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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Spy chief extols Tory Internet snooping bill

By: Jim Bronskill

Posted: 07/14/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

OTTAWA -- Canada's spy chief backs the Conservative government's troubled bid to bolster Internet surveillance powers and has offered to help tweak the legislation to make it more palatable to a wary public.

In a letter to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Dick Fadden says the spy agency was "extremely pleased" to see the bill come before Parliament, considering it "vital" to protecting national security.

CSIS was drafting "potential options" to strengthen accountability measures in the bill, says the late February letter, sent to the embattled minister following a wave of opposition to the legislation from civil libertarians and Internet privacy advocates.

The Canadian Press obtained a declassified version of the top-secret letter this week under the Access to Information Act.

The federal legislation would give police, intelligence and Competition Bureau officers access to Internet subscriber information, including name, address, telephone number, email address and Internet Protocol (IP) address, without a warrant.

It would also require telecommunication service providers to have the technical capability to enable authorities to intercept messages and conversations.

"Of the various provisions contained in the bill, the intercept capability requirements are of primary importance to the Service and critical to national security," Fadden says in the letter.

Fadden acknowledges the cost for companies to set up and maintain intercept-capable networks could be significant. But he argues the legislation provides "generous lead times and grandfathering provisions" that will help industry.

Opponents of the bill say allowing authorities access to Internet subscriber information without a court-approved warrant would be a dangerous infringement of privacy because even that limited data can be revealing.

Amid the furor, the government indicated a willingness to amend the legislation by sending it straight to committee for study instead of the usual second reading in the House of Commons. The bill did not resurface before the Commons rose for the summer.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 14, 2012 A20

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