Christopher Parsons spoke with a variety of media organizations over the past month about his research and pressing events that have taken place in the Canadian telecommunications landscape. He generally discussed lawful access to telecommunications data, the release of transparency reports by Canadian Internet service providers, and the unveiling of an access to personal information tool.
In terms of lawful access, Christopher was quoted by the National Post and Techdirt about the potential to use malware to infect vehicles and devices, should Canada’s proposed lawful access legislation be passed into law. He was also quoted by Vice’s Motherboard about the significance of a survey showing Canadians’ disapproval of the proposed legislation. In a related vein, he spoke with the Financial Post following the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling that subscriber data could not be disclosed to police without warrant absent exigent circumstances. He was also quoted by the Canadian Press about how Canadian law enforcement can intercept Blackberry communications.
For the past several months Christopher, academic colleagues, and members of civil society, have sought to learn about telecommunications service providers’ data collection, retention, processing, and disclosure policies. Following the response of TekSavvy to the Citizen Lab’s January disclosure request letter, and the publication of Rogers’ transparency report, Christopher was quoted in The Globe and Mail, Vice’s Motherboard, and iPolitics. He also spoke with a series of radio programs about the importance of the disclosures.
He also, in collaboration with Andrew Hilts of the Digital Stewards Initiative and in partnership with Open Media, released a tool enabling Canadians to request their personal information from Canadian telecommunications companies. The release was covered by Vice’s Motherboard, the National Post, CTV News, The Globe and Mail, amongst other online, print, and video outlets. Christopher also spoke to a series of radio shows around Canada about the tool’s release.
Finally, Christopher also engaged in a discussion with members of the Canadian Journalists For Free Expression (CJFE), alongside Prof. Wesley Wark; the CJFE subsequently posted a summary of the discussion that identifies eight things Canadians should know about surveillance.