep selling the `cloud' concept... all your information must be in the `cloud'. The next version of Windows is going to put you there and all the sheep will follow. All your information will be there for them to keep and use for their own gain in their quest to run the world their way and only their way. Welcome to the 21st century police state that you the media, helped to elect, so that America could make a dollar !

[skyvalleyradio]

...hmmm...wonder if there's a radio PSA version of this??? We'd love to run this!

[PMC]

...hmmm...wonder if there's a radio PSA version of this??? We'd love to run this!

It would have to be a news type editorial that gets repeated....

In the 1950's it was u.s. Senator Joe McCarthy that branded everybody that didn't agree with him, as a communist, now the label is terrorist.

My little rant may seem obsurd to some, however I know how easily phones can be tapped within the phone system. Sitting at the right computer will only take about six seconds. A recording device which writes to a hard disk, can be activated when an off hook signal is received. The user of the line being tapped, has no idea that it is occuring. This applies to cell phones too, and with GPS, they know where you are etc.

In the u.s. your digital data can be accessed, and the government is not required to tell you. In the u.s. they have the laws set that when an agent requests the info without a warrant, from an ISP, the ISP is not allowed to notify the customer, under penalty of jail time. There have been several American Civil Liberties cases where this has been challanged and all things labeled as `terrorist' get priority. The power of course gets abused.

If the Conservatives in Ottawa insist on passing this here, then having a warrant should be mandatory, and notification should be a requirement after 30 or 60 days of execution of that warrant. If there is no warrant, then it is a police state.

Anyone that runs their website or web page or has e-mail, on american soil, is subject to american laws. This says that you should not expect any privacy of data that would or would not normally be seen via a web browser. I have already explained how websites track and sell access information using browser cookies. This includes Microsoft, Google etc. Microsoft is using what are called hidden cookies, and keep claiming that they have stopped doing so but keep getting caught at it.

ABC Nightline on Thursday ran a story of the COO of Facebook. She happily explained all the info they gather, then a Facebook user that does photography explained how he would sift through the pages looking for females that made statements of getting engaged to be married etc, and would then target them with e-mail for the wedding pictures. He isn't alone in his methods etc.

[Tape Splicer]

Here is the CTV/BC follow up report which aired on the 6PM news 9/16/11.

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Bill won't step on internet privacy rights: Tories

By: Sarah Massah, ctvbc.ca
Date: Friday Sep. 16, 2011 4:48 PM PT
A controversial bill would not compromise the internet privacy rights of Canadians and does not permit law enforcement to arbitrarily monitor online activity, according to a statement from Public Safety Minister Vic Toew's office a day after a series of commercials were released criticizing the proposal.

Vancouver-based communications watchdog agency, OpenMedia.ca, launched three PSA-style videos yesterday online warning Canadians about Bill C-52, a proposed bill that would allow authorities to access their private computer information without a warrant.

According to OpenMedia.ca, the bill would allow Internet service providers to give police access to user information, including addresses, phone numbers and information from their IP address. This information includes websites they have visited and people they have talked to online – all without a warrant.

Following a non-confidence vote against Prime Minister Stephen Harper's then-minority government in March this year, Parliament was dissolved and the bill died.

But after the Conservatives won a majority government on June 2 in the federal election it was announced that they would be introducing an omnibus crime bill – which includes the electronic surveillance provisions -- within 100 days.

Lindsey Pinto, the communications manager for OpenMedia.ca, said that the crime bill encompasses so many different laws and amendments which make it easier to slip in the online security provisions.

"There are so many things that need to be gone over – most of all, section 16 which deals with the warrantless search – they need to remove it from the crime bill and let the public properly scrutinize what it allows," said Pinto.

But the government refutes the claims and said that the legislation was not meant to target Canadian Internet users but investigate serious crimes such as terrorism.

"The Government of Canada is committed to the safety and security of Canadians and their communities. This includes protecting them from those who would use new communications technology to pursue criminal or terrorist activities," said the statement emailed to CTV News after a story about the PSAs was published Thursday.

But Pinto said that by making the information so readily available it leaves it open to abuse.

"It opens the door and gives them access to the information." said Pinto. "Not getting court orders has never been an impediment in these investigations and there are provisions in the law that allow for emergency warrants if necessary."

In one of the videos, a woman answers her phone and is approached by a police officer who grabs the phone and listens in to the conversation. In another, the police officer is found in an apartment rummaging through the fridge. All the videos end with the statement, "you wouldn't let a police officer do this without a warrant."