[Advisors] FW: [IP] [ourprivacy-outreach] Breaking - CSE revealed to be running global mass surveillance program

Wed Jan 28 16:36:34 PST 2015

Should we draft and circulate a statement?

M

From: David Farber via ip [mailto:ip at listbox.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 9:43 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] [ourprivacy-outreach] Breaking - CSE revealed to be running global mass surveillance program

From: David Christopher <david at openmedia.ca>

Date: January 28, 2015 5:46:09 AM PST
To: ourprivacy-outreach at lists.ourprivacy.ca
Subject: [ourprivacy-outreach] Breaking - CSE revealed to be running global mass surveillance program
Reply-To: ourprivacy-outreach at lists.ourprivacy.ca

Hi folks,

Big news this morning - CSE (formerly CSEC) is revealed as running a massive global surveillance program spying on over 10 million downloads a day. Canadian IP addresses are among their targets, and the IP addresses of targets are being shared with UK and US spy agency databases.

More here from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cse-tracks-millions-of-downloads-daily-snowden-documents-1.2930120

And here from The Intercept: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/28/canada-cse-levitation-mass-surveillance/

OpenMedia's response is here: https://openmedia.ca/news/breaking-spy-agency-cse-monitoring-our-private-online-activities-massive-scale-and-sharing-sensitive

This should help us raise the profile of this debate here in Canada. It's the first solid evidence of Canadian mass surveillance, and also runs directly counter <http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/data-collection-program-not-targeting-canadians-mackay-1.1319096>  to what Peter MacKay told Parliament when he was Defence Minister responsible for CSEC in 2013, at a time when this program was operational. 

We'll likely have more on this as the day develops.

David

-- 

David Christopher

Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/> 

(778) 232 1858

david at openmedia.ca

For Immediate Release 

Breaking - Spy agency CSE is monitoring our private online activities on a massive scale and sharing sensitive data with other governments

Canadian spy agency has been caught monitoring over 100 popular file-storage websites, spying on millions of downloads a day, with Canadian Internet addresses among the targets.

January 28, 2015 – Canadian spy agency CSE (Communications Security Establishment) is indiscriminately monitoring the private online activities of millions of Internet users, including Canadians. According to  <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cse-tracks-millions-of-downloads-daily-snowden-documents-1.2930120> CBC News and  <https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/28/canada-cse-levitation-mass-surveillance/> The Intercept, CSE monitored over 100 popular file hosting websites, including  <https://www.rapidshare.com/home> RapidShare and  <https://www.sendspace.com/> SendSpace, spying on millions of downloads a day. They also collected millions of IP addresses of individual users, with a number of Canadian Internet addresses among the targets. 

Findings from the program are collected and shared with foreign spy agencies. All of this activity has been undertaken without users’ knowledge or consent. The program, named LEVITATION, dates back to at least 2012, while Peter MacKay was the Defence Minister responsible for CSE. The news breaks as MacKay, now Justice Minister, prepares to announce  <http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/new-counterterrorism-bill-to-override-certain-privacy-limits-1.2901096> new measures to undermine Canadians’ privacy in legislation expected to be unveiled on Friday.

“CSE is clearly spying on the private online activities of millions of innocent people, including Canadians, despite repeated government assurances to the contrary”, said OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  communications manager David Christopher. “Law-abiding Internet users who use popular  file hosting services are now finding themselves under the government’s microscope.”

Christopher continued: “Given that Canadian IP addresses are among the targets, this amounts to spying on the private information of innocent Canadians, at any time, without a warrant. This alarming development underlines the need for robust action to rein in CSE’s reckless and out of control spying activities. When will the government finally take responsibility and come clean to taxpayers about what’s being done in their name?”

The Intercept  <https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/28/canada-cse-levitation-mass-surveillance/> says the program is clear evidence that the “Canadian government has launched its own globe spanning Internet mass surveillance system.” Canada’s government has  <http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/03/harpers-top-security-advisor-denies-illegal-eavesdropping-of-canadian-travelers-using-airport-wi-fi/> long denied that CSE spies on Canadians. In June 2013, over a year after the spying program exposed this morning went into effect, Peter MacKay  <http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/data-collection-program-not-targeting-canadians-mackay-1.1319096> reassured the House of Commons that CSE is “prohibited” from spying on Canadians. That same day he  <http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/06/10/tories_deny_canadian_spy_agencies_are_targeting_canadians.html> told the Toronto Star that “We don’t target Canadians, okay?”. At the time, MacKay was the minister responsible for  <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/data-collection-program-got-green-light-from-mackay-in-2011/article12444909/> authorizing CSE activities, which then included LEVIATHAN.

