Updated: Tue Feb. 14 2012 10:48:02

ctvcalgary.ca

A new bill that is being brought to parliament this week could allow police to read your emails, monitor your online activity and keep track of your movements via your cell phone.

Privacy advocates say that is the new Canadian reality if Bill C-51 is passed.

University student Jared Exner grew up in an Internet age and knows why police might want unfettered access to everyone's online activities, but he still doesn't think it's right.

"I know the criminal justice system is constantly looking for information about criminals, child pornographers etc, but at the same time it seems like an invasion of everyone's personal information," said Exner.

If passed as is, Bill C-51 would require Internet service providers to keep logs of their client's activity and turn them over to police without a warrant.

Computer security expert Tom Keenan maintains police already have the power they need they just aren't using it.

"Why aren't they doing that? it would be a heck of a lot easier to get the ISP to do it for them," said Keenan.

The bill would also allow police to monitor cell phones and track your every move.

The bill won't be introduced until later this week but already it is being called down in parliament.

"How can we trust them not to use private information to intimidate law abiding Canadians to protest a pipeline, or protest pension cuts," said Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal MP for Lac-Saint-Loius.

The government says it is allowing police to keep up with today's tech savvy criminals.

"We are proposing to bring to measure, to bring laws into the 21st century and provide police with the lawful tools that they need," said Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety.

Similar laws in the US and UK have been used to track everyone from schoolchildren to charities.

Similar legislation was introduced in the last parliament, with a minority government.

For more information on Bill C-51, visit the Parliament of Canada website.

Comments are now closed for this story

Jane
I am of the baby boomer generation. This is the most intrusive, unlawful, ignorant, police state idea, I have ever heard of, and there has been quite a few predecessors. Every email to our children and grandchildren, every phone call can be listened to. Most laptops come equipped with cameras now, who is to say there is not a way they can use those to observe your household at any time. I tuly believe we as Canadians and the government who are our employees need to stop this madness. It has come to the point where the employees are running the company without any repercussions for their outrageous behavior. This is amazing.

Rick
I think it's all an evil plot by the Federal Government to get Canadian's off the Internet and out into the real world. If this happened think of the reduced health care costs if a hour each day on the Internet was replaced by an hour of exercise. The only major flaw in this plan is how many of these basement dwelling Internet Junkies could survive in the real world.

Robert
Bill C-51 will in fact violate the rights of law abiding citizens and breed corruption of this I have no doubt. The innocent will suffer.

hillyjen
Please don't do this Canada! I'm living in the UK and we've got cameras EVERYWHERE. Everything I'm typing right now is being kept on file by my internet service provider - forever. My phone calls are tapped in the same way. They record AUDIO and video on every city bus - every conversation I might have on the way to work! And all of this is for our security? No way. Governments use our own fears against us - it makes us only too to willing to surrender our most fundamental rights and freedoms.

Chris
I've been saying it for the last several elections, and I'll say it again. Everyone that's been piping the Macarthyist tune, screaming about how wrong, evil and fascist the NDP are, they were all fooled by thier beloved PCs. Lulled to sleep in a haze of apathy, content to let the ruling party stay despite the signs, It will be your fault if you didn't vote. Your grandparents fought the real terrorists, fought for your freedom, your rights, and now so many people are suddenly saying, "Hey, I have a right to privacy and free speech."

Wrong again, Thanks to our "new" constitution, care of our beloved Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Nowhere in that constitution does it say we have the right to privacy, nor does it say we have the right to free speech. Try it! Swear on a bus! Hold a concert and use offensive lyrics in public! Believe it or not, it's illegal! So, everyone that's been asleep at the wheel, and waking up to the droning mantra from our leaders saying "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about", You did it to yourself.

Bob
If you have nothing to hide what's the big issue? The only people I know that get upset over their privacy are the guilty ones... I'm for the bill...

Maureen
What If: Bill C-51 required the Phone Tapping of all our Land and Mobility Lines.. Yep, most of us, and also the Courts, would reject this invasion of privacy because we live in a constitutionally-protected Free & Democratic Society. We're not living (at least not yet) under Communist or Fascist Rule whereby Leaders' paranoia, distrust and dislike of the populace is justification for tracking the every word and movement of their citizens. Monitoring our electronic communication should not be not subjected to any different treatment than monitoring our voice calls. Who is PM Harper anyways? Vote him out for his desire to track the private communications of 20 million+ innocent Canadians. If he wants a job in the future, I understand North Korea is in need of new controlling leader.

Mr. Jimmy
While the police and the government will tout this as a way to catch child pornographers, they don't mention that they already have the tools to do so. In Ontario, they arrested 60 people by doing it the proper way: obtain a search warrant, gather evidence, and then press charges.

If someone is suspected of a crime and the police want to obtain a search warrant, they can do so with judicial oversight. This is a fundamental part of of legal system. This bill essentially allows the government and police to eavesdrop on private communication with no oversight from the court system. Innocent until proven guilty is now guilty until proven so.

nothing to hide
I can understand both ends of the argument here but if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear. The internet isn't very old and the evil from it heavily outweighs the good. Something has to be done to help keep our children safeer from online crimes.

