WATCH: Canada's Government Spy Agency & You

[Oscar]

WATCH: Diverse groups put out hard-hitting video exposing how government spy agency has the power to monitor the everyday lives of innocent Canadians

[ https://openmedia.ca/news/diverse-group ... itor-every ]

September 22, 2014

Viral video released amid growing outrage at how government spy agencies like Canada’s CSEC and the U.S. NSA are collecting hugely revealing information on innocent citizens

Government spying on law-abiding Canadians is secretive, expensive, and out-of-control. That’s the message of a hard-hitting video launched this morning by community-based OpenMedia.ca, which is leading a large, non-partisan national coalition calling for effective legal measures to safeguard Canadians from government spying.

The video reveals how information collected by government spy agency CSEC (Communications Security Establishment Canada) can expose intimate details about Canadians’ private lives, including their financial status, medical conditions, political and religious beliefs, and even their sexual orientation. CSEC was caught red-handed spying on thousands of innocent Canadian air travelers earlier this year.

MORE:

[ https://openmedia.ca/news/diverse-group ... itor-every ]

[Oscar]

Edward Snowden Warns Canadians To Be 'Extraordinarily Cautious' Over Anti-Terror Bill

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/03 ... 01812.html ]

The Huffington Post Canada | By Zi-Ann Lum Posted: 02/03/2015 7:17 am EST Updated: 02/04/2015 10:59 am EST

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed students at a Toronto private school via video link on Monday to warn about the perils of being complacent as the government makes sweeping changes to Canada’s anti-terrorism laws.

“I would say we should always be extraordinarily cautious when we see governments trying to set up a new secret police within their own countries,” Snowden said in a livestream feed from Russia. [ http://www.ucc.on.ca/wac-2015-keynote/ ] He made reference to Bill C-51, legislation tabled by the Conservative government days earlier. [ http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications ... &File=29#1 ]

More than 900 students attended the talk titled, “Privacy vs. Security: A Discussion of Personal Privacy in the Digital Age” hosted at Upper Canada College. Nearly 1,400 watched the live broadcast online.

Snowden urged the audience to be adept at lining up facts versus rhetoric with emergency legislations born from times of “fear and panic.” He added though Canada is not unique in its anti-terrorism laws and surveillance programs, [ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/01/29 ... 69292.html ] it’s important to be critical toward political arguments championing their necessity.

“Once we let these power get rolling it’s very difficult to stop that pull through,” Snowden said. “So I would say that we need to use extraordinary scrutiny in every society, in every country, in every state to make sure that the laws we live under are the ones we truly want and truly need.”

Journalist Glenn Greenwald was also on hand for the keynote via conference call. [ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/23 ... 37434.html ]

MORE:

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/03 ... 01812.html ]


= = = = = = =

Glenn Greenwald Predicts Security Crackdown, More Canadian Secrecy

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/23 ... 37434.html ]

CP | By Nelson Wyatt, The Canadian Press Posted: 10/23/2014 4:15 pm EDT Updated: 12/23/2014 5:59 am EST

- - - -

QUOTE: "When you have your military in other countries, if you're sending fighter jets to drop bombs on countries, that's not peaceful." - Glenn Greenwald

- - - -

MONTREAL - Canadians should expect sweeping security and surveillance measures following attacks against the military in Quebec and Ottawa, says the man who helped expose wide-ranging government monitoring of citizens in the United States.

"I will be shocked if the events of this week don't result in far greater secrecy powers and far greater surveillance powers than existed previously," Glenn Greenwald told The Canadian Press on Thursday.

"I've seen it so many times where the fear and nationalism that get generated by these events render almost inevitable not just the enactment of legislation that was already pending but I'll bet new and wholly more extreme measures as well."

- - - - SNIP - - -

He said Canada should not be underestimated when it comes to intelligence gathering, noting it is part of the so-called "Five Eyes" alliance of countries that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

"They literally want to collect and store every electronic communication activity that takes place by and between human beings everywhere in the world, which is another way of saying they want to eliminate privacy in the digital age," he said.

"Canada is a recipient of enormous amounts of information that come from this alliance and they are contributors of enormous amounts of information that come from this alliance."

Greenwald questioned government arguments that increased surveillance has thwarted terrorist plans, saying the avalanche of information collected may have even hindered efforts.

