How Bureaucrats and Spies Turned Canada into a Surveillance State

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-bureaucrats-and-spies-turned-canada-into-a-surveillance-state-csis

by dsr12 • 10 years ago

75 9 10 years ago

motherboard.vice.com

What I want to know is how did CSIS and the Justice Department utilize the information they have. Was someone wrongly convicted, was a reporter stopped from publishing something? Evidence that gives the general public a concrete example is what is needed to spur any real action here, and unfortunately I think that will be the hardest part.

edblarney3• 10 years ago

That's a very good point.

It's unlikely that a single person was put at risk, and not a single person was put in a negative/unfair situation because of it.

CSIS capturing phone call records (not content, just who contacts who) sounds all very scary and nefarious ...

But Google is doing 1000x more than that - and they sell that information to others - and those 'others' act on that to sell you stuff.

The phone companies probably do it. Maybe even your internet provider.

At least CSIS has a communitarian purpose, which is real.

I'm definitely weary of CSIS doing things which are outside the law, but I'm less weary about the meta-data collection than most people - so long as there is oversight and it's kept secure.

throwaway2048• 10 years ago

The "metadata" distinction is pure sophistry, metadata matters every bit as much to privacy as the data itself (often moreso). Telling Osama bin Laden you are really excited about your new dog is much less significant than the fact you know and talk to Osama bin Laden.

As for oversight, there is next to none.

Canada• 10 years ago

CSIS has been intercepting domestic traffic (full packet, at their discretion) without needing any kind of warrant since before 9/11.

xordon2• 10 years ago

Source?

How Bureaucrats and Spies Turned Canada into a Surveillance State

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