Online surveillance bill backed by police chiefs

Canada's top copsdefended the federal government's proposedlaw that would help investigators track people's online communications, at a news conference in Vancouver Monday.

Both the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Police Associationsay theyendorse Bill C-30, a controversial online surveillance bill.

Section 17 of the bill outlines the "exceptionalcircumstances" under which "any police officer" can request an internet service provider (ISP) toturn over customer information without a warrant.

"We believe the new legislation will assist police with the necessary tools to investigate crimes while balancing, if not strengthening, the privacy rights for Canadians through the addition of oversight not currently in place," said Vancouver police Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke.

"We also need the privacy safeguards to ensure were accountable in the use of these tools, and we believe Bill C-30 provides just that."

Lemckesaid the law would only give police access to subscriber information, and investigators would still need warrants to actually monitor internet communications.

"The global internet, cellular phones and social media have been widely adopted and enjoyed by Canadians, young and old.These new technologies are also being used as a safe haven for criminal activityidentity theft, child and sexual exploitation, gangs, organized crime and national security threats," he said.

"This is a huge challenge facing law enforcement agencies. We collectively need every reasonable tool to prevent such activity from happening in the first place, and to investigate and lay charges when it does."

Lemcke said the current legislation regarding lawful access was drafted in 1975, long before the existence of the internet and social media.

'An effective piece of legislation'

Tom Stamatakis, head ofthe Vancouver police union and president of the Canadian Police Association,said getting basic internet subscriber datawould belike checking a phone book for somebody's phone number.

"We're talking about serious criminal misconduct, serious criminal offencesmurders, organized crime, those kinds of offences. Even if the police wanted, in some pervasive way, to monitor phones, ISPs, whatever we don't have the capacity," he said.

"This is legislation that's designed to give police the tools to better deal with serious organized crimethis is an effective piece of legislation that will allow the police to more quickly respond to those kinds of serious criminal activities. That's what the focus isthat's why we support this legislation."

The bill has garnered fervent opposition, including asocial media protestaimed at Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, the sponsor of the bill.

Toews came under fire once againover the weekendforcomments he made toCBC Radio's The House host Evan Solomon indicating he wassurprised by some of the bill's contents.

The Opposition New Democrats say the billshould be withdrawn and scrapped.

Toews has sent the bill to committee for study before a second reading.