Canadian wireless industry concerned over potential new lawful access legislation

The federal government has launched a broad review of lawful access to information and communications legislation, leaving Canada’s wireless carriers concerned that they may have to bear the cost of upgrading equipment to meet new data collection standards. The government says its need for more effective information collection mechanisms is necessitated by technological advancements in telecommunications networks, both wireless and wireline, which make it more difficult to conduct such data collection operations. Industry Canada, the Department of Justice and the Solicitor General’s office jointly launched the initiative on August 25. The wireless industry agrees that this consultation process is really aimed less at them than it is at new and emerging telecommunications service providers and Internet service providers unaware of the lawful access provisions in Canadian law. Canada’s PCS players already comply with this type of requirement as a condition of their spectrum licences, which requires them to the provide lawful access to law enforcement agencies. Don Woodford, director of government and regulatory affairs at Bell Mobility, says concerns that these new proposals would address next-generation packet-based technologies were allayed at a meeting with Industry Canada and the Department of Justice earlier in the summer. "Some people were concerned that when these proposals came out they may have been moving that yard stick to include packet-switched and newer technologies," he explains. "I haven’t heard anybody say this has clarified things, but most people seem to feel that this doesn’t really change anything for us." Discussions on the inclusion of newer advanced technologies in future legislation governing the government’s ability to effectively collect information is an issue that will certainly come out during the ensuing consultation. But the wireless industry is sure to concentrate on the cost of network upgrades and who will pay for them. Woodford points out that cost certainly becomes a major issue if the new rules require the carriers to collect information on individuals’ wireless web browsing habits and history and text messages. "That (ability) isn’t built in and we’d have to go back and look at the cost to do that," he says. Cost of additional equipment is major sticking point Both Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. are concerned about the potential cost implications. "Who should bear that cost if (companies) have to go out and start making huge investments to meet this particular requirement?" Woodford asks. Joel Thorpe, Rogers’ director of inter-carrier relations, explains that if this is a system that is going to benefit the broader public, then the government should have to pay. "It’s certainly not like a telecommunications service that a customer buys and expects to pay for, this is something that benefits everybody in society. Given that, you would hope that the federal government would not expect either telecommunications customers or carriers to bear all the cost here," he tells Report on Wireless. Cost issues aside, there have been concerns from the carrier community about potential breaches of Canada’s privacy legislation if it collects information on individuals. However, Bill C-36, passed earlier this year, requires carriers to pass along information about subscribers it knows are conducting illegal activity using their facilities. A session at a communications law conference held earlier this year explored the ramifications of C-36 on wired and wireless carriers (RoW, April 30/02). Lisa Austin, a privacy expert and associate law professor at the University of Toronto, questioned a carrier’s rights to collect information on an individual suspected of illegal activities. On the other hand, one of the Justice Department’s chief criminal law advisors, Paul Saint-Denis, said that the law was designed to catch criminals, not entrap carriers in illegal activity. Rogers says that apart from the privacy related issues, data collection is also a concern. "What do you have to implement in your network or system to make that data available?" Thorpe asks. "It’s clear they have concerns about packet-based communications and that they would like to get access to that. I believe one of the big things that has prevented that from getting anywhere is that industry standards have not yet been finalized yet," he says. "That raises another issue, cost being the first one, the second one being the specific technical requirements that eventually gets discussed down the road. "If it comes to the point when we are sitting down at the table discussing packet-based communications and how those communications will be intercepted, we would like to think that we’d be moving in the direction of industry-based standards and not a Canada-only solution." Others have raised the spectre of the abolition of pre-paid wireless services as a potential way to eliminate individuals from operating in near anonymity (RoW, April 3/02). However, Thorpe says concern would arise if whatever proposal put forward would radically change the way pre-paid is offered. "Law biding Canadians make use of pre-paid and it really fills a niche and it would be a shame if something like this would hamper that or make it difficult for the average law biding citizen to make use of that service," he states.

Canadian wireless industry concerned over potential new lawful access legislation

News | September 3, 2002

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