Lawful access or needless distress? How service providers feel about new high-tech surveillance proposals
posted by:Jennifer Manning // 05:07 PM // July 29, 2005 // Surveillance and social sorting
By: Mari-Len De Guzman
IT World Canada (22 Jul 2005)
In the so-called "lawful access" controversy in Canada there are almost as many sides as there are stakeholders.
The debate appears to pit law enforcement agencies here against privacy groups. Service providers – wireless, wireline and Internet – are caught somewhere in the middle, trying to juggle their twin responsibilities: ensuring subscriber privacy, while helping law enforcement catch crooks or terrorists.
Theoretically, "lawful access" refers to the legal intercept of communications, as well as search and seizure of information by Canadian law enforcement agencies. Under current criminal statutes, these seizures have to be authorized by law, usually a judicial order.
This, however, may not always be the case if the new "lawful access" proposals go through.
For instance, police, CSIS agents, and Competition Bureau agents would be empowered to obtain subscriber data – name, address, e-mail address, IP address – from telecommunications service providers (TSPs) upon mere request, without any judicial authorization or requirement for reasonable grounds to suspect wrongdoing.
In addition, TSPs would be subject to a "gag order" regarding such requests – namely, no disclosure of the content of the request, the information provided, or any other information regarding the provision of subscriber information to the police.
And it's more than ethical dilemmas that carriers have to contend with. There's the question of what compliance would cost them – in terms of money, technology and resources.
Counting the cost:
For instance, one proposal currently under review requires service providers to build into their networks communications intercept capabilities.
The question, of course, is who will foot the bill for doing that. For carriers and service providers, that's a vital issue. But until the proposed legislation provides more clarity in terms of the technology requirement, TSPs are not able to quantify the capital cost of lawful access compliance.
One thing may be certain though, according to David Elder, chair of the lawful access committee of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). Smaller Internet service providers (ISP) will be given "special considerations" when it comes to the carriers' financial obligations.
Click here for the article, and to see Jason Young on the cover.
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