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Canadian ISP Shoulder Surfing
1nfamous writes "Canada's Largest ISP, Bell Sympatico, has informed its 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 new customer service agreement is effective June 15, 2006."
>to disclose any information necessary to satisfy any laws, regulations or other governmental request Which Gov.? The Canadian of US?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
If you are a capitalist and believe in "the magic of the marketplace", you have to believe that this trend will eventually result in ISPs who advertise the opposite: that they don't snoop, that they dump any logs within hours or minutes, and so forth. That is, if they are allowed to do so by law.
I believe most problems of this type can be self correcting with market forces. If I don't like having my ISP spying on me, I'll choose another ISP. If enough people literally don't care, (like me), then this ISP will stay in business.
Of course, the point is moot... All ISPs cache data to a certain extent. And all governments can strong-arm or bribe companies... It's just that this particular ISP is being honest and saying, "Yea, we'll hand your stats over."
The chief difference between Canada and America? At least the Canadians get fair warning.
June 15th, the date this went into effect, was two weeks ago, and the Globe and Mail article was posted yesterday. So either Bell Sympatico told people with little to no warning, or the Globe and Mail didn't bother to run this until everything was said and done. Either way, this sucks.
In general terms, they feel that mass monitoring, arresting people on security certificates and all the other things that I feel are an invasion of my privacy and liberty were perfectly acceptable.
It's "think of the children" applied to "think of our security".
I suppose it's human to fear the unknown. And the terror age we live in is filled with uncertainty.
After much discussion, I think they see my point of view, though they still maintain that "something" must be done. And if that "something" infringes on liberty that's still a cost they are willing to bear.
So, sadly, in my limited experience, the sheeple are not going to be bothered any time soon...
If you think imaginary property and real property are the same, when does your house become public domain?
We make sure that the customer's don't know when we're spying on them.
So... How many Americans do you know that would tell you, "Gee, the government can obtain my ISP records if they want? I didn't know that!"
I would contend that Americans, in general, probably have an overexagerated idea of what the government can / can't do thanks to Hollywood and rumor. The "man" isn't quite as "fascist" as you think. Try living with real fascism, as my parents did in Cuba for 40 years...
I can only imagine how they formulated such a modern concept:
What's the next step?
This is bad news for Canada. Here in the United States, we have strict privacy laws which protect us from such intrusive "techniques"
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At least they had the decency to let you know it was going on....I'm just curious as to what they plan to do with this information? To quote the article -
' Bell Sympatico has informed its 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."...A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said no decision has been made on the bill, known as the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act. But she noted that Day has spoken to telecom industry officials and legal experts about bringing it forward as early as the fall session.'
This means Sympatico users are agreeing to disclose to the government whatever Bell feels like disclosing! No mention has been made of getting a warrant,etc....to prove that this should be carried out for a specific reason. There's no real mention of disclosure criteria.
On a side-note - Stockwell Day is a bit of a dingleberry - a creationist who believes the earth was created 5000 years ago....the sharp swing to the right has begun in Canada....looks like the terrorists are winning when our freedoms start to get whittled away, bit by bit....
Stating that you will disclose information that is required by law is obvious. But disclosing information that you are not allowed to disclose and do not have to disclose, makes no sense. I can see no benefit to the company. What gives?
Why can't more people see this clumsy manipulation for what it is?
Because it works every time. Century after century.
Unfortunately 99.99% of internet users have no clue about encryption, they have never heard of PGP, probably don't know when they are even viewing an https page. The mass bumbles along in ignorance and any attempt to educate them is blocked by an enourmous inertia of apathy.
It would take several years of media coverage about invasion of privacy and some high profile cases before the masses would rise from their slumber and do something about Bell Sympatico. It's the same as what the US government (and the UK government) are doing to strip away freedom in the name of security.
It's sad but true, if you understand the issues you are in a tiny minority. Don't expect and change anytime soon.
while sco {
wget -O
}
One would assume they mean the keys to stored data.
If you generated a new key every session what would be the point of keeping all that random data (because by throwing the key away every day everything you do is lost)?
liqbase
I suppose it's human to fear the unknown. And the terror age we live in is filled with uncertainty.
People like to say "everything changed on 9/11". Well, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing that changed on 9/11 is that a lot of people with a naieve and incorrect notion of security got a rude wake-up call. I've wondered since I was a teenager (back in the 70s) why such an obviously soft and much-hated target as the US had not had a significant terror attack in many decades. OK City got us started, and was more along the lines of what I was originally thinking; absolutely anyone could have done that.
People want their warm fuzzy fake security back. They can't have it of course, because it never really existed, but there are no end of people (in government and elsewhere) willing to exploit their desire to their own ends.
Thanks. You would think two contiguous countrys with similar governments would be closer than they have seemed to be in the past. I have friends who visited Canada and enjoyed themselves immensely and having lived in Florida previously, I can tell you Canadian tourists seem to enjoy themselves in the US. Maybe it's just us commoners who know how to get along.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
Exhibit B: The non-liberal candidates to choose from were selected by and, where it matters, will work for the elite.
"Conservative" Sock Puppet replaces "Liberal" Sock Puppet.
One of the easiest ways is to set things up so the candidates must spend large amounts of money on advertising to win an election. The second that happens, only corporate stooges will be among your choices.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Don't let the ISP see what you are up to. anoNet (http://anonet.org) is an anonymous encrypted IP network which can protect those Canadians from their ISP. Setup takes two minutes. Just install OpenVPN and double click on the config file on the website. Pretty easy eh?