Stop Online Spying

OpenMedia.ca has launched a petition to stop the Government's online spying mandate. The petition, which is directed 'lawful access' legislation the federal government has committed to pass as part of an omnibus bill within 100 days of Parliament's sitting, expresses concern with the broad, warrantless powers that the government seeks to put in place without any real oversight. These powers are troubling in that they will allow state agents to identify anonymous online users in situations where there is not even any reason to suspect the information will be useful to an investigation. Indicative of this concern, the Privacy Commissioners of Canada had collectively denounced the lawful access bills, as drafted, in a historic joint letter to the government in May.

The bills will also require telecommunications service providers to build in spyware back doors into their services so that police can more readily intercept the communications of users. Such back doors open security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by criminals, for example, and the OpenMedia.ca petition points out the detrimental impact this will have for the personal information of Canadians. Finally, the petition is concerned that Canadians will be forced to bear the weight of this costly surveillance program through tax dollars

• Sign the petition today!
• Read more about the online spying mandate
• Visit OpenMedia.ca
• Read the Privacy Commissioners of Canada's unanimous joint letter to Public Safety Canada denouncing these bills