OTTAWA – It is widely expected that the federal government will introduce comprehensive legislation this month on lawful access (police wire-tapping) to private communications and information under the control of telecommunications service providers, including ISPs, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers said this week.
Legislation to be table in November (assuming there’s no snap election call, that is) will generally require ISPs to build into their networks, as they are expanded or upgraded, the capability to intercept communications – including both content and traffic data. The legislation will also require a minimum number of simultaneous interceptions, scaled to population served, said CAIP.
For ISPs with less than 100,000 subscribers, lawful access capability will be funded or otherwise provided by law enforcement or national security agencies. For larger ISPs, “we anticipate that the legislation will require the ISPs to absorb the cost – despite the telecommunications industry’s unanimous, frequent and sustained opposition to this proposal,” says CAIP.
“Requiring ISPs to incur increased costs may cause network expansion and product development/roll out to be deferred or deterred. It will also obviously shave profit margins even further, diminishing profitability and potentially leading to subscriber rate increases.
“CAIP members are encouraged to contact their local MPs in the coming weeks to voice their concern for the lawful access proposals and outline the potential impact of those proposals on the businesses of ISPs that operate within their constituencies,” it concluded.
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