Vice: Canadian Cops Want to Search Your Mail

Update: The RCMP is now going after your mail. Article by Justin Ling for Vice With a federal election in its home stretch, Canada's chiefs of police have issued a wish list of investigative powers they are hoping that the country's next prime minister can deliver — everything from allowing them to search Canadians' mail, to pulling back the curtain on anonymity online.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) adopted eight resolutions, calling for specific new powers to help them fight child pornography, cybercrime, drug dealing, and arms trafficking.

They say that a lack of cooperation from cell phone providers is limiting their power to catch drug dealers, and that forbidding cops from opening Canadians' mail means that the postal service is delivering "guns, grenades, a rocket launcher, stun guns, dangerous chemicals, and drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marihuana."

The resolution calls on the federal government to craft a warrant that allows police to intercept and search parcels and letters they believe contain contraband.

But one of the most controversial requests that the cop bosses are making involves how they go about identifying anonymous users online.

The resolution, adopted at a recent conference in Quebec City, is calling on Ottawa to introduce a database that gives police the power to strip Canadians' of their anonymity online.

- Read more at Vice