The director of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab says the spyware is “like a sniffer on steroids” and it requires more monitoring and a much higher threshold of use than traditional wiretapping devices.
Ron Diebert will talk to House of Commons ethics committee as part of an investigation into RCMPspyware use in 32 investigations over the past five years.
In prepared remarks provided to the Canadian Press, Diebert said what he called the “spyware industry for hire” was poorly regulated and involved in widespread abuses.
The RCMP has been using spyware to access a target’s communications since 2002: Senior Mountie
He said the industry is a threat to civil society, human rights and democracy and that governments should be transparent about procuring this technology.
Yesterday, senior officials told the committee that the RCMP does not use the controversial Pegasus spyware, but declined to disclose details of the technology it is using, citing security concerns. nation.
The RCMP also said that while the technology is new, invading privacy on a digital device is similar to what police have done for years through wiretapping and installing surveillance cameras.
Federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne told the committee that Mounties had not informed his office before he started using the technology and that he had learned about it through the media.
He called on MPs to make changes to privacy laws that require government agencies and organizations to conduct privacy impact assessments whenever new technology is introduced that could may have an impact on the “fundamental right to privacy”.
Dufresne’s predecessor Daniel Therrien will also appear before the committee today, along with the president of Canada’s Access and Privacy Council.
© 2022 Canadian Press
