BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Groups ask for CSEC testimony to be taken under oath
In a letter sent to the Senate Defence Committee chair, BC FIPA called for the testimony of three senior intelligence officials to be given under oath when they appear before the Committee on Monday.
The letter, also written on behalf of OpenMedia, and the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), is in response to revelations that Canada’s secretive spy agency CSEC has collected the private information of unsuspecting travellers at one of Canada’s major airports.
The documents show that for two weeks CSEC monitored members of the public who were using the airport’s free Wi-Fi system, and were then able to track these travellers for a week or more as their devices logged on to other Wi-Fi hotspots across Canada. In fact, the CBC reports that CSEC was even able to track these individuals ‘back in time,’ following them in the days leading up to their arrival at the airport.
This indiscriminate collection of Canadians’ information falls way outside CSEC’s mandate to collect foreign intelligence, and is clearly both illegal and contrary to statements by CSEC denying that the spy agency targets Canadians with its surveillance.
This is part of a pattern of intelligence agencies and other government officials in this country and elsewhere being ‘economical with the truth ‘about their activities.
The Senate Committee has the opportunity to do this by putting CSEC’s senior officials under oath.
Read FIPA’s letter to the Senate Committee here.
In a letter sent to the Senate Defence Committee chair, BC FIPA called for the testimony of three senior intelligence officials to be given under oath when they appear before the Committee on Monday.
The letter, also written on behalf of OpenMedia, and the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), is in response to revelations that Canada’s secretive spy agency CSEC has collected the private information of unsuspecting travellers at one of Canada’s major airports.
The documents show that for two weeks CSEC monitored members of the public who were using the airport’s free Wi-Fi system, and were then able to track these travellers for a week or more as their devices logged on to other Wi-Fi hotspots across Canada. In fact, the CBC reports that CSEC was even able to track these individuals ‘back in time,’ following them in the days leading up to their arrival at the airport.
This indiscriminate collection of Canadians’ information falls way outside CSEC’s mandate to collect foreign intelligence, and is clearly both illegal and contrary to statements by CSEC denying that the spy agency targets Canadians with its surveillance.
This is part of a pattern of intelligence agencies and other government officials in this country and elsewhere being ‘economical with the truth ‘about their activities.
The Senate Committee has the opportunity to do this by putting CSEC’s senior officials under oath.
Read FIPA’s letter to the Senate Committee here.