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Liberal M.P. Marlene Jennings last week reintroduced a bill previously tabled by the Liberal government: the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act (MITA). Private Member's Bill C-416 appears to be identical to Bill C-74 in the last Parliament. It would require telecom service providers to offer much greater surveillance capacity to law enforcement agencies, and would allow police to obtain subscriber name and address information from service providers upon request, without a warrant. Civil liberties groups have expressed strong concerns about the bill. CIPPIC webpage on Lawful Access CIPPIC FAQs and resources on Lawful Access Onlinerights.ca campaign re: Lawful Access

A narrow majority of the Supreme Court of Canada today upheld the conviction of an individual who posted election results on a website before the statutory blackout period had expired. The majority held that s.329 of the Criminal Code constitutes a justifiable infringement on freedom of expression, because it ensures informational equality among Canadian voters. The dissenting justices noted that "Canadians are entitled to know, as soon as possible, who their elected representatives are", and that "any potential benefits of the publication ban are diminished by the reality that it has been rendered obsolete by telecommunications technology."

Internal documents suggest the Tory government is reluctant to impose consumer safeguards for the web because it wants to protect the competitive position of businesses that offer Internet access. CBC News Report Michael Geist's Feb.12th Toronto Star column

Robert Glushko, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and successful technology entrepeneur, has donated US$100,000 to CIPPIC. Mr. Glushko is a pioneer in electronic document engineering and is actively involved in the development of e-business standards. He and his wife, Professor Pamela Samuelson, are strong supporters of technology law clinics in North America.