The Globe and Mail 06/05/2014 - The Federal Court of Appeal has rebuked Ottawa after it tried to crack down on a former charity with alleged links to Hamas, even in the face of a clear legal contradiction. The federal government was hoping to battle out a court case on Tuesday with IRFAN-Canada, an organization that it deregistered as a charity in 2011, and listed as a terrorist entity last month. However, a federal lawyer was forced to acknowledge that the government's current position could lead to a situation in which IRFAN would regain its charitable status, while still being listed as a terrorist entity. Justice Marc Noël called Ottawa's position "extraordinary," while IRFAN's lawyer said it was symptomatic of the "absurdity" of the government's handling of the matter. In a hearing in Ottawa, IRFAN lawyer Yavar Hameed called on the Federal Court of Appeal to adjourn a planned appeal of the charity's 2011 deregistration, to allow him to focus on the upcoming challenge of the terrorist listing. Mr. Hameed argued that the debate over IRFAN's charitable status was irrelevant as long as the organization was listed as a terrorist entity, which prevents it from having any activity in Canada.

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Harper Government brands charity aiding Palestinian orphans a 'terrorist organization'

Muslim group appealing Ottawa's 'unreasonable' and 'unconstitutional' decision to list it as a terrorist entity

Terrorist list is policy with a dash of politics: Analysts

Opinion: Les périls de l'adoption

The Canadian Press 08/05/2014 - Personal information is flowing between the public and private sectors in unprecedented ways, posing fresh risks to privacy, says a new book on surveillance in Canada. Data gathered for one purpose may easily be used for another when public and private organizations share data, flying in the face of fair information practices, says "Transparent Lives: Surveillance in Canada." The book, a collaborative effort by leading Canadian researchers who identify nine key trends, is to be launched at a conference on surveillance that begins Thursday at the University of Ottawa. The accelerating demand for greater security in the post-9/11 era drives much of the surveillance, the authors say. But it's not always that simple. They found the public and private worlds are increasingly intertwined for two reasons: a widespread belief that government and the private sector should work together to maximize efficiency, and the fact new technologies break down barriers, allowing data to flow in both directions without the traditional oversight of a judicial warrant.

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Ottawa is 'creeping' your Facebook

 

The Toronto Star 01/05/2014 - The government that characterized the long-form census as unduly intrusive is increasingly lifting Canadians' personal information from their social networking websites, according to the federal privacy watchdog. In a letter to Treasury Board President Tony Clement, interim privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier said an "increasing number" of government institutions are collecting publicly available personal information from sites like Facebook and Twitter "without any direct relation to a program or activity." "We are seeing evidence that personal information is being collected by government institutions from social media sites without regard for accuracy, currency and accountability," Bernier wrote in the February letter obtained by the Star. Bernier's office flagged government surveillance of social media in a January special report to Parliament, but snooping and collecting data are two different things under the Privacy Act. The letter notes that while publicly available information can be used by the government, it cannot be collected except for a specific program or activity. The Privacy Act also requires the government to take steps to ensure the accuracy of the information gathered. It's not known whether authorities are complying with either obligation.

 

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Michael Geist: Five ways to restore telecom company transparency  

 

Opinion: We can't let phone companies determine our privacy rights  

 

Exclusif: Renseignements personnels: Ottawa veut mesurer l'ampleur du problème  

 

Fighting for your right to privacy is a lot older than computers 

Washington's Blog 05/05/2014 -Pulitzer prize winning reporter Chris Hedges - along with journalist Naomi Wolf, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, activist Tangerine Bolen and others - sued the government to join the NDAA's allowance of the indefinite detention of Americans. The trial judge in the case asked the government attorneys 5 times whether journalists like Hedges could be indefinitely detained simply for interviewing and then writing about bad guys. The government refused to promise that journalists like Hedges won't be thrown in a dungeon for the rest of their lives without any right to talk to a judge. The trial judge ruled that the indefinite detention bill was unconstitutional, holding: "This Court rejects the government's suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention." But the court of appeal overturned that decision, based upon the assumption that limited the NDAA to non-U.S. citizens. [...] The court of appeal ignored the fact that the co-sponsors of the indefinite detention law said it does apply to American citizens, and that top legal scholars agree. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the case, thus blessing and letting the indefinite detention law stand unchanged.

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