Ottawa to give police more power to snoop

[tuvor]

Wow, how bush-administrationesque of us!

OTTAWA -- The federal government will introduce legislation this fall that would give police and national security agencies new powers to eavesdrop on cellphone calls and monitor the Internet activities of Canadians, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday.

The bill would allow police to demand that Internet service providers hand over a wide range of information on the surfing habits of individuals, including on-line pseudonyms and whether someone possesses a mischief-making computer virus, according to a draft outline of the bill provided to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

After a speech to a police association in Ottawa, Mr. Cotler confirmed that his government will soon bring "lawful access" legislation to cabinet for final approval before it is introduced in the House of Commons.

The minister said the law is needed to replace outdated surveillance laws that were written before the arrival of cellphones and e-mail.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050819/COTLER17/TPNational/Canada

Michael Geist spoke about on News980 in Vancouver today. He suggest writing your MP, Anne McClellan, and one other politician whose name I didn't catch. Here's Geist's website:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=931&Itemid=85

[ninty]

1. Wonderful...

I think i'm going to write a letter.