Canadians getting caught in online spying controversy

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Canadian internet users are getting caught up in the American government online spying controversy.

Whether it’s financial transactions or general searches, records are kept of our online interactions.

Richard Rosenberg, computer science professor emeritus at UBC says lots of that internet activity is being captured by the surveillance.

“A great deal of information about Canadians is stored in the US. Because of the US Patriot Act, which has been renewed recently, the US government can go look at that information without getting permission.”

The Patriot Act was drawn up after 9/11, and it lifted a lot of restrictions from investigators gathering intelligence.

Which leaves Internet users at the mercy of law enforcement officers.

“The information is stored where we can’t access it, and we can’t prevent usage of it. The American government pretty much does what it wants.”

A similar online surveillance law was introduced in Canada. Billed as the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, it was killed because of public uproar.

Controversy erupted last week when it was revealed that a supersecret agency was gathering electronic communications from foreign nationals overseas who use Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

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