No, this is not a tribute to that Hall and Oates goodie-oldie… (if that’s what you came for then here)
This is more about the continued and expanding governmental invasion of your privacy. You see, for all of us that originally cheered Ed Snowden and others like him for their courage and sacrifices, we’ve collectively dropped the ball and not kept the pressure up. Our attention has shifted (or been shifted) to the next “hot topic” yet the problems remain and in many ways are worsening but that’s “old news”.
The media now is more interested in Assange’s loss of internet or the antics of Election 2016 than they are in your ongoing loss of privacy. Other, newer and fresher stories appear daily to captivate you. It’s infotainment at it’s best. When the audience has a short attention span then make a big story, beat it to death and then move on. Snowden’s revelations were ground shaking in their magnitude and scope. The public was shocked and the CNN effect took over. Months of reporting, analysis, movies, books and public debates followed but we’ve all since lost interest.
The real end result has been that Government agencies (and some private ones too…) have simply gone deeper underground, laws have been amended and new ones enacted that now make those crimes in essence legal.
For example, recently here in Canada we discovered not only that these privacy abuses were ongoing but also that the media and public are apathetic to the issue.
Canada’s CSIS (Canadian Security and Intelligence Service) was caught collecting, storing, aggregating and analyzing metadata on non-targets (not the bad guys) and they’ve been doing this for a decade, in-spite of clear laws and supposedly rigid oversight. That’s right, Canada’s own government has been caught merrily spying on it’s own citizens for over a decade; right through the Snowden scandal; and doing it without adhering to it’s own laws.
Apparently, back in 2006, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) wanted to expand their collection efforts so they informed/consulted with the Department of Justice, informed the Minister for Public Safety, the CSIS Internal Auditor, the independent SIRC (Security Intelligence Review Committee) and even The Privacy Commissioner who all gave their approval. With the Department of Justice concurrence and authorized by a Federal Court issued warrant, CSIS was now able to begin it’s newest program.
“CSIS crunched the data beginning in 2006 using a powerful program known as the Operational Data Analysis Centre to produce intelligence that can reveal specific, intimate details about people the spy service monitors….
The problem is that this information was collected not just on targeted individuals but also on relatives, friends, co-workers, employers etc. Simply put, if the actual target of their original surveillance was once your former co-worker from five years ago who had called you to ask for a job reference, YOU would now be included in the dragnet, forever even though you weren’t the target.
From then on the CSIS program would collect all of your metadata (not content) which could include all the phone numbers you’ve called, their durations, your GPS locations at the time of and for the duration of these calls, all websites you’ve visited (yes, even those ones…), who you’ve texted and how frequently along with anything else they could collect, catalogue, index, cross reference, analyze, store indefinitely and possibly share with their partners.
Now the fact that the Federal Courts and the Privacy Comissioner thought this was a reasonable request is troubling enough but then CSIS, for the next 10 years, would periodically update all the required parties as to the status of the program except the very courts who granted the permission and could revoke it, even though they were required to by law !!
It finally came out less than a month ago that this had been going on since 2006 when Federal Court Judge Noel, issued a sharply worded, heavily redacted statement which revealed the existence of the program (here) and commented,
Canadian Security Intelligence Service had illegally retained an unknown amount of data on “third party” and “non-threat” individuals since 2006.
CSIS fed that data into a powerful database that allowed the agency to draw out “specific, intimate insights into the lifestyle and personal choices of individuals,”
“The evolution of technology is no excuse to flout or stretch legal parameters. When the information collected does not fall within the legal parameters delimiting the agency’s functions and actions, it cannot legally be retained.”
“(Judges) serve as the gatekeepers of intrusive powers, ensuring a balance between private interest and the state’s need to intrude upon that privacy for the collective good,” Noël wrote.
“If the CSIS unduly limits the flow of information the court needs to make proper determinations, then the CSIS can be seen as manipulating the judicial decision-making process.”
What should have been seen as a political firestorm erupting instead resulted in tepid media coverage. Director of CSIS Michel Coulombe, at a hastily called news conference stated,
The head of one of Canada’s leading intelligence agencies, responsible for the collection and analysis of information vital to protecting all Canadians admits that in effect “Ok, that’s our bad. We don’t know what happened but we’re on the case now….”. AND HE GOT AWAY WITH IT !! (sort of)
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale (Coulombe’s boss) then stated in his own hastily called press conference that CSIS should have known these actions were “un-Canadian”. But he’s now on the job and looking into it. But he also suggested that these types of issues could be discussed during the current the Federal Security Review, a governmental body which, meeting behind closed doors and consulting “professionals” could help update the laws? Seriously ?
Simply put folks, the media didn’t make anywhere near a big enough issue out of this and we as the public didn’t respond in any way that suggests we care anymore.
Seriously ?!?!? The head of the CSIS itself claims “My bad…whoops…” and The Minister responsible for Public Safety assures us all that everything’s under control, nothing to see here, to keep calm and to move along and we bought into all that ??
If you’re ok with that then here’s one final quote from Glenn Greenwald (the guy who broke the Snowden story we were all up in arms about) speaking at TED in October 2014 on Why Privacy Matters: