What is Bill C-22? Proposed legislation could allow police to invade your privacy
· Toronto Sun
A dystopian future could become a stark reality for Canadians who use their personal electronic devices if a new law is passed.
Bill C-22 , legislation proposed by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government, and tabled in the House of Commons in March, could allow law enforcement agencies across Canada access to an individual’s digital information from telecommunications companies and messaging apps in a streamlined process.
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The information would include names, addresses, account details and device identifiers.
Dubbed an act “respecting lawful access,” it would also include giving police access to location data and the ability to turn on a microphone to listen to conversations without people at either end being informed.
The Department of Justice said the investigative tool would enable police to fight criminal activity from low-level street crime all the way to national security threats.
However, critics have panned the legislation, suggesting the government is ignoring privacy and security concerns as well as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
What is Bill C-22?
The Liberal government said the legislation, tabled in the House of Commons on March 12, will give law enforcement and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) “ the tools they need to disrupt crime, investigate serious threats, and protect our communities. ”
It would also bring Canadian laws in line with the country’s major allies, including the Five Eyes, in a rapidly evolving digital environment.
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The proposed law would help local, provincial and national police forces probe threats more quickly and efficiently by providing basic information earlier in an investigation, the government said, and would also expand information sharing with international law enforcement agencies on transnational crimes and threats to public safety.
“Canada needs laws that are adapted to the technological world we live in, and the way criminals exploit it,” Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said in a statement at the time.
“Too often investigations of crimes that involve digital networks and devices are stalled or even stopped because law enforcement and CSIS cannot access information about a suspect, even when they have a court order for it.”
What do critics say?
Many people and organizations have spoken out about their concerns with the proposed legislation.
Michael Geist , a law professor at the University of Ottawa, told the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security last week that Bill C-22 would require service providers to keep subscriber metadata on file for up to a year regardless of suspicion.
“On a mobile network, that data includes the cell towers each phone connects to and when,” he said, speaking about his own personal views .
“Retained at scale, the aggregate amounts to a comprehensive surveillance map of virtually every Canadian: where and when they go and who they interact with.”
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Geist, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the university, said this type of data retention was struck down by the European Union Court of Justice in the Digital Rights Ireland case.
The Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms also submitted a brief to the committee opposing Bill C-22 due to privacy concerns.
“The Bill would create a new production order allowing police to obtain detailed subscriber information, including names, addresses, account details, device identifiers, and information about the types of services a person receives, based on a standard of ‘reasonable suspicion’ rather than the higher constitutional standard of ‘reasonable grounds to believe,'” the group said .
Could impact doctors and lawyers
They say the proposed legislation could also apply to doctors, lawyers, psychologists, and counsellors, “whose records may contain highly sensitive personal information.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit which defends digital privacy, free speech, and innovation, called Bill C-22 a repackaged version of last year’s Bill C-2, which sought to strengthen border security at the expense of people’s privacy.
That proposed legislation was withdrawn following backlash from privacy experts.
“As with most sequels, Bill C-22 makes some tweaks to problematic elements, but largely retains the same problems,” the organization said this week .
They argue more data collected about individuals would incentivize bad actors to access that information.