If the Canadian government has their way, a new proposal called “lawful access” will force Canada’s service providers to refit their networks to allow real-time interception of communications. This would also allow multiple interception of communications and they would provide detailed subscriber information to law enforcement authorities without a court order within 72 hours. All I can say is, unbelievable! After listening to all the whining over the Homeland Security Dept. here in the US during the last election, this move by the Canadian govt. would make Homeland Security look like a bunch of pikers.
The Toronto Star has an article on this proposal,
All of these changes come at an enormous cost — both financially (hundreds of millions of dollars in new technology) and to our personal privacy. While some changes may be needed for security purposes, the government has yet to make the case for why the current set of powers, which include cybercrime and wiretapping provisions, are insufficient. There has been no evidence provided that this approach is the least privacy invasive alternative.