CSEC

During the heated national debate over Bill C-59, which enacted sweeping changes to how Canada’s spy agencies operate, the Citizen Lab’s Lex Gill and Christoper Parsons posed some tough questions about the legislation. 

In an article contributed to the National Post, Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons explains that the activities of the Communications Security Establishment constitute spying on Canadians. Parsons summarizes several findings regarding the mandate and practices of the organization leaked over the last year and a half, many of which strongly undermine CSE’s claim that Canadians are not “targeted” by domestic security agencies.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert interviewed by the CBC News regarding documents the news agency obtained on the Communications Security Establishment project dubbed “Levitation.”

Canadians should demand more from government in reigning in electronic spying and cyber-policing. But we should also, as citizens, subscribers, and users, demand more from our internet and telecommunication service providers.

A top secret document leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden and obtained by CBC News shows that “Canada’s electronic spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), used information from the free internet service at a major Canadian airport to track the wireless devices of thousands of ordinary airline passengers for days after they left the terminal.”

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert wrote a joint commentary with Ann Cavoukian, Andrew Clement and Nathalie Des Rosiers in the Globe and Mail today about the lack of accountability of the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC).