Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree tabled a revised border-security bill on Thursday.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
A narrowed-down version of a bill extending the powers of the police and Canada’s spy agency to demand information about Canadians, including without a warrant, was introduced Thursday by the Public Safety Minister.
Bill C-22 reduces the scope of proposals in a bill that was shelved last year after a backlash from civil liberties groups and tech experts who said it risked creating a system of surveillance that could threaten Canadians’ privacy.
The refined lawful access bill would help speed up investigations by law enforcement and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service by requiring internet and phone companies to tell authorities, without the need for a warrant, if someone uses a specific phone number.
It would also grant authorities the right to obtain subscriber information from telecommunications companies, such as names, addresses and services provided, if a judge rules there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect an offence has or will be committed.
The lawful access bill proposes a new power for Canadian police to request information from foreign electronic service providers, including social media and AI chatbot companies.
Shelved border-security bill to be reintroduced with changes after concerns over police powers
The newest version of the bill was brought in after an outcry that its predecessor Bill C-2 would have given police and CSIS the ability to demand without a warrant, information about whether Canadians have used a range of services, including doctors.
The refined version only applies to internet access and telecoms companies, and would limit the scope of demands without a warrant to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer about whether a person, such as someone with a particular phone number, uses their service.
Bill C-22 specifies that a demand must not be made if it could lead to medical information or information protected from disclosure by solicitor-client privilege being disclosed.
The government said the tools are needed to investigate national-security threats and organized crime, and that existing laws have not kept pace with changes in technology.
At a press conference in Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said when it comes to how Canada’s police and CSIS are able to gather information, the country is “woefully behind” its most important allies.
“Technology has moved forward. Our laws are stuck in another century,” he said.
Government amends immigration bill, adds five-year review to address Senate concerns
Criminals now use “many of the same digital tools that are in our pockets or on our desks,” he added. But the tools available to fight them are inadequate.
Nicole Giles, senior assistant deputy minister at CSIS, said at the press conference that the bill would give CSIS “a significant advantage in terms of providing us with the building blocks of investigations.”
The powers would enable the spy agency to find out precisely which phone company a person of interest uses, speeding up the ability to get a targeted warrant to obtain more information.
Mr. Anandasangaree said the police have been asking for a lawful access regime for decades. But he acknowledged that a previous version of the bill had caused disquiet, including about privacy.
“We are not looking for sneaky ways to surveil Canadians, we are doing our part to combat bad actors in both the physical and digital worlds,” he said.
Immigration Minister defends proposed changes to asylum rules through border bill
The bill, like its predecessor, proposes to force telecoms and other tech companies to install “technical capabilities” in their systems to give them access to Canadians’ communications and data.
But such ministerial orders would now be subject to the approval of the intelligence commissioner. And the bill would require the publication of reports about use of the new powers, including on how many such orders have been issued or turned down.
The powers could require “core providers” of digital services to re-engineer their platforms to help CSIS and the police access information.
Tech experts have warned that the definition of “core provider” could include social media platforms, encrypted messaging apps, email providers, cloud storage and telecoms companies, giving Canada broad powers to force tech platforms to re-engineer their systems, including inserting spyware.
Public safety officials said the digital services which would be included in the scope of the bill would be defined through regulations after it becomes law.
Senate committee calls for gutting of flagship immigration bill over human rights concerns
The bill would allow a warrant to be requested to track someone’s location, for example, using their phone or a computer program.
Tamir Israel, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s privacy, surveillance and technology program, said the bill would allow Ottawa to require digital companies to build surveillance tools, compelling companies such as Apple or Microsoft to enable direct access to people’s phones or laptops. He said this was “a highly intrusive step that raises severe privacy concerns while exposing everyone’s mobile devices to security threats.”
Matt Hatfield, executive director of Vancouver-based OpenMedia, a non-profit that promotes a surveillance-free internet, said there were still privacy problems with the new bill.
“Once a surveillance capability is engineered into a platform’s infrastructure, it doesn’t exist only for Canadian law enforcement – it becomes a permanent architectural feature that foreign intelligence services and criminal hackers can seek to exploit,“ he said.
Natalie Campbell, senior director at the Internet Society, a global charity that promotes a secure and open internet, also warned the bill could bring in changes that could make systems vulnerable to exploitation.
“There is no way to provide law enforcement access to encrypted data without creating security vulnerabilities that other entities can, and will, exploit,” she said in a statement.
Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa’s Canada Research Chair in Internet Law, said that serious privacy concerns raised about warrantless access to subscriber information has been largely addressed in the new bill.
However, he said the new bill creates a “surveillance infrastructure in Canada that will enable telecom companies to support law enforcement.”
“Once established the network surveillance capabilities will be there to stay, so it will require careful study and potential amendments.”