OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Tech giants Google and Apple have warned that a “dystopian” Canadian Liberal internet censorship bill, which would demand that people’s data be kept for potential police review, would lead to a “surveillance infrastructure.”
Speaking before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security about Bill C-22, or “An Act respecting lawful access,” representatives from Google and Apple demanded that Canadian MPs add protections for encrypted content.
“Secret orders are out of step with other democratic countries and would severely restrict companies’ ability to be transparent with users about how their data is protected,” Jeanette Patell, Google Canada’s director for government affairs and public policy, told MPs recently.
Google, in a brief it had submitted to the committee, warned that Bill C-22 allows for a “surveillance infrastructure,” as it gives Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree, bold new powers.
According to Google, this bill would allow for backdoors that would lead to “systemic vulnerability.”
“Without a stronger definition of ‘systemic vulnerability,’ the law could be used to decrease overall user security by creating backdoors that would break end-to-end encryption and create significant cybersecurity risks, facilitating foreign interference and weakening global user privacy,” said Google in its brief.
Google claimed that it has “never built a backdoor or other mechanism to circumvent end-to-end encryption in our products. If we say a product is end-to-end encrypted, it is end-to-end encrypted.”
Bill C-22, known as “An Act respecting lawful access,” was recently introduced by Anandasangare, purportedly to address privacy concerns related to another bill, Bill C-2, which would have permitted police and government officials to open and examine Canadians’ personal mail and would also have banned cash donations over $10,000.
The bill mandates that telecom and internet companies ensure that their systems include surveillance and monitoring capabilities, which could be shared with police and intelligence agencies.
When it comes to Apple, its senior director for user privacy and child safety, Erik Neuenschwander, told the committee his take on whether or not the company would leave Canada should Bill C-22 become law.
“I can’t speculate what would happen in that situation,” he said.
“Through this engagement and the continued dialogue, we hope to have positive amendments made to the bill.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, after pressure from the world’s largest tech giants, such as Meta and Google, as well as VPN providers, Canada’s Liberal government now says that it will amend a controversial “dystopian” internet censorship law.
Recently, a petition with the signatures of over 42,000 Canadians demanding a stop to Bill C-22 before the House was delivered to federal authorities.
Tech giants Apple and Meta and top VPN providers have warned about Bill C-22, noting that it could affect cybersecurity in North America.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has issued many warnings about Bill C-22. It said that the bill, as written, clearly “violates” the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Bill C-22 has caught the attention of some U.S. politicians. Recently, the chairmen of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees, Republicans Jim Jordan and Brian Mast, sent a letter to Anandasangaree warning about the bill.