If you thought freezing the bank accounts of people involved in the trucker protests of 2022 was peak overreach by Canada’s government, it still has plenty left in the tank.
In March, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-22 in the House of Commons as a supposedly restrained sequel to the original “lawful access” legislation that I warned about in this newsletter last June. The backlash has only grown from civil liberties groups, technology companies, cybersecurity experts, and pretty much anyone else uncomfortable with the idea of the state building the infrastructure for digital surveillance. It comes across less like a narrow policing tool and more like something assembled by bureaucrats who binge-watch spy thrillers.
Government officials claim that the critics are hyperventilating about modern tools that could help law enforcement and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service fight everything from money laundering to child sexual exploitation to terrorist attacks. Last week, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree accused U.S.-based tech firms of “misinterpreting some of the safeguards” built into Bill C-22, including encryption protections.
But when Signal threatens to stop offering its messaging app in Canada, virtual private network (VPN) company Windscribe says it might move its headquarters to another country, and Apple and Meta warn that the personal data of users might be put at risk, perhaps the problem is worse than the companies’ reading comprehension of a bill that includes over 19,000 words.
