potentially mature content

Shane is soooo needy.

I can’t share any more than this crop or the cops will come

Kate Bush as a Bat for “Breathing” her 1980 single.

The government just introduced Bill C-22 — a sweeping surveillance proposal that would force collection of vast quantities of Canadians’ private data, on every digital service and device we use. Internet providers, messaging services, and other online services will be obligated to store a year’s worth of metadata about who we’re talking to and where we’re travelling, build surveillance backdoors to access that data into their services, and even hand foreign governments a faster path to that information.

not only the collection of personal information and digital tracking across the internet AND devices, but retention of that information, plus they want to force tech companies to build in back doors under the guise of making the police’s job easier.

The legislation—called the Lawful Access Act—would give Ottawa broad new powers to compel technology providers to build surveillance tools into their systems.

Its scope could mean requiring companies to install spy tools into mobile devices, social media and messaging apps, cloud-storage services, video game platforms, smart home devices, live video camera networks, or health and fitness trackers—to name a few examples. The bill would also dilute privacy protections for other digital information, like the identity information behind anonymous social media accounts or IP addresses (often referred to as subscriber information).

The bill has drawn significant criticism, including on both constitutional and cybersecurity grounds. But amid the debate over privacy and state power, another issue has received far less attention: what the legislation could mean for data sharing with foreign law enforcement agencies.

It is widely known that, since 2022, Canada has been negotiating, behind closed doors, a cross-border data-sharing agreement with the United States under the US Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act—or the CLOUD Act. The agreement is controversial. It would require Canada to change its laws to allow US law enforcement to directly issue demands for personal data held by Canadian technology providers.

As outlined last year by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, the agreement could give US authorities like the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Department of Homeland Security the power to carry out real-time surveillance, including wiretaps and phone hacking in Canada, or to issue demands for data that can be obtained from sources “such as cell phone tower dumps, reverse location and keyword warrants, or digital genetic databases, just to name a few examples.”