New law enters
parliament
After ten years of lobbying Canadian coppers will be allowed
to eavesdrop on Internet-based communications.
The proposed legislation
would force Internet service providers to allow law enforcement to tap into
their systems and the move is said to be needed to stop the world wide
wibble being a safe havens for gangsters, sexual predators and
terrorists. Coppers and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service currently
have the power to wiretap internet communications, if they get a warrant.
But the law does not require ISPs to grant them access.
Tom Copeland,
chairman of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, said the main
problem with the law is that it will be hard for Canada's smaller providers
to upgrade their systems to facilitate interception.