Today’s news is the latest in a long string of revelations about how CSE spying has grown secretive, expensive, and out-of-control. These include how CSE  <https://openmedia.ca/news/thousands-innocent-canadian-air-travellers-monitored-and-spied-government-full-independent-inquiry-u> spied on innocent Canadian air travellers,  <https://openmedia.ca/news/new-snowden-documents-reveal-canadian-government-partnered-illegal-spying-canadian-soil> facilitated a massive U.S. spy operation on Canadian soil,  <https://openmedia.ca/node/90032> monitored important Canadian trading partners at the behest of the U.S. NSA, and even  <https://openmedia.ca/blog/revealed-canada%E2%80%99s-ultra-secretive-spy-agency-csec-spied-brazil%E2%80%99s-mining-and-energy-industry> spied on the private communications of Brazil’s energy ministry. 

More about CSE spying can be found in this PSA  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK4zY2IVhqk> video and  <https://openmedia.ca/sites/openmedia.ca/files/Metadata_Infographic_CTA_CSEC.png> infographic OpenMedia put together with the help of privacy experts. 

Canadians are speaking out by joining the  <http://ourprivacy.ca/> Protect our Privacy Coalition, which now includes over 65 organizations and 40,000 Canadians from across the political spectrum. Canadians can join the coalition at  <http://ourprivacy.ca/> OurPrivacy.ca

About OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/> 

OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  is an award-winning community-based organization that safeguards the possibilities of the open Internet. We work toward informed and participatory digital policy by engaging hundreds of thousands of people in protecting our online rights

Through campaigns such as  <http://stopthemeter.ca/> StopTheMeter.ca and  <http://stopspying.ca/> StopSpying.ca, OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  has engaged over half-a-million Canadians, and has influenced public policy and federal law.

About OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/> ’s privacy campaign

OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  led the successful  <http://stopspying.ca/> StopSpying.ca campaign that forced the government to back down on its plans to introduce a costly, invasive, and warrantless online spying law (Bill C-30). Nearly 150,000 Canadians took part in the campaign. To learn more,  <https://openmedia.ca/sites/openmedia.ca/files/infographic_stopspying.jpg> see this infographic.

Last October, OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  joined with over 60 major organizations and over a dozen academic experts to form the  <http://ourprivacy.ca/> Protect Our Privacy Coalition, which is the largest pro-privacy coalition in Canadian history. The Coalition is calling for effective legal measures to protect the privacy of every resident of Canada against intrusion by government entities.

OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  and the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) are  <http://openmedia.ca/csec> working together to put a stop to illegal government surveillance against law-abiding Canadians. OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/>  has launched a  <https://openmedia.ca/csec> national campaign encouraging Canadians to support a BCCLA legal action which aims to stop illegal spying by challenging the constitutionality of the government’s warrantless collection of data on Canadians’ everyday Internet use.

-30-

Contact

David Christopher

Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca <http://openmedia.ca/> 

1-778-232-1858

 <mailto:david at openmedia.ca> david at openmedia.ca

More Information

·  OpenMedia is crowdsourcing policy recommendation to boost privacy safeguards at https://OpenMedia.org/PrivacyPlan 

·  Supreme Court of Canada R v. Spencer ruling <http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14233/index.do> 

·  OpenMedia’s radio ad <https://soundcloud.com/openmedia-ca/tell-peter-mackay-to-withdraw-bill-c-13>  for Peter MacKay’s Central Nova riding

·  Hard-hitting video highlights how Bill C-13 would give immunity to telecom providers who hand over your information without a warrant. Source <https://openmedia.ca/news/hard-hitting-video-released-highlights-how-peter-mackay%E2%80%99s-online-spying-legislation-would-let-range> 

·  Bill C-13 would let authorities obtain private information without a warrant. Source: Michael Geist <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/7006/125/> 

·  Supposed “cyberbullying” legislation will erode the privacy of Canadians. Source: OpenMedia.ca <https://openmedia.ca/news/openmediaca-concerned-%E2%80%9Ccyberbullying%E2%80%9D-legislation-will-unnecessarily-erode-privacy-law-abiding-canad> 

·  Canada's Lawful Access Bill Appears to Have Contained a Provision to Enable PRISM-Style Surveillance Source: Michael Geist <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6920/125/> 

·  Lawful Access back on the agenda this Fall? - Michael Geist. <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6939/84/> 

·  Data breach protocols deficient in 9 federal departments, watchdog finds. - [Source: CBC News <http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/data-breach-protocols-deficient-in-9-federal-departments-watchdog-finds-1.1341017> ]

·  Internet Law expert Michael Geist on why Canadians should be concerned about government spying <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6869/125/> .

·  In this article <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/canadians-need-proper-debate-about-monitoring-of-phone-and-internet/article12445818/> , The Globe and Mail describes the revelations about Canadian government spying as “disturbing and unacceptable”

·  This document <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/raw-documents-canadas-top-secret-data-mining-program/article12446852/> , obtained by The Globe through Access to Information, shows how Minister MacKay authorized a top secret program to data-mine global ‘metadata’ in 2011.

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