I often think my country of origin would do things like the following from the Winsor Star:

The federal cabinet will review new legislation this fall that would give police and security agencies vast powers to begin surveillance of the Internet without court authority.

The new measures would allow law-enforcement agents to intercept personal e-mails, text messages and possibly even password-secure websites used for purchasing and financial transactions.
…
Geist said the version of the legislation that was circulated by the government failed to protect the privacy and legal rights of citizens. It also placed a severe requirement on Internet service providers to hold data and records of Internet and e-mail use by their clients.

He said the draft version allowed police the right to telephone Internet service providers around the clock, and require them to provide records and data on client files within 30 minutes.

I am reminded of the EFF talk from last week at NTEN with the analogy that we would never tolerate the government photo coping and retaining all of our snail mail but some how in the digital realm it is ok.

Technorati Tags: Canada, Canada, EFF, Privacy, survalance, internet

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1. Privacy Commissioner of Canada opens CFP
2. Canada has some crazy laws too.
3. “We have a saying in this business: ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.”
4. Net Neutrality Bill put forward – WooHoo!
5. Yeah! for the Fourth Amendment