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OpenMedia.ca is a grassroots organization that safeguards the possibilities of the open and affordable Internet. We work towards informed & participatory digital policy. Check out some of our campaigns »
The Latest
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The Tyee: Why Canadian laws are no longer effective in protecting privacy
Canada's government claims that its secret blanket surveillance of innocent citizens doesn't capture content and only targets foreign communications. That's nonsense. Privacy expert Michael Geist explains why.
We're stuck with 20th century privacy protections in a world of 21st century surveillance. Canadians deserve better - keep speaking out at http://SecretSpying.ca. And don't forget to share this image: Read more »
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Thank you
While we continue pushing back against government imposed online spying, we want to report back and thank the community members who stepped up recently.
Back in May we sent you an appeal for an ad targeting the lead decision-maker behind the secretive and extreme Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). As you probably know by now, the TPP is an international agreement that threatens to censor your web activity.
I want to personally thank everyone who contributed and enabled us to publish your ad letting TPP chief Michael Froman know that we’re watching him!
Click this link – check out the picture of the ad now, and consider taking the next step with us by becoming an OpenMedia Ally. Read more »
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Trade activists light up the Vancouver sky with anti-TPP messages
Last week, we told you that an intersessional meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was quietly taking place in Vancouver. At the time, the Canadian government had not told the public or the media that any such negotiation was happening. We only learned about the meeting via Peruvian media. Despite the short notice, trade justice activists from across North America hit the town to express how they feel about this secretive agreement.
You don't have to light up the night sky with messages against the secretive agreement to have your voice heard. Speak out at http://OurFairDeal.org & share this image: Read more » -
U.S. Foreign Intelligence: From carte blanche surveillance to weak domestic protections
This article has been co-authored by Tamir Israel, Staff Lawyer at CIPPIC, Katitza Rodriguez, EFF International Rights Director, and Mark Rumold, EFF Staff Attorney.
Overview Read more »
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The Globe and Mail: Head of Senate anti-terror committee unaware of Canada's secret surveillance program
This is scary: The chair of a parliamentary anti-terrorism committee says he was "unaware of a federal spying program that allows for the collection of Canadians’ data trails."
This secret spying on our private lives could affect anyone, at any time and we can't even tell if we’re victims of it. Help us get answers by sharing the campaign using this link: http://tinyurl.com/lwoj5k7
Article by Colin Freeze for The Globe and Mail: Read more »
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MP Borg calls for parliamentary debate on secret spying activities
In light of recent revelations that a secretive Canadian spy agency has been collecting our sensitive personal data, MP Charmaine Borg asked for an emergency debate in the House of Commons yesterday. Her reasoning: “to allow parliamentarians to study in-depth the extent to which the personal information of Canadians, metadata or other, is being collected by police, law enforcement or national security agencies and to review measures that will result in appropriate parliamentary oversight and reporting.”
This debate would be a good step in bringing light to the near-total secrecy of electronic-eavesdropping agencies CSEC and CSIS. Canadians have been calling on the government to make public the details of these agencies’ online spying and data sharing activities, and to put an immediate stop to any programs of indiscriminate and arbitrary online spying. Read more »
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TPP negotiations quietly arrive in Canada
We’ve just learned that the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have come to Canada for an intersessional round of talks.
iPolitics is reporting that negotiators are in Vancouver this weekend to discuss the TPP’s investment chapter. These “mini-negotiations” were not publicized by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade – likely to curb any public protest over the controversial agreement, and to keep citizens and other stakeholders on the outside.
The TPP—known to many as the Internet Trap—is an international trade agreement that is being put together by a group of 600 industry lobbyist "advisors" and un-elected government trade representatives.
But it’s more that just a simple trade agreement: Leaked documents show that the TPP would have a hugely negative effect on the open Internet – the agreement includes an intellectual property chapter that would drastically increase Internet surveillance, increase Big Media's Internet lockdown powers, and criminalize content sharing in general, with a likelihood of harsher penalties. Read more »
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C'est un secret que vous devriez connaître
Vous avez probablement entendu parler de l’agence gouvernementale américaine accusée d’espionner secrètement les communications privées de millions de personnes comme vous, à partir de leurs téléphones cellulaires1 et de services en ligne populaires tels que Google, Facebook et Skype.2
Maintenant, le Globe and Mail signale que le Canada possède sa propre agence agissant dans un secret quasi total et qui semble faire la même chose : recueillir et stocker impunément nos renseignements les plus confidentiels dans des bases de données colossales.3
C’est important : nous devons savoir quelles données confidentielles sont interceptées et stockées, et surtout pourquoi. Exigez du gouvernement qu’il nous dise la vérité au sujet de ce dangereux programme d’espionnage sans plus attendre. Read more »
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Secretive Spying on Canadians | Weekly News Update from OpenMedia.ca
Here is Arielle with your Weekly News Update, filling you in on the latest privacy threats for Canadians. Last week we heard about the NSA’s PRISM tool in the United States. We have received word that a secretive Canadian spy agency is currently collecting and storing our private information without oversight. We deserve to know where our sensitive information is going. Add your voice at http://secretspying.ca. Read more »
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U.S. Senator calls for more transparency around the Trans-Pacific Partnership
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts has called on the current U.S. government to release documents being used to negotiate the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. In her letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Warren says: "If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States."
We hope to see more public figures demand greater transprency around the Trans-Pacific Partnership - an agreement that could criminalize your daily use of the Internet. Take a stand: http://OurFairDeal.org/ Read more »
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Spies Without Borders I: Using Domestic Networks to Spy on the World
The following article is cross-posted with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and was co-authored by Tamir Israel, Staff Lawyer at CIPPIC and Katitza Rodriguez, EFF International Rights Director. The article is part of the EFF's Spy Without Borders series of blogs looking into how the information disclosed in the U.S National Security Agency (NSA) leaks affect the international community and how they highlight one part of an international system of surveillance that dissolves what national privacy protections any of us have, wherever we live.
Much of the U.S. media coverage of last week’s NSA revelations has concentrated on its impact on the constitutional rights of U.S.-based Internet users. But what about the billions of Internet users around the world whose private information is stored on U.S. servers, or whose data travels across U.S. networks or is otherwise accessible through them? Read more »
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