Copies of Completed ATIP Files from Public Safety Canada

BLOG POST posted on May 4, 2012 by infil00p

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I recently asked and received copies of the Completed Access to Information forms from Public Safety Canada:

• A-2010-00209 - Records concerning a potential border security agreement with the United States, authored between July and December 2010
• A-2011-00143 - Recommendations following a cyber attack that led Defense Research and Development Canada to shut down one of their servers.
• A-2011-00220 - All records from March 1 to November 4, 2011 about Canada's privacy commissioners' positions on the proposed lawful access bills
• A-2011-00319 - Emails drafted, sent and received between Feb. 15, 2012 and Feb 21, 2012 regarding the Twitter user VikiLeaks30
• A-2011-00320 - Emails drafted, sent and received between Feb. 15, 2012 and Feb 21, 2012 regarding the Twitter hashtag #tellviceverything
• A-2011-00322 - Briefing notes between February 15, 2012 and February 21, 2012 for the Minister on Bill C-30

The first file is the largest and goes through the negotiations for the "Beyond the Border" action plan. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but it's definitely worth the time going through it and finding information in that document regarding the new passports that are supposed to be issued in 2013. (It was supposed to be this year, but I'm guessing budget cuts took care of that).

The second file is a Canadian "Cyber War" document which talks about how Public Safety Canada is the lead agency when it comes to Canada's Cyber Warfare strategy. This should frighten people since these idiots can't operate a can opener. However, there's a nice set of slides by DND which talks about what they think "Cyber War" is. It's amazing how much effort can put into a term that was made up as a part of SCIENCE FICTION. I definitely want to get a shirt that says "I'm a part of Red Force" or "FUCK BLUE FORCE". I think the presentation is far more interesting than anything else, since it shows what the DND, CSEC and Public Safety Canada is currently thinking about "Cyberwar" and how they won't let reality get in their way.

The third document is interesting, since it indicates that Public Safety Canada was present in Victoria for the 2011 Privacy and Security Conference where Lawful Access was being discussed. There's also the letters by the Privacy Commissioner and others with the footnotes by a burecrat in the Government of Canada where they immediately try to discredit the Commissioner. I have no idea if this is before it even makes it to the Minister or not. Then there are the concerns of every other privacy commissioner in Canada with respect to the Lawful Access legislation. It also shows Public Safety, the RCMP and others reading Michael Geist and Jesse Brown's blog entries on Lawful Access.

In addition to this, they also look at the Twitter subpoena case (which has now got its own entry into Wikipedia due to its importance), which clearly influenced Bill C-30 and the updates to PIPEDA when they added the Gag Order clause. There's also back and forth between the policy analysts at the Privacy Commissioner's office and Public Safety Canada. Given the general high regard I hold for the Privacy Commissioner, and the extremely low regard I hold to Public Safety, it's really interesting since the e-mails seem very passive-aggressive in a polite-sort-of-way. Despite everything that has happened, it is disturbing seeing Public Safety Canada treat the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as an enemy threat, but there you have it. That being said, Public Safety Canada isn't very big on fundamental human rights, or laws such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or actually giving a shit about the public's safety when it doesn't help their objectives.

The fourth document is about Vikileaks, and also has a mention of Occupy Vancouver protesting the Minister's visit to Richmond. Unfortunately, I was at the protest, and the protest was so small that I was actually able to social engineer my way to the RCMP Security Detail inside the River Rock Casino, which tells me that the protest wasn't viewed as any sort of threat to Mr. Toews, and that it was easily ignored. However, it's good to know that the mention of Occupy did cause someone at Public Safety Canada to worry, which says something for the Occupy Movement as a whole, even if the numbers aren't there all the time. The document also provides a list of tweets that Public Safety Canada sampled. It might be a worthwhile exercise to see if you're mentioned there.

The fifth document is more of the same. The staff people at the ministry are surprised at the backlash, mostly because they don't see anything wrong with Canadians being spied on.

The last document are briefing notes with the Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu, which indicate that our friendly local fascists at the Vancouver Police Department are all too keen to spy on your communications. The briefing notes also contain Chu's biography. Of course, I don't have to mention the fact that the VPD was caught downloading pr0n on their computers, or the fact that the Chu himself wasn't going to bat for this bullshit piece of legislation, letting his Deputy Chief take the heat for it. That's all on the public record if you go to their streaming page.

The links to the files are available above. I hope to have more info on Lawful Access soon, but I think it'll be more of the same, to be honest.