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Globe and Mail 09/01/2017 - Canada's domestic spy service has been trying to figure out ways of obtaining "bulk data" to better feed the holdings of its secretive analytics centre, newly released records obtained by The Globe and Mail show. A 2012 memo by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service speaks of an intelligence-agency pivot with profound implications for privacy and security. Details about the kinds of data being sought by CSIS, and even what exactly it considers bulk data to be, have not been disclosed. But the language used by the spy agency is reminiscent of other so-called bulk-data programs embraced by polarizing U.S. and British intelligence agencies since revealed to have been amassing records relating to
 the everyday transactions of millions of ordinary people. How much data do domestic spy agencies now need - about everybody, not just terrorists - to safeguard national security? The Canadian government's collection practices have never been revealed or debated publicly, even as the closest counterparts of CSIS now openly assert they need bulk data to function. Such data sets can vary greatly in sensitivity - allied spy agencies have said they buy some sets on the open market from so-called big-data brokers. But they have also acquired other sets through clandestine methods or by secretly compelling corporations or other government departments to hand over their data. The memo from July 19, 2012, released under the Access to Information Act, urged all of CSIS to figure out how to better contribute to holdings of the Operational Data Analysis Centre. This secretive facility, known as ODAC, was first publicly exposed by a scathing Federal Court ruling released in the fall of 2016.
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Regina Leader-Post 12/01/2017 - "Lawful access" may have been discarded as a label due to the public backlash when it was previously introduced. But rather than accepting the verdict of the public, the RCMP has rebranded substantially the same powers as a legislative response to "going dark." And a concerted campaign by both the federal minister responsible and law enforcement authorities has been met with relatively little public notice. Meanwhile, the Liberals' promises to revisit
 the worst abuses under C-51 seem to have been abandoned: All we have to show for over a year in office is a sad excuse for an oversight mechanism which is both limited in what information it can review, and bound to secrecy in reporting on what it discovers. So there's a distinct possibility that the state of the law may deteriorate even after the Conservatives' disregard for civil rights played a part in their being turfed from power. [...] All of which is to say that the fight to protect our privacy from undue surveillance-state intrusion is far from over - and could be lost quickly if we don't realize that we're still facing a threat.
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Freedom of the Press Foundation: How-to guides and resources for protecting your privacy in the age of mass surveillance
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Law Times 09/01/2017 - While Ralph Goodale had committed to sponsoring the previous iteration of S-205 in the previous Parliament, when he became Minister of Public Safety, his enthusiasm for the bill waned. "While he agrees with the spirit behind Bill S-205, he cannot support it at this time," said Scott Bardsley, spokesman for Goodale. Bardsley says they had concerns over "technical defects" in the bill's drafting and that the government had launched a public consultation for its national security framework that would touch on the bill's
subject matter, which it wanted to complete before committing to specific legislation [Although Goodale didn't wait for the consultation before tabling its flawed oversight bill, C-22]. Senator Moore, however, reaches his mandatory retirement age this month and will no longer be in the Senate to shepherd the bill. As well, he hasn't yet found an MP willing to sponsor the bill in the House of Commons, which is unusual, especially for a bill that passed the Senate unanimously in October. "A couple of people were interested and then they backed off, so I'm not sure if it was pressure from the caucus or from the minister's office, which is disturbing because this is the right thing to do," says Moore.
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The New York Times 12/01/2017 - In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government's 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections. The new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the N.S.A. may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations, which are
 largely unregulated by American wiretapping laws. These include collecting satellite transmissions, phone calls and emails that cross network switches abroad, and messages between people abroad that cross domestic network switches. The change means that far more officials will be searching through raw data. Essentially, the government is reducing the risk that the N.S.A. will fail to recognize that a piece of information would be valuable to another agency, but increasing the risk that officials will see private information about innocent people.
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Demand for secret messaging apps is rising as Trump takes office
CSO 20/12/2016 - The U.S. is better off supporting strong encryption that trying to weaken it, according to a new congressional report that stands at odds with the FBI's push to install backdoors into tech products. On Tuesday, a bipartisan congressional panel published a year-end report, advising the U.S. to explore other solutions to the encryption debate. "Any measure that weakens encryption
 works against the national interest," the report said. The congressional panel formed back in March, amid the FBI's public battle with Apple over trying to gain access to a locked iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter. Tuesday's report essentially sides with Apple and its stance that strong encryption is vital for security. Forcing U.S. companies to compromise their encryption wouldn't necessarily solve the problem. Consumers and bad actors, for instance, would likely choose to use more secure products offered by foreign companies, the report said.
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Big Brother collecting big data - and in China, it's all for sale
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The Guardian 23/12/2016 - Now that Trump has been elected leader of the nominally free world, democracy has jumped the shark. But absurdity is nothing new to Guantánamo - a place where peaceful hunger strikes (the last remaining form of protest for detainees) are renamed "non-religious fasts" and suicide is described as SIB - self-injurious behaviour, or "an act of asymmetrical warfare". [...] When Guantánamo first opened, we were told that the people held there - without
 charge or trial - were the "worst of the worst". Then, as details started to trickle out, along came the bounty flyers too. They offered $5,000 for any bearded foreign-looking guy you didn't like, which is a lot of money in some parts of the world. [...] Then there was the al-Jazeera journalist Sami al-Haj, who was held for over six years. Or take Emad Hassan, from Yemen. Asked by his US interrogators if he "knew" al-Qaida, Emad said yes, of course he knew it. Al-Qa'idah is a town in Yemen. His Reprieve lawyers found it on Google Earth. Today, 55 prisoners remain at Gitmo. They include Haroon Gul, an Afghan refugee brought there in 2007 after he was mistaken for another man, and Ahmed Rabbani, a Karachi taxi driver who was mistaken for a man called Hassan Ghul, and tortured in the "dark prison" for 540 days.
