July 11, 2006

Bell’s move to monitor us an ominous portent

From The Vancouver Sun on Canada.com

Bell’s move to monitor us an ominous portent

Fears of corporate information fishing arise as Internet providers take steps to monitor users’ online activity

Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun

Published: Monday, July 10, 2006

We should be concerned about the erosion of our civil liberties in the post-9/11 world and the very real Big Brother-style monitoring of our Internet activities.

The Canadian Bar Association has long argued lawmakers went too far in the wake of the World Trade Centre strikes and did not build in enough checks when they gave law-enforcement agencies greater powers ostensibly to combat terrorism.

Still, when Canada’s largest Internet service provider, Bell Sympatico, amends its service agreement with customers to create an environment of institutionalized cyberspying on behalf of the government, we’re entering a whole other realm.

Bell three weeks ago told its customers it’s reserving the right to monitor, collect and on request provide to police a list of every site you visit and every keystroke you type while connected.

Other ISPs have or are expected to follow suit.

Please read the rest. It will only take you a few minutes.