Government accessed personal telecom info more than 18,000 times in year

Canada’s telecommunications companies handed over personal information from their subscribers, including call records and website visits, more than 18,000 times between April 2012 and March 2013, the government revealed on Tuesday. The vast majority of the requests came from the Canada Border Services Agency, according to a government response to a request from NDP MP Charmaine Borg, yet the true number might be higher because the RCMP did not provide the requested data. Canada’s major telecoms hand over basic subscriber information, such as names, phone numbers and addresses, to police without a court order as part of a voluntary system when law enforcement request the information and explain why the information is needed. Under current legislation, subscribers do not need to be informed if their data is requested or shared. Borg sought a full accounting of the number of these requests made and fulfilled between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013, and received at least some information from five difference agencies. The Canada Border Services Agency made 18,849 requests for customer information from telecom companies, the overwhelming majority of which — 18,729 — were for basic subscriber information. The companies fulfilled 18,824 of the requests. Aside from basic subscriber details, the CBSA sent 10 requests for voicemail data, 77 requests for the content of text messages and 63 requests for location data based on the cell tower to which the device was connected. The agency noted that all of these requests were done, with a court order when necessary. The RCMP released no details about requests it made to the telecom companies, claiming that the agency does not hold a “centralized data repository” to track those requests. It said it does track wiretaps, which its said totalled 52 in 2012. Michael Geist, Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, wrote in the Toronto Star in February that the RCMP made more than 28,000 requests to telecom companies for customer names and addresses in 2010, according to data obtained under the Access to Information Act. Statistics Canada, in its response to Borg, said it made 208 requests to the telecom companies for aggregate subscriber information, of which 190 were completed. The agency said the carriers provided no individual subscriber data so “no contact is made to individual subscribers.” The Competition Bureau did not discuss the number of requests it made, saying only that it “accessed the Bell Canada Law Enforcement Database” 20 times during the period. It did not explain what the database was. The Transportation Safety Board said it did not keep track of the specific number of requests, but makes between eight and 12 a year, on average. The Communications Security Establishment, the country’s external intelligence agency, did not respond to Borg’s request, citing national security concerns. In February, the Wire Report reported how academics were concerned that a request for similar information would be stymied by rules from Public Safety that prohibit the sharing of data on communications interceptions. The responses the academics received from the telecoms companies did not go far in answering their questions about information sharing between the carriers and government. Anti-cyberbullying legislation under discussion in Parliament would expand the government's ability to access customer data from telecom companies without a warrant. — With reporting by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Government accessed personal telecom info more than 18,000 times in year

News | March 26, 2014

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Government accessed personal telecom info more than 18,000 times in year

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