He said intelligence activity didn't prevent this week's killing of Canadian soldiers in Quebec and Ottawa, while the significant capabilities of the National Security Agency didn't stop the Boston Marathon bombing last year or an attempted attack on New York's Times Square in 2010.

MORE:

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/23 ... 37434.html ]


= = = = = = =


GREENWALD: Canada, At War For 13 Years, Shocked That ‘A Terrorist’ Attacked Its Soldiers

[ https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014 ... -soldiers/ ]

By Glenn Greenwald October 22, 2014

EXCERPT:

First, Canada has spent the last 13 years proclaiming itself a nation at war. It actively participated in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and was an enthusiastic partner in some of the most extremist War on Terror abuses perpetrated by the U.S. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister revealed, with the support of a large majority of Canadians, that “Canada is poised to go to war in Iraq, as [he] announced plans in Parliament [] to send CF-18 fighter jets for up to six months to battle Islamic extremists.” Just yesterday, Canadian Defence Minister Rob Nicholson flamboyantly appeared at the airfield in Alberta from which the fighter jets left for Iraq and stood tall as he issued the standard Churchillian war rhetoric about the noble fight against evil.

It is always stunning when a country that has brought violence and military force to numerous countries acts shocked and bewildered when someone brings a tiny fraction of that violence back to that country. Regardless of one’s views on the justifiability of Canada’s lengthy military actions, it’s not the slightest bit surprising or difficult to understand why people who identify with those on the other end of Canadian bombs and bullets would decide to attack the military responsible for that violence.

That’s the nature of war. A country doesn’t get to run around for years wallowing in war glory, invading, rendering and bombing others, without the risk of having violence brought back to it. Rather than being baffling or shocking, that reaction is completely natural and predictable. The only surprising thing about any of it is that it doesn’t happen more often.

The issue here is not justification (very few people would view attacks on soldiers in a shopping mall parking lot to be justified). The issue is causation. Every time one of these attacks occurs — from 9/11 on down — Western governments pretend that it was just some sort of unprovoked, utterly “senseless” act of violence caused by primitive, irrational, savage religious extremism inexplicably aimed at a country innocently minding its own business. They even invent fairy tales to feed to the population to explain why it happens: they hate us for our freedoms.

Those fairy tales are pure deceit. Except in the rarest of cases, the violence has clearly identifiable and easy-to-understand causes: namely, anger over the violence that the country’s government has spent years directing at others. The statements of those accused by the west of terrorism, and even the Pentagon’s own commissioned research, have made conclusively clear what motivates these acts: namely, anger over the violence, abuse and interference by Western countries in that part of the world, with the world’s Muslims overwhelmingly the targets and victims. The very policies of militarism and civil liberties erosions justified in the name of stopping terrorism are actually what fuels terrorism and ensures its endless continuation.


= = = = = =


Anti-terrorism bill will unleash CSIS on a lot more than terrorists

[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-de ... e22821691/ ]

EDITORIAL Globe and Mail, Thursday, Feb. 05 2015 (Includes Correction)

EXCERPT:

On close inspection, Bill C-51 is not an anti-terrorism bill. Fighting terrorism is its pretext; its language reveals a broader goal of allowing government departments, as well as CSIS, to act whenever they believe limply defined security threats "may" - not "will" - occur.

So why does this bill exist? What is it fighting? And why is it giving intelligence officers powers that are currently reserved for the RCMP and other police forces?

CSIS is an intelligence agency. It is secretive, and it is supposed to be. Why does it suddenly need police powers to do its job? Until now, police powers were reserved for the police - an organization that is public, and which in a democracy must be.

Have you ever met a CSIS agent? Was he out in uniform, walking the beat? No. CSIS works in secret. It is furthermore immune from Parliamentary oversight.

And now, if Bill C-51 passes, CSIS will be able to disrupt anything its political masters believe might be a threat. As the bill is currently written, that includes a lot more than terrorism.
Editor's note: This editorial has been modified because of an error in the original version, which incorrectly stated that Bill C-51 redefines the security threats that CSIS will investigate. In fact, that definition remains unchanged.


= = = = = =


A 'war on terrorism'? No thanks. There are smarter ways to meet the threat

[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-de ... e22832660/ ]

EDITORIAL The Globe and Mail, Saturday, Feb. 07 2015

EXCERPT:

Recently, the Prime Minister and his ministers have taken to telling Canadians that the so-called Islamic State group has "declared war on Canada" - and that Canada is thus at war, against ISIS abroad and its proxies at home. The response is mistaken in two ways.

It exaggerates the power of a gang of thugs who aren't even a state. If organized criminals thousands of kilometres away put out a video announcing their intention to wage war against all of humanity, including Canada, Ottawa might take the threat seriously. But it would be put in its proper context. It would be given its due weight, and nothing more.

Here at home, lone-wolf and lost-dog terrorists dreaming of a war of civilizations should not get their wish, even rhetorically. Using the language of war dignifies their delusions and elevates their crimes. Better to meet and defeat them on our country's preferred turf: old-fashioned police work, patient intelligence gathering, meticulous legal proceedings and the fairest of trials. We know how to do this.

The government has also spoken as if helping Canada's allies to fight ISIS in Iraq, by sending fighter jets and special forces, were key to counteracting the threat of terrorism at home. That's not right either. The two objectives are distinct and largely separate.

There are good reasons for Canada to be assisting Iraq and in particular the Kurds of Northern Iraq in their fight against ISIS. Canada is helping friends and allies in a humanitarian cause against a ruthless enemy; the goal of pushing back ISIS and ending its attacks on Iraqis is limited, realistic and attainable. ISIS wants total war and a global clash of civilizations. Canada should give it nothing of the sort.

It is also important to remember that, though ISIS claims to espouse all sorts of ideas of universal revolution, it is the product of the complex and shifting politics of Iraq and Syria. It is driven in part by forces, such as a history of Sunni-Shia grievances in Iraq, that have nothing to do with terrorism in Canada. Canadian home-grown radicals have shown themselves to be as ignorant of the nuances of Mesopotamian politics as they are of Islam.

And it is important to remember that Canadian home-grown radicals, Islamist or otherwise, existed long before the recently formed ISIS. The threat, small but real, is likely to remain after ISIS is no more.


= = = = = =


Canada's reaction to ISIL a win for the terrorists

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/column ... terrorists

By James Gordon, Ottawa Citizen, February 5, 2015

EXCERPT:

Here in Canada, we've embraced overheated rhetoric and overbearing government. Harper's speech last Friday, which was meant to convey strength but sounded like fear, accompanied sweeping new anti-terrorism laws that will radically re-shape our security apparatus and free speech rights. This is to our detriment.

It would be stupid, of course, to pretend the problem doesn't exist - the terrorism charges earlier this week against three Ottawa men were yet another reminder that there will always be a handful of disgruntled people, even in a free society. But it's also extremely important not to lose our minds over what is, objectively, a very small risk. The Mounties and CSIS do some tremendous work (with the tools they already have, even!), and it's a credit to them that there haven't been more attacks in Canada.

Let's make a couple more things perfectly clear: The murder of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was a tragedy that moved many of us to tears, and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's shooting spree in Ottawa (whatever it was motivated by - the Conservative government and the RCMP are inexplicably refusing to release a video he reportedly made prior to the attacks) in the fall had the potential to be much worse.

While it may seem callous against that backdrop to point out that something like 0.0000000285714286 per cent of the Canadian population died in terrorist attacks on Canadian soil last year, if we're to have an honest, mature discussion about how to tackle the issue, we need to do so in a way that's grounded in reality. Terrorism is here, but it's no threat to our freedom or "our way of life."

That the president of the United States, a nation some here mocked mercilessly for its post-9/11 "threat levels" and Iraq misadventures, is the one taking the measured approach must be startling to those who still consider Canada a society that values logic over rhetoric. But then, we now live in a country that will soon put before Parliament a law that could jail people for five years for promoting terrorism "in general" - a provision so broad and so fraught with legal complications it's almost astounding someone allowed it to see the light of day.

In committing to that provision and many others, we will divert untold millions of dollars of our own money away from things like tax cuts for working families or programs that could actually improve Canadians' day-to-day quality of life.

When we constantly tell terrorists how scary they are and make ourselves poorer in the process, it's hard not to see it as anything but a win for terrorists. James Gordon is a member of the Citizen's editorial board.


= = = = =