“Every single thing that you do — in this case uploading/downloading files to these sites — that act is being archived, collected and analyzed,” says Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, in an interview with the CBC (watch video below). Deibert was referring to the Communications Security Establishment’s project dubbed “Levitation,” the details of which was obtained by US whistleblower Edward Snowden and recently released to CBC News. The CBC analyzed the document in collaboration with the US news website The Intercept. Citizen Lab Senior Researcher and Technical Advisor Morgan Marquis-Boire is also the Director of Security for First Look Media, the news organization which funds The Intercept.
Under “Levitation,” analysts with the agency can access information on about 10 to 15 million uploads and downloads of files from free websites each day, the document says. The document, which contains a PowerPoint presentation written in 2012, provides a rare glimpse into Canada’s spying capabilities and is especially concerning given the Harper government’s plans to introduce new legislation increasing the powers of Canada’s security agencies.
Read the full article here. The story was also picked up by Radio Canada International, Sympatico (in French), Motherboard, and the New York Times, among others.