New law to give police access to online exchanges - Canadians will be under surveillance

New law to give police access to online exchanges - Canadians will be under surveillance

www.theglobeandmail.com

OTTAWA — The Conservative government is preparing sweeping new eavesdropping legislation that will force Internet service providers to let police tap exchanges on their systems - but will likely reignite fear that Big Brother will be monitoring the private conversations of Canadians.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Looks like Canada is going the way of the rest of the world. Big Brother will track their internet exchanges. It looks like they will be watched with where they go on the internet.

The goal of the move, which would require police to obtain court approval, is to close what has been described as digital "safe havens" for criminals, pedophiles and terrorists because current eavesdropping laws were written in a time before text messages, Facebook and voice-over-Internet phone lines.

The change is certain to please the RCMP and other police forces, who have sought it for some time. But it is expected to face resistance from industry players concerned about the cost and civil libertarians who warn the powers will effectively place Canadians under constant surveillance.

"If somebody's engaging in illegal activities on the Internet, whether it be exploitation of children, distributing illegal child pornography, conducting some kind of fraud, simple things like getting username and address should be fairly standard, simple practice. We need to provide police with tools to be able to get that information so that they can carry out these investigations."

I find it amazing, they bring up all these excuses to police people in every way. Now, people won't have the privacy to go where they want on the net.

A question.. does that mean those internet providers will then also have to give the information, so those Canadians, who post on forums as ATS, then can be tracked in all their postings?

The concern of critics is that unlike a traditional wiretap that cannot commence without judicial approval, lawful-access legislation in other countries has forced Internet providers to routinely gather and store the electronic traffic of their clients. Those stored data can then be obtained by police via search warrant.

"That means we're under surveillance, in some sense, all the time," said Richard Rosenberg, president of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. "I think that changes the whole nature of how we view innocence in a democratic society."

"In the old days, for a wiretap it was pretty simple. You sort of clicked onto the physical wires. So we have some instances where the court authorizes us and other police forces, for example, to intercept communications, but we don't have the technical ability to do that. So certainly the RCMP is supportive of changes of legislation that would allow those kind of intercepts."

So when will this come to the U.S. I wonder... but I doubt it is tooo far in the future, some bill before Congress will be submitted.

We are all losing our privacy, even in our own homes.






www.theglobeandmail.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't believe something like this will come into the USA.

They already have the NSA here and they are already intercepting pretty much all of our communications illegally anyways...

I predict a drop in Canadian membership in ATS in coming months after this thing is instated.

reply to post by Frankidealist35

I don't believe something like this will come into the USA.

The FBI has been routinely scanning emails for years now, using Carnivore. In addition, the FBI in 2008 pushed to get a law passed that extends the time period that ISP providers keep customer website visit data:
news.cnet.com...

FBI, politicos renew push for ISP data retention laws
WASHINGTON--The FBI and multiple members of Congress said on Wednesday that Internet service providers must be legally required to keep records of their users' activities for later review by police.

Their suggestions for mandatory data retention revive a push for potentially sweeping federal laws--which civil libertarians oppose--that flagged last year after the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the idea's most prominent proponent.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House of Representatives committee that Internet service providers should be required to keep records of users' activities for two years.

"From the perspective of an investigator, having that backlog of records would be tremendously important if someone comes up on your screen now," Mueller said. "If those records are only kept 15 days or 30 days, you may lose the information you may need to bring that person to justice."

Also lending their support for data retention were Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., who said that Internet chat rooms were crammed with sexual predators, and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary committee and a previous data retention enthusiast. Rep. John Conyers, the senior Democrat and chairman, added that any proposed data retention legislation submitted by the FBI "would be most welcome."

reply to post by ProfEmeritus

They already can do that. They would just be making the law to legitimize what they're doing under the eyes of the law. But, I don't believe that it'll happen here, they already have the patriot act. What more could they need?

[edit on 12-2-2009 by Frankidealist35]

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
reply to post by ProfEmeritus

 

They already can do that. They would just be making the law to legitimize what they're doing under the eyes of the law. But, I don't believe that it'll happen here, they already have the patriot act. What more could they need?

[edit on 12-2-2009 by Frankidealist35]

Really? I have read the Patriot Act. Many times. Can you tell me which section or sections this is covered under?

reply to post by Frankidealist35

They already can do that. They would just be making the law to legitimize what they're doing under the eyes of the law. But, I don't believe that it'll happen here, they already have the patriot act. What more could they need?

Did you even READ the article I posted. It talks about a law to extend the RETENTION PERIOD that ISP's must keep their RECORDS. If the ISP's THROW the records away, how CAN the FBI do what you claim?
Please READ posts before you make comments.

reply to post by questioningall


Maybe it already has.

It is not like you can trust anything that they say.

They hate us. They resent us and they have nothing but contempt for us.

The only time they are interested in us or even wants to get close to us is when they are campaigning or they want something from us.

Otherwise try to get near one of them and watch how fast they have you sitting in jail.

They think they can do as they please because are not worthy of anything else.

I say it is time that we give them all a wake-up call.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


Are you telling me you didn't know that the patriot act allowed the FBI to spy on innocent Americans and hold their records or for law enforcements to spy on American citizens they deem terrorists?

Stop being ignorant.

Several anti-war protesters here in Maryland have been labeled terrorists and have been spied on by proxies in the NSA.

The NSA has far reaching power and can spy on anyone whom they please.

Hayden needs to go.

Please do some research. I'll do some for you.

"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.

For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.

www.usatoday.com...

Also, do some reading:

en.wikipedia.org...

Please, do basic research, before you start saying I'm ignorant or don't know facts look them up please.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by Frankidealist35]

reply to post by Frankidealist35

Please, do basic research, before you start saying I'm ignorant or don't know facts look them up please.

What are you taking about? WHERE did I call you ignorant? SHOW ME.
WHERE did I mention the PATRIOT Act?
I NEVER mentioned the Patriot Act. I posted regarding the Retention Act, to extend the time that an ISP must retain records. Your reply to me had NOTHING to do with what I posted.
All I did do, is ASK you if you read my post? It is obvious that you did not, or you would not have made the comments you did.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus

You asked how the FBI can do what I claimed.

I showed that to you.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by Frankidealist35]

reply to post by Frankidealist35


They already do this in America. Haven't you seen the program where they entrap all those pedophials. I think it was To Catch A Criminal. They would have people pretend they were a 13 year old girl or boy and they wanted to meet with the person thay are talking to saying they are going to do something sexual and then some 40 something doctor or lawyer walks in and the reporter asks them what they heck they are doing there.

IMs are already admissible in court and can be used as evidence against you. It isn't that had to trace you once they have your screen name, because that leads to the ip and the chat server you were on and most of the companies save them and the police can use them against you with a warrant. The FBI also talked to my one friend about his screen name.

He is Arab and his name was a little suggestive and doing something illegal that his people have been known for. It was a case of racial profiling. They couldn't make him change it, but they said they strongly suggest he did. He didn't and I am sure they track what he does.

But really, in theory it isn't that hard to monitor IM chatter. If you have access to the servers and set up a program to pull any chat session that have certain phrases, you can even do different languages. Then you have some people read them and flag for threat level. You know this may be a new job opportunity that is shortly going to be happening here in America.

reply to post by Frankidealist35

No, here is what I posted:

The FBI has been routinely scanning emails for years now, using Carnivore. In addition, the FBI in 2008 pushed to get a law passed that extends the time period that ISP providers keep customer website visit data:

I told you that the FBI ALREADY scans emails. I then went on, as you can see above, to state that the FBI pushed for a law in 2008 that extends the time period that ISP providers pushed to get a paw extending the Retention time.

You then posted about records of PHONE CALLS, not ISP records of INTERNET activity. That entire segment of your post came out of left field, and had NOTHING to do with what I posted.

YOU then said this to me:

Stop being ignorant.

YOU called ME ignorance, not the other way around.

You then said this:

Please, do basic research, before you start saying I'm ignorant or don't know facts look them up please.

Again, another lie on your part.
Look, you are off-base here. I had tried to be reasonable with you, but I truly believe that it is a waste of time to respond to you, because you don't seem to be able to reply to what people have posted. You imagine things that were never said, you never seem to quote sources, as stevegmu also noted, and YOU call people names, and then imagine that they are calling you names.
You have earned an prominent place on my ignore list. It is not worth discussing anything with you anymore.

There is no law right now, that allows the U.S. to track everything we post and do on the internet.

But in Canada, there WILL BE now - the police can track all Canadians post and websites they visit.

reply to post by questioningall


In college, in Networking class we already learned that while the Canadian government doesn't spy on us, the NSA does. The NSA monitors all communication in North America. It has for a long time. Now the GoC is just making it domestic instead of outsourcing it. No real change.

So I guess this is why there's been all this mention of pedophile ring busts lately. Any good person would support such a law right, knowing what's going on out there? (Uh oh, I mentioned the p-word, am I flagged now??)

Yknow they were able to catch these guys without this sort of monitoring before, do they want to pass this to make things easier? Wouldn't it make things more complicated by adding thousands of meaningless investigations per a legit one?

I doubt this will pass. I expect nothing to change even if it does. I never believed I had privacy online or offline to begin with. If they don't like you, they'll pick you up in some way, that's that.