PRESS RELEASE: New Anti-Bullying Law Used to Revive Lawful Access

Winnipeg, MB - November 22

On Wednesday the Conservatives announced their strategy for a new anti-bullying law. While efforts must be taken to stop the recent tide of suicides related to bullying online it must be careful, considered change. Laws written in the wake of tragedies are often deeply flawed. In this regard it is good the Conservatives waiting until now to examine Canada’s bullying laws rather than in the immediate wake of the suicides of Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons.

However, reading over the bill one does get a sense of deja vu, as if we have already seen this bill before. That is because we have. Many, but not all, of the privacy-violating provisions of Bill C-30 (Lawful Access) have been revived. Prof. Michael Geist gives an excellent dissection of the issues on his blog.[1] Two important provisions are not returning: warrantless data collection and forcing telecommunications service providers to put ‘backdoors’ in their systems for law enforcement monitoring. However, this is of little comfort as the various documents leaked by Edward Snowden imply our government, or an allied government, may already have these capabilities without these provisions.

The bill also includes warrant powers for the collection of meta data, with a lower standard than other warrants. With this there is a ban on the disclosure of the existence of these warrants. As well ISPs will now be able to voluntarily hand over data without civil or criminal liability which means law enforcement don’t even need a warrant to get your data. As well, certain computer software will be criminalized. These are provisions the Conservatives promised not to revive when Bill C-30 caused a public outcry and was abandoned.

“The law could allow widespread collection of Canadians personal metadata. It could criminalize independent Information Technology researchers who investigates security flaws in systems and devices (e.g. critical bugs, spywares and backdoors).” says Ric Lim, Secretary of the Pirate Party of Canada. The Pirate Party believes that more needs to be done to combat bullying in society. Given the reports that law enforcement officers were slow to act in both of the recent tragedies it may be prudent to start with providing better training to officers to handle these kind of situations.[2] “The route taken by this Conservative government is typical of them. Take an issue people want action on, throw in some nice-sounding language and then add a bunch of ill-conceived ideas. The result being a bill dubious at best which the Conservatives will say must be passed ‘for the children'”, says James Wilson, Leader of the Pirate Party of Canada. The Pirate Party urges Parliament to use caution as they examine the proposed bill so that in their effort to combat bullying they do not worsen other areas of Canadian law.

The Pirate Party of Canada is a federal political party focused on thoughtful information policy reform, genuine democracy, civil liberties, and the freedom of the Internet. You can find out more online at www.pirateparty.ca .

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[1] http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/7003/125/

[2] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/amanda-todd-suicide-rcmp-repeatedly-told-of-blackmailer-s-attempts-1.2427097


Comments

2 comments for PRESS RELEASE: New Anti-Bullying Law Used to Revive Lawful Access

  1. Thepirates Areright commented at

    It is subversion of the democratic process, to continually reintroduce the same failed act with a new name and motivation constantly for so long. We knew the American corporate motive when we rejected this many times before, and now we know the espionage motive while the surveillance system is already in place. Maybe legalizing stasi-style secretpolice monitoring would somehow stop youth suicide, but directly supporting troubled youth is a better answer.

    We also have learned these same provisions are secretly required under the TPP treaty. Is that why the conservatives need keep renaming the same excrement until it’s swallowed? Will the next formed government find itself in the same situation, as the Liberals did in 1999 pushing “Lawful Access”? If it’s already been about national security, then “the child pornographers”, now bullies, will we have to reject it next as the Protect Puppies Act 2015? This eternal-vigilance-for-liberty thing is tiring.

    Geist is the authoritative source on this mutating legislation. I’m glad the Pirate Party has a clear and sober understanding of this amorphous issue.

    • James Wilson commented at

      “This eternal-vigilance-for-liberty thing is tiring.”

      Which is why the Pirate Party seeks to get into Parliament. Protecting rights from outside the system is always more difficult. Being inside makes things easier and more effective (provided you don’t lose your values on your way in).

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1. Open Democracy

One of our main founding principles was Open Government. This means an Open Data policy with proactive disclosure and free access to government data. This will allow anyone to scrutinize and catch any error, negligence or corruption early on. Open Government also means increased transparency, and giving constituents real voices. This can be achieved with electoral reform .

2. Mincome / Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.)

Unemployment and income inequality is on the rise and we risk a breakdown of social cohesion without a system for resource distribution as we face increased automation. We're shifting from a bureaucratic culture of constant work-demands to a culture of passion, joy, and learning for the sake of learning.

Mincome will lead to cost savings and create a sustainable economy. See our press release for how that can be achieved.

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We believe that the world works best when individuals are making informed decisions. It is our goal to get all information to all people, so they may be more informed voters, consumers, participants, and teachers. We do not need to force information culture & the hacker ethic onto people we can simply allow them to choose access. We believe the right to choose our identity, name, and appearance is inalienable.

4. Copyright and Patent Reform
Copyright and patent's main purpose was for propagation of culture and innovation. Our current copyright and patent laws are continuously being corrupted due to lobbying by copyright and patent monopolist. These monopolist refuses to innovate and provide wider access and pass on the savings from the new lower distribution cost. Instead the copyright and patent terms keeps getting extended to benefit the few to the detriment of the public interest. The opposite should happen. Copyright and patent terms should be shortened since our new information infrastructure (i.e. the internet) have brought us cheaper and faster means of distributing media contents and information. Mandatory licensing, owner's rights to a non-DRM product, open access to research data and shorter copyright term are some of the natural changes that is needed if we want to create a more open and progressive society. This will ensure future artist and innovator are not hampered by patent and copyright gatekeepers who uses rent seeking law for anti-competitive purposes.

Human beings increasingly have a moral duty to share information with one another. Libraries are stuck in the last century, enforcing artificial scarcity on digital content. If libraries were upgraded for the modern age, we would no longer need filesharing. And let's face it, watching and listening to whatever you want to is fun. It breaks down arbitrary global borders of access and creates a global culture defined by people- not by corporations.

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