From HuffingtonPost.com

MICHAEL GEIST

The Cyberbullying Bill Is A Virtual Big Brother in Disguise

Posted: 11/21/2013

In February 2012, then Public Safety Minister Vic Toews introduced Bill C-30, the"Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act." While the government marketed the bill as an attempt to protect children from Internet predators (and infamously accusedopponents of siding with child pornographers), it soon became readily apparent that the bill was really about adopting a wide range of measures that increased police powers, stripped away privacy rights, and increased Internet surveillance. The overwhelming negative publicity led the government to put the bill on hold. Earlier this year, then-Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced that Bill C-30 was dead:

We will not be proceeding with Bill C-30 and any attempts that we will continue to have to modernize the Criminal Code will not contain the measures contained in C-30, including the warrantless mandatory disclosure of basic subscriber information or the requirement for telecommunications service providers to build intercept capability within their systems. We've listened to the concerns of Canadians who have been very clear on this and responding to that.

Nicholson's commitment lasted less than a year (the same was true on lawful access in 2007, when Stockwell Day promised no warrantless access to subscriber information only to have Peter Van Loan backtrack a year and a half later). Yesterday, Peter MacKay, the new Justice Minister, unveiled Bill C-13, the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. The similarly-named bill is now marketed as an effort to crack-down cyber-bullying, yet the vast majority of the bill simply brings back many (though not all) lawful access provisions.

There were hints that this might be the government's plan. In October 2012, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police renewed its call for lawful access (the bill was still on hiatus at the time), shifting away from child predators to cyber-bullying:

Criminal bullying is extremely concerning to all Canadians, especially the parents of young children, and Bill C-30 also provides new legislation to help police intervene and investigate cyber bullying in their early stages to prevent needless tragedy. The Bill makes it an offence to use telecommunications, including social media and the Internet, to injure, alarm and harass others.

As I noted at the time, the government had not mentioned cyber-bullying in any of its materials on Bill C-30. In April 2013, Jesse Brown noted that cyber-bullying might lead to a reboot of the lawful access bill. Rumours this fall that lawful access might be on the agenda started when Peter MacKay gave a speech in August indicating that cyber-bullying legislation could be forthcoming. As I blogged on August 26th, the press reported that:

MacKay said he also won't be intimidated or deterred from considering new lawful access provisions despite privacy concerns that ultimately led to the death of previous bills.

MacKay was asked about the issue in a Hill Times piece in September with a spokesperson confirming the latter part of the Nicholson's commitment, but not the first part:

"[W]e have no plans to move forward with measures related to the warrantless mandatory disclosure of basic subscriber information or the requirement for telecommunications service providers to build intercept capability within their systems."

Of course, Nicholson's commitment went further than that since he stated that attempts to modernize the Criminal Code would not include measures contained in Bill C-30. The government has simply ignored that commitment by focusing on cyber-bullying and claiming that the remaining provisions are a response to the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice and Public Safety June 2013 report on cyber-bullying that recommended bringing back lawful access:

The Working Group strongly recommends that the Federal Government enact investigative tools and procedures which will enable law enforcement to keep pace with modern technology, similar to those elements which have previously been introduced by the Federal Government.

With that foundation, Bill C-13 includes several provisions designed to target cyber-bullying and dozens of pages of reforms that come straight from prior lawful access bills. The bill excludes warrantless mandatory disclosure of basic subscriber information and the requirement for telecommunications service providers to build intercept capability within their systems, yet that is cold comfort given the Snowden revelations about ubiquitous surveillance that may include access to subscriber information and the collection of seemingly all Internet and communications traffic.

Cyber-bullying

As for the cyber-bullying provisions, David Fraser does a good job of parsing the legislation, which focuses on creating an offence for:

Everyone who knowingly publishes, distributes, transmits, sells, makes available or advertises an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted in the image did not give their consent to that conduct, or being reckless as to whether or not that person gave their consent to that conduct, is guilty
(a) of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or
(b) of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

The law also includes the prospect of an Internet ban for offenders, with Section 162.2 allowing a court to prohibit someone convicted under the law from using the Internet or other digital networks.

