Commentary
Like the sugary coating of a bitter pill, nice-sounding words often cover bad ideas that people are encouraged to swallow.
Bill C-22 speaks soothingly about “facilitating access” to “basic information,” hiding its true nature as a big step towards the surveillance state. Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, will require Canada’s electronic service providers to violate our privacy by giving the confidential information of Canadians to police and other government officials.
However, the federal government describes Bill C-22 as merely amending various acts “to modernize certain provisions respecting the timely gathering and production of data and information during an investigation.” The claim is that the bill aims to “facilitate access to basic information that will assist in the investigation of federal offences,” and empower “public officers” (not merely police) to obtain the subscriber information of Canadians from companies in “exigent” (not defined!) circumstances….