Bob
This bill has nothing to do with stopping child porn, protecting copyright or anything else the Harper government thinks Canadians are gullible enough to swallow. This bill and all bills like it exist for one sole purpose, to destroy your right to protest. This is an attempt to destroy Wikileaks, stop Anonymous, prevent further Occupy Wall Street movemonts and prevent another Arab Spring.

The internet is the most powerful tool protesters and human rights advocates have at their disposal and governments know this. That means they are going to try to control it and if that fails they will destroy it.

Yousef
Harper's Conservative Government wants to give police powers that overstep our charter of rights and freedoms.

Innocent until proven guilty? Right to a fair trial? No search without a warrant? Come now, only pedophiles would be against this legislation.

Or so Harper and his cronies want us to believe. I for one will never accept that the government or police have a right to force me to live in a glass house without curtains so that they can see what goes on inside.

Nor will I accept that the police have a right to make me send letters without envelopes so that they can read them.

And never will I accept that my privacy won't be protected because if I have any, than lord knows, I might be a criminal.

I'll use strong cryptography and anonymous routing technology such as the Onion router to ensure that the government and the police pigs don't get to look inside my house or computer.

Dave
Very compelling D, very compelling!

Ray
If this bill passes, the conservatives will loose by a landslide the next election. The core of their supporters supported them because they want to be left alone by police and government. The gun registration nonsense is the main factor most people voted for them and now this is the straw that will break them.

where is this headed?
watch what you say in online forums such as this news site because it could be held indefinitely and then used against you sometime in the future.

Annoying that the Conservatives can pass bills without pause. This one is ridiculous and needs to be voted down.

Joseph
I have no problem with anyone wishing to read my email, text messages,facebook, etc. to make our lives safer. What are you people hiding?? The only people against this are the ones involved in criminal activity or are trying to protect someone who is. Let's waste more of the police's time standing in line to speak with the already back logged Judge for the issuance of the warrant...and then while the police are tied up at the courthouse, the media can blame them for the slow response time to the continuous calls for mediation on the typical dysfunctional family needs. Let's blame the govt and police rather than those who this law is introduced to convict.

careful
Careful what you write on here.. if the government doesn't like it or they feel you are inciting dissent, they may use it against you.

where is this going??
There needs to be a line drawn in the sand at a point where we will no longer let these things happen to us. From xray scanning at airports to invading our privacy online to who knows what's next.. "the powers that be" continue to find reasons to invade our privacy and infringe on our rights. They are playing on our fears of terrorists and online predators to justify crossing the line of reason. This is not a radical police run dictatorship, yet slowly but surely, in small increments, without us realizing, we will eventually all be forfeiting our civil rights to full cavity searches at airports, random police raids and other unnecessary forceful actions "for our own safety and the good of the people and society"

Karen
Go right ahead, I have nothing to hide. And if you catch a nasty terrorist or two or three thousand, all the power to you. I want to live in a safe society and if that's the cost, so be it.

John
Phil Stade's comment is how I see it also. How do you eat an elephant? One spoon at a time. I recall when the cell phone ban while driving laws were being debated, Police were saying that they would not be checking phone records when a vehicle accident occured. Now they openly speak of checking the phone records in TV and newspapaer reports. Another example: the gun registry. Liberals took away the rights of innocent people so they (Gov't of the day) could protect us from ourselves. Now the Conservatives (of which I am a supporter) are doing the same thing. There has to be a line drawn in the sand somewhere or loose it all. Only talk they hear is when politians loose their jobs.

randy calgary
The government is going at it all wrong yes ther is alot of bad stuff on the net instead of invading everyones private life they should make it easy to get a instant warrent for the police to make it more simplafied for them then they would catch many more criminals don,t pick on everyone wher is our freedom we are in canada not in russia .

D - scary thinking
'I have nothing to hide' thinking is exactly what is used to take away your rights. A few more here, a few more there. Soon you will have zero rights left. Just google nothing to hide nothing to fear and you will see how false that myth really is, and how dangerous that train of thought is. While you are researching look what is happening to the south, national defence act, etc, and see how 'free' our societies will be in the future

Rob Calgary
Keep it up feds and I will just use my phone, Oh I forgot they are probably listning anyway. Land of the free, ya right! Next thing they will be putting cameras in our homes.

jeff
been voting PC for years if they pass this bill I will never vote for them again !

Michael
We need to organize a nation-wide demonstration against this.

Obviously a large majority of Canadians are against this, and yet the government is trying to sweep the bill through. It's time to show Harper what democracy is all about.

Byron
WHAT!! Isn't this very black minded idea what World War 2 and then the Cold War was fought over? The Gestapo, Stasi and the KGB would applaud this proposed law, only wondering why it took so long to implement. Maybe Reichs-Minister of "Public Safety" Vic Toews would be more comfortable in a black uniform and jackboots as he leads us down the slippery slope right through the gates of concentration camps too! The fear of midnight knocks on doors? "For if you're not for us, then you must be against us" - where have we heard that one before? The very thought of this warrantless intrusion should make EVERYONE shudder! And EVERYONE should be voicing their opposition to this dark act by writing their MP's, Vic Toews and the PM!! DO NOT throw away your liberty by allowing this to pass under the guise of law and order and the public good!! And for Minister Toews to equate anyone who opposes this akin to being a pedophile is an outrage! He should be severely censured over that comment! Beware!

