This report was published at Huffingtonpost.ca at August 25, 2011. This is a summary and the title is above.
A survey released by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada reported that 82% of those polled ¨opposed giving police and intelligence agencies the power to access email records and other internet usage data without a warrant from the courts.¨
The 2011 Canadian Privacy Survey found that not only do a vast majority of Canadians want court-ordered warrant for online surveillance, most ( 83% ) not even want their internet service providers to ask their permission to track any of their online behaviour.
The survey found a Canadian populace that is increasingly aware of privacy problems online, and 40% surveyed said computers and internet pose a risk to their privacy, compared to only 26% two years ago. The Canadians also expressed distrust in government on the issue, with only 22% saying they are confident in the government handling of data.
Critics have called the proposed ¨lawful access¨ legislation a threat to civil liberties that would essentially remove judicial oversight from police investigations carried out online.
There are signs the government may be tempering its approach to the issue, a government spokewoman said ¨ we agree that police should have the ability, with the appropriate legal constraints to access communications for the purpose of gathering evidence. We would not support allowing police access data without a warrant¨.
