Green Party Leader May and NDP Critic Angus to Join Discussions of Online Surveillance Bills

The proposed online spying bills will allow authorities to intercept private communications, and access more personal information stored electronically, all without adequate judicial supervision.

Under the pressure of OpenMedia.ca’s 75,000+ signature petition and viral videos with over 100,000 views, the government omitted its online spying bills from the omnibus crime package at the end of September. The embattled plan could, however, be tabled in Parliament any day.

This event will also feature two mini-documentaries—(Un)Lawful Access and Moving Toward a Surveillance Society—and will serve as the launch of the recently released book, The Internet Tree; The State of Telecom Policy in Canada 3.0.

“With the Conservative government poised to introduce its online spying legislation, it is more important than ever for Canadians to understand what is at stake,” says Marita Moll, co-editor of The Internet Tree and this event’s organizer. “That’s what this event aims to accomplish. The only way we can stop these bills is to have an engaged and informed public ready to take action.”

“The proposed laws would allow warrantless surveillance of law-abiding Canadians’ online private information. All in all, Lawful Access is invasive, excessive, costly, and, frankly, poorly thought-out.”

Agenda

6:00-7:00 pm
Book Launch: The Internet Tree; The State of Telecom Policy in Canada 3.0
Refreshments (in the Atrium next to the Amphitheatre)

7:00 - 7:30
Mini-Documentary Screenings:

• (Un)Lawful Access: a mini-documentary that features some of Canada’s leading legal and privacy experts, who explain the dangers of the federal government’s impending "Lawful Access" legislation, dubbed "Online Spying" by Canadians. (15 min)
• Moving Toward a Surveillance Society: mini-documentary from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association presenting the findings of new report on proposed law. (10 min)

7:30-8:30
Technical Panel, featuring...

• Christopher Parsons: Lawful Access: Stepping towards a harmonized surveillance complex?
• Kirsten R. Embree: Devil in the details: what will be the impact on ISPs?
• TBA

8:45-9:30
Political Panel, featuring...

• Michael Geist (moderator)
• Charlie Angus, NDP
• Elizabeth May, Green Party
• TBA

9:30
Summary, Actions, and Continuing Activities

Find up-to-date information on event and speakers at http://www.unlawfulaccess.ca or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/273497419366894/

Contact

Marita Moll
Co-Editor, The Internet Tree & Event Organizer
613-521-8566
[email protected]

Sponsors

• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
• Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)
• Council of Canadians (COC)
• International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG)
• National Union of Public and General Employees
• OpenMedia.ca
• Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
• The Rideau Institute
• Rabble.ca (media sponsor)

More About the Speakers

Veteran MP Charlie Angus is the NDP ethics, access to information privacy, digital issues and copyright critic. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay in 2004, re-elected in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Named "Best Constituency Representative" by Maclean’s Magazine in 2007, he has a well-earned reputation as one of the hardest-working MPs in Ottawa. He worked for three years with northern First Nations in Quebec on issues of community development and economic opportunities.

Kirsten Embree is a partner in Fraser, Milner and Casgrain's Ottawa office and the head of FMC’s Communications Law Practice Group. Kirsten maintains an extensive practice in telecommunications, broadcasting, international trade and competition law. She has worked in both the telecommunications and broadcasting industries for over 20 years and was formerly Director of Regulatory Matters and Legal Counsel at AT&T Canada Corp. Kirsten has also held positions at the former federal Department of Communications, Telesat Canada, the Canadian Independent Telephone Association and the Canadian Film Institute.

Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law. He is an internationally syndicated columnist on technology law issues with his regular column appearing in the Toronto Star and the Ottawa Citizen. Dr. Geist serves on many boards, including the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Expert Advisory Board the Electronic Frontier Foundation Advisory Board and on the Information Program Sub-Board of the Open Society Institute. In 2010, Managing Intellectual Property named him on the 50 most influential people on intellectual property in the world.

Elizabeth May is an environmentalist, writer, activist, lawyer, leader of the Green Party of Canada, and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands. Elizabeth became active in the environmental movement in the 1970s. Elizabeth is the author of seven books, including her most recent Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy. She became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005, was elected Leader of the Green Party in 2006, and in May 2011 became the first Canadian Green Party candidate elected to Parliament. In November 2010, Newsweek magazine named her “one of the world’s most influential women.” Elizabeth’s home is in Sidney, British Columbia.

Christopher Parsons is a PhD Candidate in the University of Victoria's department of political science. He researches privacy and surveillance issues as they relate to telecommunications networks, and focuses on the normative implications that surveillance has in (and on) contemporary Western political systems. He has published in CTheory, with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and contributed to Open Media's network neutrality report, 'Casting an Open Net’. He has forthcoming publications with Oxford University Press and the University of British Columbia University Press, amongst others.

About the Stop Online Spying Campaign

The government is trying to push through a set of electronic surveillance laws that will invade your privacy and cost you money. The plan is to force every phone and Internet provider to allow "authorities" to collect the private information of any Canadian, at any time, without a warrant. Learn more and sign the petition at http://StopSpying.ca/