Federal agents are not using the controversial Israeli spyware Pegasus, says Canada’s Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino, but another snitch capable of extracting data from the smartphones of suspects under investigation.
“I want to be clear: the Pegasus technology is not used by the RCMP,” the Minister repeated to the federal elected members of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI).
This parliamentary committee launched on Monday the examination of the use for several years of spyware by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Police officials have publicly confirmed that they are able to remotely and covertly collect data from suspects’ phones — text messages, photos, camera footage, recordings of private communications, sounds within microphone range, notes and device calendar entries, for example.
The RCMP must seek a warrant from a judge to use this software, described as an “investigative tool”. Neither the minister nor the RCMP wanted to reveal the name of the technology that would have been in the possession of the federal police since at least 2012.
Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner read to the committee from a response provided by the RCMP that this software was used for 32 investigations, infecting a total of 49 devices, since 2017. These investigations were allegedly related to cases of kidnapping, murder and terrorism, among others.
“It’s not like we abused this technology,” she commented.
A series of articles of the Citizenlab site, associated with the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, reported in 2016 the existence of spyware called Pegasus, created by the Israeli firm NSO Group. Canada was one of 45 countries where people suspected of operating this software were found.
BC Conservative MP Van Popta got a response to a question tabled in Parliament in June of this year that proves the use of this type of software by the RCMP. The program is called the Technical Investigation Services Covert Access and Interception Team, or EASI SET. Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure then asked to launch the work of the parliamentary committee during the summer to try to find out more.
Transparency
In a virtual appearance from Quebec City, Minister Marco Mendicino repeated several times that the use of spyware is legal and regulated by the courts. He underlined in broad strokes that a certain “transparency” is necessary to ensure public confidence, without revealing whether other federal agencies also use this computer tool.
“When a technique like this is used, it’s done in a manner consistent with the Charter [canadienne des droits et libertés]privacy laws and all other transparency measures. […] This form of surveillance is not the first resort, an everyday tool, but rather the last option when all the others have been tried,” he testified.
Members of the opposition have replied to the Minister that this is tantamount to asking them to take his word for it, for lack of being able to know more about the details of the process. An observation that also saddens Amnesty International: “As my grandmother would say, trust does not exclude control”, says Karine Gentelet, member of the Amnesty Tech collective in an interview at To have to.
The professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais believes that the RCMP should reveal what type of technology it uses, knowing that the similar software Pegasus has already been used by several countries around the world as a mass surveillance tool. “These are exceptional means that have an impact on human rights. What guarantees me that there will be no slippage? she asks.
RCMP officials estimate that barely one in 10 investigators who request the technique receives authorization, a proof of the rigor of the process, according to them.
At the same time, they pointed out that hostile groups may very well misuse such tools and spy on Canadians. “You are targeted. I have very few doubts about that, ”said the assistant commissioner of the federal police, Mark Flynn, pointing out to the elected officials that they all have a smartphone in their hands.
A more restrictive law requested
Canada’s privacy commissioner said he would have preferred federal law enforcement to consult him before starting to use new and controversial spyware that is “very powerful and potentially intrusive”.
“The use of spyware raises privacy issues. […] It’s not that you can’t use the tool. Perhaps the criterion [d’équilibre avec le respect de la vie privée] has been achieved, but we have to be sure,” explained Philippe Dufresne during his appearance before the committee.
Despite having been in use for several years, the commissioner says he didn’t know this type of software was part of the police arsenal until he learned about it in the media this summer. He is due to meet with RCMP officials at the end of the month to verify that the necessary safeguards have been put in place to protect privacy, a “fundamental right”. “We are not in a situation where we intercept a landline telephone. There, there is a lot of information in a phone [intelligent]. »
Mr. Dufresne wants a reform of the law to strengthen the powers of his office to give it a mandatory role in the evaluation “upstream” of the consequences on the private life of such programs. For now, only an internal federal policy commands assessing the issue of privacy protection, in addition to case-by-case approval by a judge.
His predecessor, Daniel Therrien, is scheduled to appear before the same committee on Tuesday, along with other experts in the matter.
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