Pleading the Case: How the RCMP Fails to Justify Calls for New Investigatory Powers
"A pair of articles by the Toronto Star and CBC
have revealed a number of situations where the authors report on why
authorities may be right to ask for new investigatory powers. A series
of cases, combined with interviews with senior RCMP staff, are meant to
provide some insight into the challenges that policing and security
agencies sometimes have when pursuing investigations. The articles and
their associated videos are meant to spur debate concerning the
government’s proposal that new investigatory powers are needed. Such
powers include a mandatory interception capability, mandatory data
retention capability, mandatory powers to compel decryption of content,
and easy access to basic subscriber information.
This post does not provide an in-depth analysis of the aforementioned proposed powers. Instead, it examines the specific ‘high priority’ cases
that the RCMP, through a pair of journalists, has presented to the
public. It’s important to recognize that neither the summaries nor
underlying documents have been made available to the public, nor have
the RCMP’s assessments of their cases or the difficulties experienced in
investigating them been evaluated by independent experts such as
lawyers or technologists. The effect is to cast a spectre of needing new
investigatory powers without providing the public with sufficient
information to know and evaluate whether existing powers have been
effectively exercised."
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