Vanguard Magazine

T THe LAST WoRd t he revelations about the scope of global surveillance made two years ago by NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden has thrown a spotlight on how intelligence communities around the globe gather and share infor- mation among themselves. With the lid blown wide open on the fact that these massive data gathering practices have the potential to peer into the private details of any individual, many organizations have called for a re- examination, a revamp even of the role of intelligence services. In Canada, the federal privacy commissioner is seeking better oversights and safeguards in the sharing of intelligence data with Canada's allies in order to better protect the privacy rights of law- abiding Canadians. In a report that laid bare many of the failings of the govern- ment's ability to ensure the safety of individuals' private informa- tion, Federal Privacy Commissioner David Therrien also warned of the dangers posed by Bill C-51 and the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act (SCISA). Bill C-51, brought in by the former Conservative government, which introduced sweeping data gathering powers for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Bill C-51 received Royal Assent in June 2015 as the Anti-Terror- ism Act, 2015, and came into force in August 2015. It introduced the SCISA which the Office of the Privacy Commissioner expressed serious concerns in submissions to a number of parliamentary committees studying the bill. The Liberal government created a parliamentary committee to look into the legislation and has promised to repeal elements of C-51 that pose risks to privacy. The efforts fall short. "While the question of oversight has, in part, been addressed, our concerns regarding thresholds remain," according to the 2015-2016 Annual Report to Parliament on the Personal Infor- mation Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Privacy Act, presented by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The commissioner also outlined the dangers of data sharing among our allies. The danger of information sharing was illustrated in the 2014- 15 Annual Report of the Office of the CSE Commissioner (the CSE's oversight authority). The report said that details on the communication activities of Canadians were shared with Canada's Five Eyes signal intelligence partners. The leak was traced to a defective filtering technique which failed to minimize (remove, alter, mask or render unidentifiable) certain data pertaining to Canadians. SCISA's current standard dictates that certain federal government institutions may share information amongst themselves so long as it is "relevant" to the identification of national security threats. "In our view, that threshold is inadequate and could expose the per- sonal information of law-abiding Canadians," the report said. "A more reasonable threshold would be to allow sharing where necessary." The Office of the Privacy Commissioner identified several key concerns which SCISA. Among them where: • The act is broadly worded and leaves much discretion to federal entities to interpret and define "activities that undermine the security of Canada", potentially resulting in an inconsistent ap- proach in its application. • The scale of information sharing that could occur under this act is unprecedented. The potential for sharing on a much larger scale combined with advances in technology allow for personal information to be analyzed algorithmically to spot trends, pre- dict behaviour and potentially profile ordinary Canadians with a view to identifying security threats among them. "Our intent in future reviews will be to examine whether law abiding citizens are indeed subject to these broad sharing powers, and if so, un- der what circumstances," the report said. • Fourteen of the 17 entities authorized to receive information for national security purposes under the SCISA are not subject to dedicated independent review or oversight. • There are legal authorities that existed before the SCISA that permit the collection and disclosure of information for national security purposes. Some of these authorities are also very broad, including the common law powers vested in the police and oth- ers and the crown prerogative of defence. Therrien derided the failure of federal agencies and departments to conduct assessments on privacy impact. The commissioner's report recommended that legislation requiring government de- partments and agencies to conduct Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) prior to implementation of programs. For example, he said, in the 2013 case of the Canada Bor- der Service Agency (CBSA) High Integrity Personnel Security Screening Standard, the Commissioner's office was not consulted prior to implementation and a PIA was received upon the pro- gram's implementation. "As a result, the new and more invasive screening measures be- gan without our input and a related complaint under the Privacy Act followed," Therrien said. "A legislative requirement to com- plete a PIA prior to implementation could have resulted in privacy risks being highlighted and mitigated early on." "In pursuit of a better balance, we have recommended, for ex- ample, changing SCISA's information sharing threshold from 'rel- evance' to 'necessity,' that private and public sector institutions follow through on transparency reporting; and amending the Na- tional Defence Act to add legal safeguards for protecting personal information collected and used by the CSE," the report said. The privacy watchdog is calling for higher standards in protect- ing citizens from surveillance. Canadians understand the value of security, especially under the current threats our country is exposed to. However, they also deeply care about their privacy. That is why the Commissioner stresses that finding the right balance is" absolutely critical." by nestor Arellano limits sought on What the five eyes see and share 46 ocToBER/NoVEMBER 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com Take advantage of the Early Bird rate, visit www.C4ISRandbeyond.com For more Information on Sponsorship, please contact: Marcello Sukhdeo, National Account Manager 905-727-4091 Ext. 224 or marcellos@netgov.ca

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