A few months ago Canadians sent a loud, clear message to the Canadian government to StopSpying.ca. This followed the introduction of warrantless Online Spying Bill C-30, a bizarre piece of legislation that would grant ‘authorities’ with unrestricted access to Canadians’ private information, leave our personal and financial information less secure, and implement costly spying technology that taxpayers would have to fund. When Public Safety Minister Vic Toews proclaimed that Canadians who didn’t support his bill were standing with child pornographers, the outrage was palpable, and citizens made sure Parliament heard us. In short order, online spying bill C-30 was quietly sent directly to Committee and it has yet to come back to the floor to be debated again.

Last week, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police had called on the government to revive the invasive Online Spying Bill C-30 – legislation that would grant them warrantless access into the private data of citizens. Now, three of Canada's Information and Privacy Commissioners have spoken out in defence of Canadians' right to privacy online – stating that should law enforcement need additional powers, "they must come with appropriate judicial oversight and accountability". Call on your MP to stand against the warrantless Online Spying Bill C-30. Read more on this response by the provincial Information and Privacy Commissioners at The Windsor Star.

After last week's push to revive invasive Online Spying Bill C-30, police are now refusing to comment on whether they have accessed Canadians' cell phone data without a warrant. Call on your MP to speak out against this intrusive expansion of surveillance powers at OpenMedia.ca/Stand. Article by Andrew MacLeod for The Tyee Police in three major Canadian departments have declined to confirm whether they have the technology to identify people in a crowd based on the unique identifiers on their cellphones. "It reflects a massive invasion of privacy," said David Eby, the executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, speaking about the technology which can be used to capture the International Mobile Subscriber Identity or International Mobile Equipment Identity on cellphones and other devices. Eby said the BCCLA became interested in whether the technology was being used here after reading about it in a British newspaper article.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has called on the government to revive the invasive Online Spying Bill C-30, granting warrantless access to the private data of citizens. Law-abiding Canadians shouldn't have to compromise their online security and privacy. If our police chiefs and government want to target criminals, they need to start over in crafting legislation for that purpose. Speak out against the intrusive Online Spying Bill C-30 at StopSpying.ca and read more about this push by police chiefs to resurrect Bill C-30 at MichaelGeist.ca. Take local action against online spying through our SOS Challenge by encouraging friends and family to join the campaign!

A recent article has suggested that with the prolonged Parliamentary absence of Online Spying Bill C-30 – the warrantless legislation that would compromise Canadian Internet security – it could in fact be gone for good. We're staying vigilant and pushing our government for a definitive promise to all Canadians that these costly and invasive measures won't resurface. Tell your MP to stand with us and speak out against Bill C-30 at StopSpying.ca. Read more on this news article at The Globe & Mail.

An access-to-information request from The Globe and Mail has revealed that Canada’s Communications Security Establishment has concerns about our nation’s network security. Specifically, the documents show that Huawei Technologies—a Chinese company that has become the world’s leading maker of telecom equipment—has been the subject of national security concerns. With all these security worries in the air, it seems strange that Ottawa should continue to consider a bill that could leave Canadians’ personal data less secure. Online spying bill C-30—a contentious piece of legislation that has provoked the ire of Canada’s privacy commissioners, legal experts, and wider public—could, if passed, lead to the creation of giant, unsecure registries of every Internet user’s personal data.

Last month we brought you news on how it had been revealed that CSIS wanted to help 'advise' Vic Toews on rewriting Canada's Online Spying Bill C-30, all in the hopes that with their input the legislation would be passed through government. Although they want to bypass our Internet security and privacy as citizens, this past week their own internal security protocols have been called into question. In newly released documents it was shown that two employees were suspended following breaches late last year. Let's not allow CSIS to mishandle our own Internet security. Sign our petition to Stop Online Spying at http://openmedia.ca/StopSpying and tell your MP to stand against Bill C-30 at http://openmedia.ca/stand. Article by Jim Bronskill of The Canadian Press Two security breaches at Canada's spy agency prompted employee suspensions last year, newly released documents show. In the most serious case, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service employee was suspended for five days without pay following an incident involving information that "must be kept in the strictest of confidence and in full compliance with the need to know principle." The CSIS employee was found to be in violation of several aspects of the spy agency's conduct policy, including provisions on security, performance of duties, integrity and compliance with direction.

A few weeks ago, we shared how Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, had put forth an offer to help justify and tweak the Online Spying Bill (C-30) to make it more 'palatable' to the Canadian public. This proposed alliance between Toews and CSIS was met with a resounding disapproval from the pro-Internet community. Our friends at Electronic Frontier Foundation have written about the new developments in Canada's fight against online spying. Let's tell CSIS that online spying will never be palatable to Canadians and that we're fed up with Bill C-30, join our petition and make your voice heard at http://StopSpying.ca. Article from the EFF: Canada’s online surveillance bill may be on hold for now, but a recent news article confirms that a rather formidable figure has been angling for its return: Richard Fadden, head of the Canadian equivalent of the FBI. Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), wrote in a letter that the highly contentious Bill C-30 was “vital” to protecting national security. The letter was sent to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, the driver behind Bill C-30, in late February. It was released to the Canadian Press in response to a request filed under the Access to Information Act.

CSIS has expressed interest in adding their own provisions to the online spying bill, in the hopes that it will be passed through government. Letting the security lobby write its own laws is not a step in the right direction. In fact, it suggests how dysfunctional the law-making process has become under Vic Toews. Laws should be citizen-centric, not lobbyist-centric. Tell your MP to stand against this invasion of privacy at http://www.openmedia.ca/stand. From CBC News: Canada's spy chief backs the Conservative government's troubled bid to bolster Internet surveillance powers, and has offered to help tweak the legislation to make it more palatable to a wary public.