This election, we need to put privacy front and centre to ensure every Canadian has surveillance-free Internet. Sign our pro-Internet vote pledge today.  Article by Michael Geist for the Toronto Star Canada’s controversial anti-terrorism bill, Bill C-51, has emerged as a key talking point in the current election campaign.  Pointing to its big implications for privacy and surveillance, the NDP sees political opportunity by emphasizing its opposition to the bill, while the Liberals have been forced to defend their decision to support it (but call for amendments if elected). The Conservatives unsurprisingly view the bill as evidence of their commitment to national security and have even floated the possibility of additional anti-terror measures.

How reckless legislation like Bill C-51 is already affecting families here in Canada. Article by Never Home New anti-terror and security legislation grants extraordinary powers for surveillance, secret hearings, and preventative detention in Canada. Security: Refugees and permanent residents are facing secret trials, deportation or limbo due to tightened security processes. New anti-terror legislation and the secret police bill grant extraordinary powers for surveillance, secret investigative hearings, and preventative detention without charge. Under the vague guise of ‘terrorism,’ citizenship can be revoked from some Canadians.

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.

The Internet has changed Canadian politics. Issues like C-51 simply don't go away. This election is our best chance to repeal C-51, pledge your vote at OurDigitalFuture.ca Article by Trevor Pott for The Register Comment As Canadians settle in for the longest general election campaign since 1867, some uncomfortable incidents that had been ignored by commercial media outlets are gaining new exposure.

This journalist experienced first hand what Canada will look like if Bill C-51 is passed. Keep speaking up at StopC51.ca Article by Darren Fleet for the National Observer Out of morbid curiosity I made a Freedom of Information request to the government spy agency, CSIS. I asked them if I had ever been subject to surveillance. To help with their inquiry, I gave them my name, and a brief description of my activities over the past five years – writing, environmental and social activism, and working for the Vancouver Observer and Adbusters magazine.

A version of this article by our David Christopher was originally published by The Tyee, as part of a new series about Canada's Privacy Plan Just two short years ago, if you stopped people on the street and asked about mass surveillance, you’d have likely been met with a blank stare. Older generations may have brought up scenes from long-toppled totalitarian regimes, such as the system of ubiquitous domestic surveillance designed by East Germany’s spy agency, the Stasi.

An open Internet is free from government surveillance. Using the Internet to spy on people degrades our freedom and weakens our democracy. Tell that to your Senators at StopC51.ca Article by Emily Chung for CBC News Canadian telecommunications providers have been handing over vast amounts of customer information to law enforcement and government departments and agencies with little transparency or oversight, a new report says.

Last Wednesday we witnessed how reckless Bill C-51 got a step closer to becoming the law of the land. The government used its majority to ram the unpopular legislation through Commons after only two days of debate. The legislation - now opposed by a whopping 56% of Canadians with just 33% in favour - will now be considered by the Senate. But many were wondering who were the MPs who sided with Canadians, and who were those who sided against them. Canadians from all political stripes have come together against reckless, dangerous, and ineffective Bill C-51, and top privacy and security experts have spoken out about the serious threat this Bill poses to our democratic rights. Bill C-51 underlines just how worrying Canada’s privacy deficit has become in addition to undermining our constitutional rights in many other ways.