Sandy
Absolutely draconian! As a CPC supporter (for now) I am disgusted and feel betrayed. We already have the "rights" tribunals (kangaroo courts) to violate our freedom of speech. If this keeps up China will be giving us hell for our lack of human rights.
Police state?

Whitney S
This kind of legislation opens the door for an Orwellian nightmare. The Conservatives would have us all guilty until proven innocent. I think every self-respecting Canadian who values their rights should be up in arms about this.

Steve-O
As much as I love and rely on my internets and couldn't really live without it, I would cancel it out if principal if this legislation were to happen.

Donna
GO AHEAD ARREST ME!!!

D
I see no harm in monitoring the Internet use, if it saves just one child from abuse it is worth it. I personally have nothing to hide. And to all those whose argument is that it is taking away rights, what would you say if it was your child victimized? We are not giving up all of our rights we are giving up one small thing for the safety of thousands. If we cannot do this, what kind of society are we? And to all those whose argument is what is next? We deal with what is next when it happens. We cannot say well if we do this, next thing we know we have zero privacy and cameras in our homes, what a ridiculous leap! Right now, what we can do is give up a tiny amount of privacy to save thousands of children. I for one am willing.

JD
I can understand what they are wanting to do but it goes against our freedom and rights. They should have access through warrant only. The Gov't is really getting messed up.

disgusted
If they can show a judge that there is a good possibility of wrongdoing then a warrent could be issued for whatever period the judge sets are for what cryteria.

A blanked opening is a real threat of people just listening up on our conversations and prying into private affairs because they have been given the authority to and just want to for no reason.

Tom M
This is just wrong we can't let this happen

stonecarver
One thing that NO ONE seems to address in any way shape or form is that the original file sharing tools necessary, DRM circumvention, step by step instruction, comparisons and ongoing encouragement were provided by Cnet or ZDnet owned by CBS-Viacom with partnerships and of course download PARTNERSHIP with Disney , AOL ,MSN ,NBC and all of the rest of the delightful cabal behind SOPA, PIPA, ACTA , …bill C32 and now bill C11 !!! Now how could this not make these clowns liable for the very thing that they are working over time to have the peasantry tossed into jail fo. Wouldn’t providing the tools necessary, step by step instruction, comparisons and ongoing encouragement be legally regarded as IMPLIED CONSENT or at the VERY least entrapment? Just askin. It would seem to me that the first stop of call for artists to receive ( well deserved ) compensation would be the media companies that worked so hard to create, distribute,and encourage the very file-sharing tools they now decrySo to sum up after SOPA ,it's evil twin PIPA and any politicians or companies supporting them were given a reception much like a porcupine in a hot tub down south.The very groups that originally provided the tools necessary, step by step instruction, comparisons and ongoing encouragement for citizens to download media from the internet have brought their act north ( with of course arm twisting by the VERY government down south that had their posterior handed to them for this VERY same thing ) and are now pushing the government of OUR country into handing over defacto control of the net and arranging to incarcerate ANY of OUR citizens for using the VERY tools they worked so very hard to get into use…Am I missing anything ? WoW!!!

Ian
Can't comment - it would end up on desk of gov't

Rick in Calgary
Ok is it just me or are the Conservatives pushing it.

Cat
IF A WARRENT IS ISSUED AND FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH OR SOME ONE HAS BEEN CHARGED BEFORE AND IS A HIGH RISK TO REOFFEND AGAIN ITS A GOOD IDEA......

Dan from Calgary
I see Harper has imported more than pandas to Canada from China...this is a very dangerous man...before he is done Canada will resemble a police state, but then he will have more power himself.

Kevin
This is ridiculous. I have seen too many examples of police misuse. They already have this power, but must get a warrant to use it. That is fine by me. I have seen police lie in warrant applications as well though. At least having to get a warrant causes the honest ones to ensure their case is solid. This is typical police and judicial in Canada though. Instead of using laws they already have, let's make up new ones. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

John Wright
Hey Government Du Canada get outta our faces with these invasive Bill C-11 and Bill C-51.My taxes shouldn`t go to fund evesdropping on ordinary citizens.Until I`m breaking a law ,what I do is none of your business! Read the fine print about what a free society is not what you think it should include.

Joe Citizen
Police State.

Phil Stade
When authorities have power they will misuse it. The difference between a dictatorship and a democracy should be that we protect the public by ensuring their rights are protected and we ensure authorities do not have access to powers that will tempt them to abuse citizens. The new bill fails us on both counts.

Doug
Information must be given only when a warrant is presented.

I agree with the principal but not unfettered fishing expeditions.

Valerie Hicke
I feel it is a total lack of privacy..
The law & government already has access to our private information if they need it. This is going to far.