four new reasons to take action

Details

Published on Thursday, 12 February 2015 14:00

Written by editor

BREAKING: Prime Minister Stephen Harper JUST announced sweeping new powers for spy agencies, while doing nothing to improve oversight or accountability.1

Please, if you haven’t yet, let Stephen Harper know you don’t approve of out-of-control spying.

The bill, announced just hours ago, includes:

• sweeping new powers to access Canadians’ private information2
• greatly expanded powers for spy agency CSIS, including the power to place Canadians on a no fly list3
• new powers to censor the Internet and remove websites4
• provisions that allow CSIS to completely override privacy protections in multiple existing laws5

And of course, this all comes without any increase in oversight, and does nothing to address the CSE privacy violations that shocked the world on Wednesday.6

this is our chance. Thousands of Canadians are speaking out right now. Join them and add your voice to stop the warrantless surveillance of innocent Canadians.

–David

PS: See my email from yesterday (copied below) for more about how you could... end up on a government watchlist, simply for clicking a link. Things will keep getting worse unless we speak out - the more people who know about this unacceptable program, the more powerful our voice will be.

Footnotes
[1] New spy powers will undermine privacy of Canadians, and fails to address inadequate control and accountability of spy agencies. Source.
[2] Conservative government’s terror bill increases spy agency powers. Source: Toronto Star.
[3] Stephen Harper makes his case for new powers. Source: CBC.
[4] Government tables sweeping anti-terrorism act. Source: The Globe and Mail
[5] Tories public safety bill will expand anti-terror powers. Source: Toronto Star
[6] Breaking - Spy agency CSE is monitoring our private online activities on a massive scale and sharing sensitive data with other governments. Source.

Leaked documents have just revealed that Canadian spy agency CSE is monitoring our private online activities on a massive scale. They’re spying on over 10 million downloads a day - and Canadians are among the targets. Tell Stephen Harper right now that we’ve had enough of warrantless online spying.

A little late for the holiday season, we’ve just learned that Canadian spy agency CSE is making a list… but they’re not checking it twice.

In fact, they’re not checking it at all. Leaked documents reveal a secret program that is spying on the use of our favourite downloading sites. This means the bulk collection of Canadians’ private information, regardless of whether they’ve been naughty or nice.1

Tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper to put an end to warrantless online spying. Today.

The sensitive data being collected about you can be used to tell everything from your sexual orientation, to your religious and political beliefs, to your medical history.

And the government’s mishandling of this data has meant innocent Canadians have lost their jobs and even been banned from entering the U.S.2

You could even end up on a government watch-list for simply clicking a link.

What’s more, Stephen Harper’s Defence Minister explicitly told us last year that CSE doesn’t spy on Canadians.3

So which is it, Harper?

This government needs to know that we don’t support their secretive, expensive, and out-of-control spying program. Send a message now.

Not only are innocent Canadians being spied on, but their sensitive information is being shared with the spy agencies of several other countries4 - and who knows what happens from there. All of this without our knowledge or consent.

Of the 10-15 million downloads CSE processes every day, they admit that only 0.00001% of them are “interesting.”5 Does that sound like effective use of a multi-billion dollar program to you?

We need to rein in CSE, and put an immediate stop to indiscriminate warrantless online spying. Tell Stephen Harper to stop spying on Canadians and wasting our tax dollars.

This could be our best chance to end out-of-control spying, but it will only work if thousands of Canadians speak out. Let’s end this now.

–David, on behalf of the OpenMedia team

P.S. The bottom line is this: ending up as a target for invasive government surveillance should never be as easy as clicking a link on a popular service, or storing a file online. Please let Ottawa decision-makers know exactly where you stand right now.

Footnotes
*CSE, formerly known as CSEC, is Canada's spy agency
[1], [5] Canada Casts Global Surveillance Dragnet Over File Downloads. Source: The Intercept.
[2] Here’s what I told key MPs about their Online Spying Bill C-13. Source.
[3] Tories deny Canadian spy agencies are targeting Canadians. Source: Toronto Star.
[4] A look at how Canada tracked one person. Source: CBC News

We are an award-winning network of people and organizations working to safeguard the possibilities of the open Internet. We work toward informed and participatory digital policy. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

We rely on donations from people like you to operate. Even the smallest contributions go a long way to make your voice heard.
Please consider donating today.