Criminalizing Software

Once the cyber-bullying provisions are done, the bill includes a wide range of computer-related provisions and new warrant powers. For example, the Criminal Code will be expanded to cover computer programs (currently limited to devices) that can be used to gain access to telecommunications service without payment or lawful excuse (this would include a cable television service, wifi service, Internet services, or phone service) or cause mischief such as interfering or obstructing lawful use of computer data. The expanded provision may mean that coding such a program or merely downloading it will now be a criminal offence.

Harassing Emails

The bill also expands provisions covering false messages or harassing communications. The harassment provision is drafted in a very broad manner, suggesting that multiple harassing communications to a person would be a crime:

Everyone commits an offence who, without lawful excuse and with intent to harass a person, repeatedly communicates, or causes repeated communications to be made, with them by a means of telecommunication.

One can certainly envision repeated emails from an angry constituent or customer now falling under the Criminal Code. The law currently restricts harassment to telephone calls.

Warrant Powers - Metadata

The new warrant powers include a new court-ordered preservation warrant and order requiring the recipient to preserve computer data. There is also a new court-ordered production order, requiring recipients to produce a document in their possession. The production order links closely to a reduced standard for accessing metadata. The bill includes a provision defining "transmission data", which covers the much-discussed metadata created from telecommunications. The production order can be used to order to production of any transmission data (ie. metadata). The standard is lower than for other warrants.

Ironically, the lower standard for metadata comes just as the Supreme Court of Canada has warned that "it is difficult to imagine a more intrusive invasion of privacy than the search of a personal or home computer" in the R. v. Vu case. The court specifically points to metadata as one of the reasons why:

Most browsers used to surf the Internet are programmed to automatically retain information about the websites the user has visited in recent weeks and the search terms that were employed to access those websites. Ordinarily, this information can help a user retrace his or her cybernetic steps. In the context of a criminal investigation, however, it can also enable investigators to access intimate details about a user's interests, habits, and identity, drawing on a record that the user created unwittingly: O. S. Kerr, "Searches and Seizures in a Digital World" (2005), 119 Harv. L. Rev. 531, at pp. 542-43. This kind of information has no analogue in the physical world in which other types of receptacles are found.

While this discussion is in the context of a personal computer, the same metadata may be generated on the ISP side.

Warrant Powers - Location Data

The bill also creates new tracking orders, which involves data that relates to the location of a transaction, individual or thing. The production order can also be used to obtain tracking data as well as financial data. The tracking orders can also be used to install tracking devices.

Ban on Disclosure of Warrants

The bill grants a judge the power to prohibit the disclosure of the existence or content of a preservation order or production order. The judge must be satisfied that disclosure would jeopardize the investigation.

Voluntary Disclosure With Legal Immunity

The bill also encourages telecom companies, ISPs, and others to disclose information on their customers without a court order. The bill establishes immunity from criminal or civil liability for such disclosures. The bill states:

(1) For greater certainty, no preservation demand, preservation order or production order is necessary for a peace officer or public officer to ask a person to voluntarily preserve data that the person is not prohibited by law from preserving or to voluntarily provide a document to the officer that the person is not prohibited by law from disclosing.
(2) A person who preserves data or provides a document in those circumstances does not incur any criminal or civil liability for doing so.

This particular provision is enormously problematic as it opens the door to cooperation on the widespread surveillance revealed by the Snowden documents. It has become increasingly clear that many telecom companies willingly provided millions of documents on their subscribers. With this immunity in hand, Canadian telcos could "voluntarily" provide surveillance data without fear of any liability.

There are also pages of forms and provisions on mutual legal assistance (along with a very confusing set of coordinating amendments that involve the anti-spam legislation - I could not figure out what they mean).

