Lawful access bills have privacy, financial costs: Geist

The Conservative government’s new lawful access bills come with significant financial and privacy costs, Michael Geist, Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, wrote in an analysis of the legislation on his blog Tuesday. Geist said the new bills, C-50, C-51 and C-52, contain a three-pronged approach focused on “information disclosure, mandated surveillance technologies, and new police powers.” The bills would force Internet service providers (ISPs) to disclose customer information to law enforcement authorities without a court-ordered warrant. Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Internet protocol addresses, and “a series of device identification numbers” could be requested by authorities without warrants, he said. Right now, ISPs can voluntarily disclose information about their customers but are not required to do so by law. The bills would also require ISPs to install technology to allow for real-time surveillance and communications intercepts on their networks, including multiple, simultaneous intercepts. Although customer information could be obtained without warrants, surveillance would require new "transmission data warrants." “These include new transmission data warrants that would grant real-time access to all the information generated during the creation, transmission or reception of a communication including the type, direction, time, duration, origin, destination or termination of the communication,” Geist wrote. He added that the new police powers would allow authorities to “obtain a preservation order to require providers to preserve subscriber information, including specific communication information, for 90 days.” The requirement for real-time surveillance capabilities would impact smaller ISPs that would incur significant costs as they modify their networks, Geist wrote. They would need the use of more advanced technology such as deep-packet inspection. “Few would argue that it is important to ensure that law enforcement has the necessary tools to address online crime issues,” Geist said. “Yet these proposals come at an enormous financial and privacy cost, with as yet limited evidence that the current legal framework has impeded important police work.” Last year, the Conservative government introduced lawful access bills C-46 and C-47, which reached the House public safety committee but died when the government prorogued Parliament at the end of 2009. The former Liberal government also introduced a version of the legislation, but it died on the order paper due to an election.

Lawful access bills have privacy, financial costs: Geist

Brief | November 17, 2010

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