Alberta Proposing Mandatory Police Surveillance Laws

The Alberta Provincial legislature is proposing legislation that will obligate telecommunications service providers to provide police with a vast amount of "telephone and other electronic communications records", including: locational (GPS) data, cellular phone records, all inbound and outbound text messages, and internet browsing history. If requested by an officer claiming reasonable grounds to believe that immediate access to the records is necessary to prevent imminent harm of a missing person, the telecommunications service provider will have no option other than to provide the requested information or face potential adverse cost awards.

In comments to the Alberta legislature, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association voiced serious concerns regarding potential abuse of such legislation, including hypothetical scenarios where an abusive spouse is attempting to track down a 'missing' partner. The legislation, dubbed the 'Missing Persons Act', is one part of a growing list of legislative proposals from across Canada that impose obligations on telecommunications and Internet service providers to give up the personal information of their customers in order to assist law enforcement activities. Many raise serious civil liberties issues.

See CIPPIC's Lawful Access page for more information and this article in the National Post.