Law enforcement have been asking for some of these provisions for many years and there could be a good debate on the merits of many of the proposed reforms. As this post suggests, some of the provisions raise some serious concerns. Yet the government is signalling that it would prefer to avoid such debates, wrapping up the provisions in the cyber-bullying flag and backtracking on a commitment made earlier this year to not bring forward Criminal Code amendments that were contained in Bill C-30.

+++++++++++

From OpenMedia.ca

Online Spying is back - here's what Canadians are saying

Posted by Noushin Khushrushahi on Friday, November 22, 2013

Image from opensourceway on Flickr

What on earth is the connection between the serious issue of cyberbullying and the theft of cable TV and WiFi? What about the connection between cyberbullying and enabling government bureaucrats to spy on your everyday online activities?

That's a question that many concerned Canadians have been asking since yesterday's announcement of Bill C-13, the "Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act."

At OpenMedia, we've seen this story play out before, albeit with a slightly different script.

Last year, the government introduced online spying legislation called Bill C-30 that would have forced Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to hand over subscriber information to law enforcement without a warrant. Fortunately, Canadians saw right through the government's misleading attempts to describe Bill C-30 as being supposedly aimed at Internet predators - when it actually contained "a wide range of measures that increased police powers, stripped away privacy rights, and increased Internet surveillance."

Over 150,000 Canadians spoke out against these costly, invasive, and warrantless online spying measures via our Stop Online Spying petition. Thousands of Canadians also took to Twitter to voice their opposition to Bill C-30 with the viral #TellVicEverything campaign against then-Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews.

Recognizing this tremendous public pressure, in February to government backed down and killed Bill C-30 - and Vic Toews has since left politics. This is all thanks to you speaking out Canada!

Sadly, it wasn't long before then Justice Minister Rob Nicholson suggested that the government was working on a revised version of it's online spying bill.

That revised version is now here - it's called Bill C-13 and the government is trying to make the ridiculous claim that it's all about cyberbullying - but don't be fooled. Legal experts are telling OpenMedia.ca that the Bill consists of just 2.5 pages about cyberbullying, and 65 pages about online spying. Huge problems with this bill include:

• It could enable bulk collection of sensitive private information of law-abiding Canadians by a range of authorities.
• It will make it easier for law enforcement to get warrants to access and collect the bulk information of whole communities of people.
• It will make it easier for telecommunications service providers to hand over subscriber information without a warrant since they'll be given immunity for doing so.

Privacy expert Michael Geist has a detailed and highly recommended critique of the most troublesome aspects of Bill C-13, including its potential to criminalize software, its implications for silencing dissent, and its push for new warrant powers that undermine our fundamental right to privacy.

Fortunately, just as with Bill C-30, Canadians are speaking out in droves against the government's disgraceful attempt to exploit public sympathy on cyber-bullying to push forward their online spying wishlist. Here's a sample of what Canadians are saying:

• Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian said: "We can all agree that cyberbullying is an issue that needs immediate attention but it is very troubling to see the government once again trying to enact new surveillance powers under the guise of protecting children. Regrettably, the federal government is using this pressing social issue as an opportunity to resurrect much of its former surveillance legislation, Bill C-30."
• Privacy expert Michael Geist tweeted: "Finally working my way through Bill C-13. Simply shameful of the govt to use bullied kids as a front for pushing lawful access."
• This Facebook user said: "We've seen this movie before: you're not safe, let us protect you, just give up your freedom and rights."
• And Reddit users also spoke out:
  • One user noted that Bill C-13: "Smells like Bill C-30 again, which they said they wouldn't revive... oh change the number.. right.. deception, distraction, disgusting."
  • Another stated: If you read Bill C-13... you will see that cyberbullying is the candy flavoured coating wrapped around something considerably larger.
  • Finally, this Reddit user reflected: "It's been a while since I was accused of standing with pedophiles. Now I get to be accused of standing with cyber bullies.

Here at OpenMedia.ca we welcome positive action on the serious issue of cyberbullying. But we think it's a disgrace that the government is using this important issue to ram through an online spying bill that over 150,000 Canadians have already said no to.

