Bill C-30, Tory Internet Surveillance Legislation, Is
Officially Dead
CP | By Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press Posted: 02/11/2013 4:33 pm EST
OTTAWA - The Conservative government has abandoned its controversial and much-maligned Internet
surveillance bill, legislation it once claimed was crucial to stopping child pornographers.
Less than a year ago support for Bill C-30, the so-called Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act,
was presented to Canadians by the government as a binary choice.
"He can either stand with us or stand with the child pornographers," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews
scolded a Liberal critic in the House of Commons last February.
The comment set off a public fire storm concerning the Internet and personal privacy — a nasty fight that
resulted in unsavoury details of Toews' divorce being splashed across the web by a Liberal party operative.
Toews, who introduced the legislation, did not attend Monday's news conference where Justice Minister
Rob Nicholson said Bill C-30 is dead.
After announcing changes to emergency warrantless wiretap laws, Nicholson let drop that C-30 was gone,
in response to a reporter's question — an inquiry the minister was clearly expecting.
"We will not be proceeding with Bill C-30 and any attempts we will have to modernize the Criminal Code
will not contain the measures in C-30 — including the warrantless mandatory disclosure of basic
subscriber information, or the requirement for telecommunications service providers to build intercept
capabilities within their systems," Nicholson said.
"Any modernization of the Criminal Code ... will not contain those."
The legislation would have forced Internet service providers to maintain systems that allowed police to
intercept and track online communications.
It also would have given police, intelligence and Competition Bureau officers warrantless access to
Internet subscriber information, including name, address, telephone number, email address and Internet
protocol address.
Police said they needed these powers to track child pornographers, among others.
"We have inadvertently created safe havens for those who exploit technology to traffic in weapons, drugs
and people," Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu, the president of the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs,
wrote in an op-ed last November.
"It is a boon to pedophile networks, money launderers, extortionists, deceitful telemarketers, fraudsters
and terrorists. Cyber bullies communicate their vitriol with impunity."
Chu said police were "handcuffed by legislation introduced in 1975, the days of the rotary telephone."
Dick Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said he was not aware the bill was
to be shelved.
"We said all along that there were some aspects of it that would be helpful to us," Fadden told reporters on
Parliament Hill following a committee appearance on another matter. "It's not absolutely critical for us to
do our work."
The proposed legislation infuriated a wide cross-section of opponents, including privacy and civil liberties
advocates and many conservative libertarians who opposed what they called Big Brother oversight in the
legislation.
"I don't think we should underestimate the significance of a majority government backing down on a piece
of its legislation," Michael Geist, the chair of Internet and E-commerce law at the University of Ottawa,
said in an interview.
"This is truly unprecedented within the context of this government certainly."
Nicholson had little to say Monday when asked about police concerns over child pornography, noting the
government was responding to Canadians "who have been very clear on this."
The debate over modernizing surveillance of the Net has been going on for a decade, said Geist, and police
have yet to clearly demonstrate the need for some of the warrantless powers they were seeking. Examples
of investigations hampered or stopped by the current legislation have not been provided.
"It was bad policy, badly marketed and the government had little choice but to kill it," said Geist.
"If all you're left with is trying to market a piece of legislation using a bunch of scare tactics, I think
Canadians see through that."
Charmaine Borg, the NDP critic for digital issues, called the death of the Internet surveillance law a "great
victory and a way forward for politics."
She said more than half of Albertans — "the base of the Conservative party" — opposed Bill C-30.
"We saw people from across Canada speaking out," said Borg. "I think that demonstrates that if you fight
hard enough and if you speak up, eventually they'll listen."
Another piece of legislation, Bill C-12, remains before Parliament. It would make it easier for Internet
service providers, email hosts and social media sites to voluntarily share personal information about
customers with authorities.
Nicholson also announced changes Monday that will ensure police can tap people's phones without a
warrant in cases of emergency or imminent harm.
The government's proposals fall in line with recommendations from the Supreme Court, which ruled
unanimously last spring that warrantless wiretaps constitute a breach of the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.
The high court gave the government a year to come up with changes to address its concerns.
Nicholson said under the new rules, anyone whose communications have been intercepted in situations of
imminent harm must be notified by police within 90 days.
There will also be an annual report compiled on the use of imminent harm wiretaps, and only police —
and not other peace officers — will be able to use them.
"We are including all the safeguards that (the Supreme Court justices) required and they suggested," said
Nicholson.
Bill C-30:
Required telecommunications and internet providers to give subscriber data to police, national security agencies
and the Competition Bureau without a warrant, including names, phone numbers and IP addresses. (CP)
Would Force internet providers and other makers of technology to provide a "back door" to make communications
accessible to police.
Would Allow police to get warrants to obtain information transmitted over the internet and data related to its
transmission, including locations of individuals and transactions.
Would Allow courts to compel other parties to preserve electronic evidence.
Would Require telecommunications providers to disclose, without a warrant, just six types of identifiers from
subscriber data instead of 11.
Would Provide for an internal audit of warrantless requests that will go to a government minister and oversight
review body.
Would Include a provision for a review after five years.
Would Allow telecommunications service providers to take 18 months instead of 12 months to buy equipment that
would allow police to intercept communications.
Would Change the definition of hate propaganda to include communication targeting sex, age and gender.
Question:
Bill C-30 is now officially dead. Is that a good thing for the rights of Canadians or a good thing for
would be pedophiles and criminals? Explain in a paragraph using references from the article.