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Guantanamo turns 15 with just 55 prisoners left and Trump on the way
Former detainee Shaker Aamer: Guantanamo is a stain on Obama's legacy
Sessions supports keeping open Guantanamo Bay prison
Gitmo Attorneys: Kelly's Aggressive Role at Guantánamo Makes Him "Unfit" to Lead DHS
Donald Trump's pick for spy chief took hard line on Snowden, Guantanamo, and torture
After being apart for years, four prisoners released from Guantanamo are reunited with loved ones in Saudi Arabia
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The Guardian 09/01/2017 - Most Americans would probably be astounded to realize that the president who has been painted by Washington pundits as a reluctant warrior has actually been a hawk. The Iran nuclear deal, a herculean achievement, and the opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba unfortunately stand alone as President Obama's successful uses of diplomacy over hostility. While candidate Obama came to office pledging to end George W Bush's wars, he leaves office having been at war longer than any president in US history. He is also the only president to serve two complete terms with the nation at war. President Obama did reduce the number of US soldiers
 fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he dramatically expanded the air wars and the use of special operations forces around the globe. In 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that's three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day. While most of these air attacks were in Syria and Iraq, US bombs also rained down on people in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. That's seven majority-Muslim countries. One bombing technique that President Obama championed is drone strikes. As drone-warrior-in-chief, he spread the use of drones outside the declared battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, mainly to Pakistan and Yemen. Obama authorized over 10 times more drone strikes than George W Bush, and automatically painted all males of military age in these regions as combatants, making them fair game for remote controlled killing.
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The Intercept 10/01/2017 - Officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, SEAL Team 6 is today the most celebrated of the U.S. military's special mission units. But hidden behind
 the heroic narratives is a darker, more troubling story of "revenge ops," unjustified killings, mutilations, and other atrocities - a pattern of criminal violence that emerged soon after the Afghan war began and was tolerated and covered up by the command's leadership.
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Autres nouvelles - More news
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ICLMG - The federal government's consultation on National Security is over but you can still use our answers for educational purposes. They are now available in one
single PDF document for convenience. We will be keeping a close eye on the follow-up to the consultation and keep you posted.
 We would also like to know how many people used our answers and what you thought of them. Please take a few minutes to write us at
[email protected] and tell us if you have used and shared our answers, if people you know have used them, and what you thought of them. Thank you!
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The Secret Law Gazette is a project run by Craig Forcese, Professor of Law, University of Ottawa, as part of my National Security Law blog. The Secret Law Gazette publishes "secret laws" in the area of national security in Canada. "Secret laws" include
 ministerial directives, memoranda of understanding, and internal policies and procedures which affect and govern the conduct of Canada's security agencies, but are excluded from the regular publication requirements for Canadian law. Craig Forcese welcomes contributions from others.
Check out the website!
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Action
Trudeau: Settle the Canadian Torture-by-Proxy Cases NOW!
Change.org - Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin are three Canadian citizens who were found by two judicial inquiries to have been tortured with the complicity of agencies of the Canadian government between 2001 and 2004. On December 3, 2009, a motion of the House of Commons, supported by the
 Liberals and NDP, called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to apologize to and compensate these men. Harper refused to act, forcing the men and their families to pursue lawsuits. The apparent opening represented by the 2015 election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quickly closed when his government refused to settle the lawsuit. Please sign now!
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CCR - Under Canada's immigration law, children are supposed to be detained only as a "last resort". But children are
 regularly detained in Canada. They are detained on grounds of identity or flight risk, or they are a "guest" in detention accompanying a detained parent.
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Action
Justin Trudeau, faites libérer Raïf Badawi
Amnistie internationale - Nous soussignés, désirons porter à votre attention que Raif Badawi est emprisonné depuis juin 2012 pour avoir publié des textes qui appellent à plus de respect des uns envers les autres. Selon les lois en Arabie saoudite, ces textes ne seraient pas acceptables. Depuis début 2013, tous les principaux défenseurs de
 droits humains indépendants d'Arabie saoudite ont été emprisonnés, réduits au silence ou ont fui le pays. La situation terriblement injuste dans laquelle se trouve Raif Badawi tient particulièrement à cœur aux gens d'ici. D'ailleurs près de 57 000 signatures vous ont déjà été remises le 2 novembre 2015. Cependant nous vous voyons que trop peu intervenir pour intercéder en faveur de sa libération. Monsieur Trudeau, il est temps d'entrer de façon publique dans ce dossier.
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Justice for Hassan Diab - Hassan has been torn away from all moral supports, i.e., family, friends, and supporters who remain in his
 home country, Canada. He must defend himself in an unfamiliar legal system and language. Here are some ways you can help prevent Hassan's wrongful conviction.
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG
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The News Digest is ICLMG's weekly publication of news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, and civil liberties. The ICLMG is a national coalition of
43 Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
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La revue de l'actualité est notre publication hebdomadaire de nouvelles, d'évènements, d'appels à l'action, et beaucoup plus, entourant la sécurité nationale, la lutte au terrorisme, et les libertés civiles. La CSILC est une coalition nationale de
43 organisations de la société civile canadienne qui a été créée suite aux attentats terroristes de septembre 2001 aux États-Unis.
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of the peace only if there is real evidence of a serious offence. Quebec's juges de paix, who are appointed for life, need to think carefully about the important power they exercise. They should not be biased by a prosecutorial mentality, and they should not routinely be former prosecutors and government officials, as has been the case for a decade. Much of the recent overreach could be solved simply by making better appointments to this important office in the first place.
