This report investigates the surveillance capabilities of IMSI Catchers, efforts by states to prevent information relating to IMSI Catchers from entering the public record, and the legal and policy frameworks that govern the use of these devices. The report principally focuses on Canadian agencies but, to do so, draws comparative examples from other jurisdictions. The report concludes with a series of recommended transparency and control mechanisms that are designed to properly contain the use of the devices and temper their more intrusive features.

The United States Department of Homeland Security has filed a proposal to collect social media details from visitors to the country. Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons commented on the privacy implications of the proposal, as well as broader trends in social media monitoring by security officials.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert authored an op-ed for CBC News detailing the newly revamped Access My Info tool, which now includes fitness trackers and dating applications. The tool allows Canadians to exercise their right to inquire about the information that technology companies store about them.

Access My Info (AMI), a web tool used to submit disclosure requests to companies on the data they collect and share with third parties about their customers, has now been expanded to submit disclosure requests to fitness tracker companies and dating applications.

Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons reviewed documents on BlackBerry for the CBC, and was interviewed by VICE on Canada’s RCMP’s use of IMSI catchers.

Recent reports have indicated that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has had a key to unlock encrypted messages sent between BlackBerry users since 2010. Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons commented on the significance of the revelations in an interview with VICE Motherboard.

Court documents provided in a case before the Quebec Court of Appeal indicate that the RCMP used advanced technology to spy on mobile phones in a criminal investigation on organized crime. Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons spoke to the Globe and Mail about the case.

In a guest post on JustSecurity co-authored with Tamir Israel of the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons urged a revaluation of Canada’s intelligence sharing with its Five Eyes allies.

Canada’s Department of National Defence, and its associated research wing, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), are looking to purchase software to analyze social media streams in real-time. Christopher Parsons weighs in on concerns of the possibility of accidentally collecting Canadians’ personal information.

A “secret network” launched by the Canadian federal government last year, costing millions of dollars to taxpayers, came under close scrutiny following a suspected hack. Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christoper Parsons explains the possibilities behind the leaking of the document.