That's why we're working with the largest-ever Privacy Coalition in Canadian history to call for strong legal protections to protect the rights of all residents of Canada from suspicionless government spying.

Let's stand up and put a stop to online spying - support our call for effective legal measures to safeguard privacy by joining the Protect Our Privacy Coalition today at:http://OurPrivacy.ca

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From CBC.ca

Feds to monitor social media round-the-clock

The Canadian Press Posted: Nov 29, 2013 

The federal government has tendered a media monitoring contract for continuous monitoring of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. (Joerg Koch/Associated Press)

Related Stories

• Information services staff has grown 15% under Harper
• Privy Council spending $463K on ethnic media monitoring

External Links

• Read the federal tender notice

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

Big Brother is watching you - on just about every social-media platform you can imagine.

Tweets, public Facebook posts and YouTube videos could soon be subject to round-the-clock scrutiny by the federal government, a procurement document posted this week by Public Works and Government Services Canada suggests.

Welcome to media monitoring in the 21st century, when simply leafing through a stack of newspapers in the morning is about as antiquated as, well, newspapers.

'On one level, there is a creepiness factor to this, but then on another level, it's open data, it's open information.'- Mark Blevis, digital public affairs analyst

The federal government is seeking a firm that "continuously monitors social media content on a daily basis in near real time and (can) provide web-based, online media metrics and reporting capabilities."

That includes combing through "blogs, micro-blogs, social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, forums and message boards, traditional news websites and comment sections, media sharing websites (videos, photos and user-generated content websites including YouTube)."

The contractor is also being asked to keep tabs on English- and French-language internet news sites and blogs.

Tone and reach

The document specifies that the contractor must be able to provide the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Part of the job will be to gauge the sentiment and tone of posts and to determine their reach.

The social-media monitoring service must also come with the ability to filter searches by country, language and key words.

The work, which appears to be on an as-requested basis, runs from next February until January 2019.

Digital public affairs analyst Mark Blevis of FullDuplex.ca said it's not unusual that a government would want to know what people are saying, although he concedes some might find that thought disconcerting.

"On one level, there is a creepiness factor to this," Blevis said in an interview.

"But then on another level, it's open data, it's open information. If it's publicly accessible, why should the government have any less privilege accessing it than anyone else in the public eye?

"What they do with it is going to be the big question."

'Early warning system'

Social media can act as an "early warning system" to alert authorities to major disasters, Blevis said, just as it can be used to track public opinion.

"It depends on the intent. Is it creepy? Yeah, for the vast majority of the public it will seem creepy because the sense is the government is looking over their shoulder," he said.

"But another part of me feels that this is a recognition that this where the conversations are happening now, and they're happening in plain view."

Public Works wasn't immediately available to comment.

Social Media Monitoring

Tender Notice

Status

Publishing status

 

Active

Days to closing

 

2 weeks 5 days hence

Dates

Publication date

 

2013/11/29

Amendment date

 

None

Date closing

 

2013/12/20 14:00 Eastern Standard Time (EST)

Details

Reference number

 

PW-$CY-007-64008

Solicitation number

 

EN578-141760/A

Region delivery

 

Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, National Capital Region, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon

Notice type

 

Notice of Proposed Procurement (NPP)

GSIN

 

Contact Information

Contact name

Westall, Susan

Contact phone

(613) 949-8350 ( )

Contact address

360 Albert St./ 360, rue Albert
12th Floor / 12ième étage
Ottawa
Ontario
K1A 0S5

Activity

The following statistics are only for the English page and are current as of: 2013-12-01 10:27 Eastern Standard Time (EST). To calculate the total statistics for a tender notice, you will need to add the English and French statistics.

Page views
(English page)

547

Unique page views
(English page)

488

Tender Notice feed

 

 For information on notifications, visit theFollow Opportunities page.

Description

Trade Agreement: Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Attachment: None
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Subsequent/Follow-on Contracts
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 
Request for Supply Arrangement 
The purpose of this Request for Supply Arrangement (RFSA) is to
initiate a competitive process leading to the selection of firms
to enter into a Supply Arrangement with Public Works and
Government Services Canada to provide a range Media Monitoring
Services to meet the needs of Federal Government Departments and
Agencies on an "as and when requested" basis.

