EFF urges Canadians to oppose Bill C-22 surveillance bill in the Senate
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is calling on Canadians to speak out against Bill C-22, also called the Lawful Access Act. The bill has already passed the House of Commons and is now before the Canadian Senate. The EFF describes it as a massive expansion of surveillance powers that threatens the privacy and security of millions of people.
According to the EFF, the bill gives the government new powers to force digital services, including telecom companies and messaging apps, to help with government surveillance. It also allows Canada's Minister of Public Safety to order companies to create a backdoor to their services for law enforcement, as long as the backdoor does not lead to a "systemic insecurity." The EFF calls that a clear recipe for weakening the encryption people rely on.
The bill also requires services to retain metadata for up to a year. The EFF notes that metadata reveals who people communicate with, where they go and what services they use, even when they are not suspected of any crime.
Researchers at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and Citizen Lab have published a detailed analysis of C-22 and what the EFF calls its serious constitutional and cybersecurity problems. The analysis says the bill needs more than cosmetic changes. It calls for entirely withdrawing Part 2 of the bill, the section that establishes the surveillance and data retention regime.
There is a cross-border angle too. The EFF says C-22 could expand the sharing of Canadians' personal data with foreign law enforcement, including in the United States. Canada has been negotiating a cross-border data-sharing agreement with the U.S. that would allow American police to get information about Canadian internet users without any Canadian court oversight.
The EFF adds that some Canadian senators have already expressed concerns. It says they have suggested, as CCLA and Citizen Lab have, that the bill may not be compatible with privacy protections in the Canadian constitution.
The call to action: people in Canada should read and sign the CCLA's petition opposing C-22, which the EFF links from its post, and press the Senate not to let the expansion of government surveillance become the new reality.
Key facts
- Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, has passed the House of Commons and is now before the Canadian Senate.
- The EFF says it lets the Minister of Public Safety order companies to build backdoors, provided they do not cause a "systemic insecurity."
- Services would have to retain metadata for up to a year, including data on people not suspected of any crime.
- CCLA and Citizen Lab call for entirely withdrawing Part 2, the section that sets up the surveillance and data retention regime.
- The EFF says the bill could expand sharing of Canadians' data with foreign law enforcement, including the U.S.
Why it matters
The bill would give the government powers to compel telecom companies, messaging apps and other digital services to assist surveillance. The EFF's central worry is the backdoor order: the Minister of Public Safety could demand access to a service, with the only stated limit being that it must not create a "systemic insecurity." The EFF reads that as an opening to weaken encryption. The year-long metadata retention requirement applies to everyone using these services, not only suspects.
Who it affects
Canadians who use telecom services and messaging apps are the main group, since the metadata retention and backdoor powers would reach those services. Companies that run such services would be the ones ordered to comply. The EFF also says Canadians' personal data could flow more easily to foreign law enforcement, including in the United States.
How to use it
For readers in Canada, the EFF's suggested action is to read and sign the CCLA's petition opposing Bill C-22, which targets the Senate where the bill now sits. The petition on the CCLA's website is governed by CCLA's privacy policy. The CCLA and Citizen Lab analysis is the document to read for the detailed constitutional and cybersecurity argument.
How solid is it
This is an advocacy post by the EFF, and the characterisations of the bill (backdoors, weakened encryption, risks to privacy) are the EFF's own reading. The deeper analysis it points to comes from researchers at CCLA and Citizen Lab, who call for withdrawing Part 2. The post says some senators have raised concerns about constitutional compatibility, but it names none. The bill's status, passed by the House and before the Senate, is stated plainly.
Risks and caveats
The post gives no date for a Senate vote and no deadline for the petition, so the real time left is unclear. It does not say when the bill passed the House of Commons or by what margin, and it gives no signature count for the petition. The Canada-U.S. data-sharing agreement is described only as under negotiation, not concluded. The post names no specific affected companies.
“That’s a clear recipe for weakening the encryption we all rely on.”
— EFF, on the backdoor power in Bill C-22