Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Agency Drops Cases Rather Than Deal With New Requirements For ISP Info
An anonymous reader points out this story about what has happened since the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling on the warrantless disclosure of subscriber information to law enforcement from ISPs. "A funny thing happens when courts start requiring more information from law enforcement: law enforcers suddenly seem less interested in zealously enforcing the law. Back in June of this year, Canada's Supreme Court delivered its decision in R. v. Spencer, which brought law enforcement's warrantless access of ISP subscriber info to an end. 'In a unanimous decision written by (Harper appointee) Justice Thomas Cromwell, the court issued a strong endorsement of Internet privacy, emphasizing the privacy importance of subscriber information, the right to anonymity, and the need for police to obtain a warrant for subscriber information except in exigent circumstances or under a reasonable law.' The effects of this ruling are beginning to be felt. Michael Geist points to a Winnipeg Free Press article that details the halcyon days of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's warrantless access. 'Prior to the court decision, the RCMP and border agency estimate, it took about five minutes to complete the less than one page of documentation needed to ask for subscriber information, and the company usually turned it over immediately or within one day.'"
... there is nothing new about law enforcement, or the corrections industry, serving and protecting itself before any considerations of the society and its citizens.
... when they said this information was "vital" or "critical". Turns out that in most cases they can to without it and that for the few cases where they actually need it they can go through a proper legal process. My impression is that law enforcement has gotten entirely too lazy and to disrespectful of the rights and well-being of the citizens that are supposed to protect. They behave just like any other industry now: Deliver the shoddiest product they can get away with, lobby for laws that make their job as easy as possible, but at the same time demand as much money as they can get and whenever they screw up, they claim it is not their fault.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Individual rights are more about protecting all of society than they are about protecting individuals. In Canada and similar countries, getting a warrant is laughably easy. Choosing not to get a warrant must mean the case is embarrassingly weak. The requirement of warrants makes police work better because there's actually a minimum of work that has to happen.