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Big Brother Is WATCHING YOU ONLINE,
Warn Privacy Advocates
Wed Aug 9, 11:33 AM

By Michael Hammond

OTTAWA (CP) - Privacy advocates are raising fears that the country's Internet service providers are turning into Big Brother watching every move you make online.

Bell Sympatico, Telus, Bell Aliant, Primus and Rogers all have clauses in their "customer service agreements" warning customers that they could be monitored at any time.

Bell Sympatico set off controversy in June when it changed its service agreement to allow monitoring, but University of Ottawa professor Wade Deisman said the industry has been monitoring customers for several years

Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, an outspoken advocate of privacy rights, said the language in each Internet provider's agreement is too broad, suggesting that they are monitoring customers' activities

"Given that it appears (this clause) is in all of these agreements, there should be a huge concern for all Canadians," Greenspon said. "This is an outrageous violation of individual rights."

In its "agreement", Bell Sympatico warns customers that it intends to "monitor or investigate content or your use of your service provider's networks and to disclose any information necessary to "satisfy any laws, regulations or other governmental request."

The other service providers use similar - or even stronger - language.

Internet and privacy experts also fear the federal government will revamp Internet surveillance legislation as early as this fall, giving law enforcement officials and Canadian Security and Intelligence Service agents access to personal information without a warrant

Deisman, an Internet law expert, says Internet providers have been "intimidated" into complying with the incoming surveillance act.

"There were even suggestions that Internet service providers would have to keep people on staff to respond to police warrants on a 24-7 basis," he said.

"If we read between the lines of this legislation, this is how the government has scared them into doing this on their own."

Although Deisman said the around-the-clock staffing idea is no longer likely, companies are under increasing pressure to lend police a hand in nabbing sophisticated online criminals

Deisman said all of Canada's Internet providers are "routinely" attacked by hackers. They have been told to monitor their customers or face onerous legislation that would be costly, he added.

Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson said that if the expected surveillance law gives police access to information without a warrant, Telus would have to obey.

"Customers say they are concerned about privacy and we take that very seriously," Johannsson said

"If the law changes, we could comply with the law as long as the party has legal authorization to see the information."

Johannsson said TELUS currently only hands over information when a warrant is issued.

Deisman said police are scrambling to keep pace with crooks and terrorists online, and the recent arrest of 17 suspected terrorists in Toronto will provide fuel for the push for further surveillance.

Melissa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said recently that the government is reviewing the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act

The bill died on the order paper when the previous Liberal government fell late last year.

No firm date has been set to reintroduce the bill, Leclerc said

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/09082006/2/ztechnology-big-brother-watching-online-warn-privacy-advocates.html