Bad enough: Proposals to amend Canadian law to let police snoop e-mail. Worse, to a rising number of critics: a proposal for Canadian citizens to pony up a 25-cent surcharge on their monthly telephone and Internet bills to pay for rising costs of electronic surveillance.
The proposed amendments would require all wireless and Internet service providers to provide technology for law enforcement to monitor their customers' online activity once they have a court order. Canadian law enforcement and the government say current wiretap laws need updating because tech-savvy terrorists and other criminals—from scammers and smugglers to drug traffickers and child pornographers—have increased their online activity.
But privacy advocates are warning that the privacy of Canadian citizens is at stake. "Some of these ideas are downright scary," said Canadian Internet expert and author Rick Broadhead to reporters, "and I think that every Canadian should be quaking in their shoes right now at the thought of where this might lead.
"I was stunned that this was even being proposed," Broadhead added, comparing the proposals—due for Parliamentary action later this year—to China's crackdowns on Websites critical of government policy and ideology. "We're in danger of becoming a police state."
The snoop tax proposal stems from Canadian law enforcement saying they shouldn't have to pay for court-approved wiretaps while Canadian telecoms say the costs should be divided between Internet service providers and law enforcement instead of making the customer pay up.
“From our perspective," said Edmonton police superintendent Tom Grue, to the Toronto Globe and Mail, "it's a very slippery slope to start paying for the execution of search warrants or any kind of a court order.” He said laying a small tax on everyone's monthly landline phone, cell phone, or Internet bill is appropriate.
“We're thinking, amongst ourselves, 25 cents," Grue said. "Whether that would cover off all the costs, we don't know. We haven't done the analysis on it."
Canadian Association of Internet Providers spokesman Tom Copeland told reporters an e-snoop surcharge might provoke consumers to demand more explanation about wiretapping and its effect on their rights, while sharing the bill between police and ISPs would still make users pay in the end, just in other ways.
Other Canadian civil liberties and privacy advocates like the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have accused the government of insufficient explanation as to why existing laws are inadequate and why new proposals threatening Canadians' privacy would strengthen their fight against Internet crime.
"(A)ny consideration of increasing the power of the state to eavesdrop on citizens requires from the government a clear demonstration of the need," the CCLA has said in a position paper on cybersnooping. "In view of the considerable powers already available in this regard, the mere invocation of 9-11 will not suffice. The public needs to know precisely why the current powers are not enough.”