Supply Arrangements (SA) are non-binding agreements between
PWGSC or other government departments (arranged on their behalf
by PWGSC) and suppliers to provide a range of goods or services
on an "as requested" basis. A Supply Arrangement is a method of
supply where PWGSC, under the framework of the Arrangement, may
solicit bids from a pool of prescreened vendors.

The Nature of Proposed Procurement (NPP) will be published on
the Government Electronic Tendering System (GETS) on an ongoing
basis to allow suppliers to qualify for the Supply Arrangement
at any time.
Supply Arrangements include a set of predetermined terms and
conditions that will apply to any subsequent contracts. 
1. BACKGROUND

Media Monitoring is a critical function in the support of a
departments effort to identify and track current and emerging
public issues and trends as reported in the media. An integral
part of media monitoring is performed through the monitoring of
Internet news sources and Social media.

2. OBJECTIVES
To supply a monitoring service that provides:

Real-time monitoring and analysis of social media content
including Twitter, Facebook, blogs, chatrooms, message boards,
social networks and video and image sharing websites; and
Real-time monitoring of Internet news sites.

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

M.1   LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES

Bidders must demonstrate that their social media and internet
media monitoring service allows users to search for keywords and
topics in both official languages (English and French) and to
analyse information in both official languages.

M.2	EXPERIENCE

Bidders must demonstrate a minimum of one (1) year experience
providing services as outlined in the statement of work, within
the last three (3) years from closing date of this RFSA. To
demonstrate this experience, bidders must describe when and how
the experience was obtained.

M.3	PREVIOUS PROJECTS

Bidders must have provided services outlined in the statement of
work to a minimum of three (3) organizations within the last
three (3) years (from closing date of this RFSA)  Bidders must
demonstrate they meet this requirement by providing the
following information for each project:

Organization name and contact information;
Project date; and
A description of the work performed.

The contact information may be used to verify the information
provided.

M4        ACCESS

Bidders must confirm that the service is accessible seven (7)
days per week, twenty-four (24) hours per day, 365 days per
year.  

M5 	MONITORING

Bidders must demonstrate that their social media and internet
monitoring service can monitor all of the following:

i)	blogs;
ii)	micro-blogs;
iii)	social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter);
iv)	forums and message boards;
v)	traditional news websites and comments sections;
vi)	media sharing websites (videos, photos and user-generated
content websites including 	YouTube).

M6	FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Bidders must confirm that their social media monitoring service
has the following functional capabilities by inserting a
checkmark in each of the following critiera. 

Failure to complete the following table of mandatory functional
capabilities including placing the required check marks for
confirmation, will render your proposal non-responsive.

Mandatory Functional Capabilities Criteria

Confirm by placing a checkmark in the [  ]

Instant, up-to-the-minute or "real time" analysis						[  ]
Ability to apply country and language parameters to search
results			[  ]
Ability to graphically illustrate demographics, geographies and
trends			[  ]
Digital tracking of issues based on specific key words					[  ]
Ability to target key influencers found in blog commentary and
social conversations	[  ]
Ability to illustrate and analyze tone (positive, neutral or
negative)				[  ]
Capacity to perform historical searches and analysis back a
minimum of 30 days		[  ]

M7	REPORTING AND ANALYSIS

Bidders must demonstrate that their service can generate reports
and export the reports to popular electronic formats (Excel, PDF
at a minimum).

Bidders must also demonstrate that their service has the
capability to generate reports that illustrate (at minimum), the
following:

i)  social media content;
ii) quantity and tone of discussions;
iii) influence;
iv) volume for specific keywords over time; and
v) region, and demographics of citizens, stakeholders and online
journalists.

M8	CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Bidders must demonstrate that they have the ability and the
resources to provide implementation support, training and
ongoing customer support from (at a minimum) 8:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m. EST.

Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any
procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.