Pubdate: Wed, 12 Oct 2005
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2005 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286

BROTHER GETS BIGGER

This week, we learned the federal government wants telecommunications 
companies to modify their networks to allow for far more extensive 
government wiretapping of private e-mail, Internet and telephone 
conversations. The move would represent an unprecedented invasion of 
Canadians' privacy, and should be opposed on that basis.

At present, the courts issue approximately 2,000 warrants for 
wiretapping a year, but the government proposal would give law 
enforcement the ability to do upwards of 8,000 taps -- a day. These 
sweeping extra powers for government snoops would open the door for 
all sorts of abuses, despite the government's assurance that police 
will still have to get a warrant before tracking a cellphone call or 
computer exchange.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan says the changes are necessary 
for dealing with organized crime syndicates and terrorist 
organizations that communicate over the Internet. But these sorts of 
groups are the most likely to use cryptography to shield their 
conversations from police. Meanwhile ordinary Canadians, who do not 
have the time or inclination to apply such secretive measures, will 
be vulnerable to Big Brother-style 24 hour surveillance.

Before the federal government allows such a significant expansion of 
monitoring capability, it should spell out exactly how such powers 
would have prevented any of the violent crimes or acts of terror that 
have been committed in Canada.

We suspect that the government would have a difficult time finding 
even a few examples. In the United States, reports from the 
Administrative Office of United States Courts have shown that the 
majority of calls police intercept through wiretaps are innocent, and 
the majority of the wiretaps they place are used to investigate 
"moral" crimes, such as drug trafficking and gambling. Assuming the 
Canadian statistics are similar, we wonder, is it really worth 
sacrificing Canadians' privacy so that the government may play 
thought police and crack down on essentially victimless crimes?

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Canadian government 
has ample reason to focus on preventing terrorism. But it should be 
doing so without resort to excessive intrusion into our private 
lives. At some point people may well start to ask who constitutes the 
real threat to Canadians' cherished way of life.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman