Canadians Unwilling to sacrifice privacy online for security

Since the passing of Bill C-51, more commonly referred to as the anti-terrorism bill, internet privacy Canada suffers while the population waits anxiously for the government to amend these laws.

The controversial bill allowed authorities to spy on the people of Canada by making it mandatory for telecommunication companies to keep logs on users’ data and to transfer them to the authorities.

During elections, the Liberal government expressed support for the anti-terrorism bill. However, they promised that they’d eliminate certain sections of the bill which allowed violation of users’ privacy.

This promise has yet to be fulfilled by the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In response to the incredible outcry for repealing of the bill, the government asked Canadians to give their opinions on the issue last fall.

A report was soon released which summarized the results of the consultation. One topic, in particular, drew considerable attention to the question of whether Canadians want online privacy and anonymity or not.

One question on the report was: “What sort of powers should law enforcement and intelligence agencies have when investigating crimes in the digital world?” Law enforcement agencies will hate the answer to this question.

“Most participants in these Consultations have opted to err on the side of protecting individual rights and freedoms rather than granting additional powers to national security agencies and law enforcement, even with enhanced transparency and independent oversight,” the report read.

What Canadians have to say?

Through an online questionnaire, the government received 58,933 responses, while another 17,862 responses were revealed via email. This is in addition to the feedback from cross-country meetings with constituents, academics, and expert groups.

The section on “investigative capabilities in a digital world,” most Canadians appeared to be concerned regarding how the latest police powers would infringe upon their right to online privacy and freedom.

Learn about Cyber Crimes in Canada from here.

Most respondents “are reluctant to accept new powers and tools to enhance Canada’s investigative capabilities in a digital world.”

Even those who do support the new powers “insisted there be additional oversight and transparency and more checks and balances.”

Overall, “there was strong support among roundtable participants and online responses for a single, expert, independent, non-partisan body to oversee all of the government’s national security activities.”

Expectations regarding internet privacy Canada

Here’s a look at some of the numbers gathered via the report:

• 70% of all Canadians consider basic subscriber information — that is, metadata which includes name, home address, phone number, and email address — to be as private as the content of their communications.
• 48% agree that basic subscriber information “should only be provided in ‘limited circumstances’ and with judicial approval.”
• Greater than 80% believe that “the expectation of privacy in the digital world is the same as or higher than in the physical world.”
• 68%-78% oppose a law which mandates telecom companies to keep a log of users’ online communications.
• Most respondents and organizations opposed the implementation of backdoors in encryption.

Anxiety over Liberal follow-through

Canadians are anxious as to whether the government will follow up on its promise or not. They did agree with the Liberal position of not canceling the anti-terrorism bill altogether, but they expected appropriate amendments to the law which safeguarded their online privacy and anonymity.

So far, the government appears lazy on the issue of fulfilling this promise. However, sending questionnaires does reveal that they’re at least thinking about this matter. We can only hope that that Prime Minister will take action as per people’s wishes and fulfill the promise they made almost two years ago.

If you care about your privacy and want to avoid online surveillance of any kind, then you can use VPN for Canada to ensure your privacy and anonymity on the web.