Surveillance

Police should never have power to tap journalists' phones, says U of T’s Jeffrey Dvorkin

lavende4 — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 16:03:28 +0000

Police should never have power to tap journalists' phones, says U of T’s Jeffrey Dvorkin

lavende4 Thu, 11/03/2016 - 12:03

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Press freedom is at stake with revelations this week that Quebec police have been tracking cell phones of some journalists (photo by jeanbaptisteparis via Flickr)

Terry Lavender

Author legacy

Terry Lavender

Topic

City & Culture

Journalism

��οScarborough

Quebec

Surveillance

Canadian journalists and civil liberty advocates are outraged over revelations that various police forces in Quebec have been tracking the cell phones of local journalists.

Quebec provincial police admitted this week to police surveillance of six prominent journalists in 2013 as they tried to track down a person alleged to have leaked sensitive wiretap information involving a prominent labour leader. This followed revelations that Montreal police had been keeping tabs on the iPhone of a La Presse reporter, including tracking his whereabouts using his phone's GPS chip.

Today, the Quebec government announced a full public inquiry into the growing scandal, but critics are still concerned over what this means for freedom of the press.

��οNews spoke with Jeffrey Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at ��οScarborough, about the controversy. He is a former vice-president of news for National Public Radio and a former managing editor with CBC Radio.

Why should Canadians care about this?

Canadians should care because access to journalistic work and “work product” (in other words, the stuff that doesn’t get into the final reporting) should always be obtained with a warrant. Secondly, the amount of information about all of us – journalists and non-journalists – should be an area of great concern. We are living in an age of transparency and a diminishing lack of privacy. Google through Gmail has forced us to surrender any concept of privacy. The police are only doing (illegally) what Google does with our permission.

Is it common for police to employ surveillance on journalists in Canada?

Probably more than we know. We should know what all levels of government are doing to know more about us. Sometimes being paranoid is the only rational response to the times we live in. When I was managing editor at CBC Radio in the '90s, we discovered that the Canadian military could tap our phones without a warrant. We got that changed. At least we hope we did...

What effect will these revelations have on investigative journalists in Quebec and elsewhere?

It will make journalists more cautious about what is said in supposedly private communications. My own hope is that journalists will not give up on investigative reporting. But instead of being overly dependent on Internet research, more face-to-face, “shoe-leather” reporting might be preferred in certain circumstances.

Are there any circumstances where police should have the authority to tap journalists’ phones?

Never. Not without a warrant. If ever there was an argument for more media lawyers, this is it.

Citizen Lab researchers find privacy problems in popular Baidu browser

sgupta — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 09:12:55 +0000

Citizen Lab researchers find privacy problems in popular Baidu browser sgupta Tue, 02/23/2016 - 04:12

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Android and Windows versions of the Baidu browser have been found to have security risks. (Photo by Jon Russel via flickr)

Alex Gillis

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Alex Gillis

Topic

Global Lens

Fitness tracker flaws exposed by U of T's Citizen Lab and Open Effect

sgupta — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 07:02:40 +0000

Fitness tracker flaws exposed by U of T's Citizen Lab and Open Effect sgupta Tue, 02/02/2016 - 02:02

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The Apple Watch was the only device tested that had no issues, researchers said (photo by LWYang via flickr)

Alex Gillis

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Alex Gillis

Read the complete report

The report is a collaborative effort between Open Effect, a non-profit applied research group focusing on digital privacy and security, and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at U of T. Open Effect previously published research on the security of ad tracking cookies. It also developed Access My Info, an application that makes it easy for Canadians to file legal requests for access to their personal information.

“I hadn’t thought about the issues too much,” said Gormley, “that somebody could find me using my watch.”

“The upside is they’re so great,” she said. She uses a Garmin device. “I guess we’re maybe a bit blind that there could be a downside.”

The downside, said Andrew Hilts, one of the report’s authors, stems from the fact that each device has a unique identifier emitted constantly via Bluetooth, even after users think they’ve stopped using it.

Hilts, the executive director of Open Effect and a research fellow with the Citizen Lab at the Munk School, said that means anyone – from savvy analytics firms or just someone in a coffee shop – could collect that unique identifier and, in some cases, collect your location and a whole lot more.

“The perception might be, ‘Okay, I’m done with this. I’m turning off Bluetooth,’ but your tracker is still emitting this unique identifier, even if your phone has Bluetooth turned off,” Hilts explained.

“There is a Bluetooth privacy standard in place that provides specifications on how device manufacturers can protect the privacy of their users,” Hilts said. “We’re trying to encourage fitness tracking companies to adopt this standard.” Most devices mentioned in the report do not implement Bluetooth privacy, leaving users vulnerable to location-based surveillance.

“We hope our findings will help consumers make more informed decisions about how they use fitness trackers, help companies improve the privacy and security of their offerings, and help regulators understand the current landscape of wearable products.”

Their findings come on the heels of a report by Professor Guy Faulkner and master's student Krystn Orr of U of T's Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education that examined the reliability of smartphone pedometer applications.

Released at the end of 2015, that research found an “unacceptable error percentage” in all apps compared with actual pedometers and urged “caution in their promotion to the public for self-monitoring physical activity and in their use as tools for assessing physical activity in research trials”.

Read: Stuck in traffic? These apps think you're walking

The Citizen Lab and Open Effect researchers sought contact with the seven fitness tracker companies whose products exhibited security vulnerabilities. Fitbit, Intel (Basis), and Mio responded and engaged the researchers in a dialogue. Fitbit further expressed interest in exploring the topic of implementing Bluetooth privacy features in its communications with the researchers. Out of the devices studied, only the Apple Watch adopted the Bluetooth privacy standard.

The report’s authors, Hilts, Christopher Parsons and Jeffrey Knockel, reveal a third issue that arose in the Withings and Jawbone devices: users can falsify their own activity levels. The findings cast doubt on the reliability of data for insurance or other purposes.

“Maybe I’m naïve,” Gormley said. “Maybe an insurance company is conducting top-secret research on me and decide they don’t want to give me insurance?”

“Should I be worried?”

(Visit flickr to see the original of the photo used above)

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NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake at U of T

sgupta — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 09:49:09 +0000

NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake at U of T sgupta Mon, 12/09/2013 - 04:49

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Thomas Drake, whistleblower and former senior NSA official speaks at the ��οiSchool. (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Kathleen O'Brien

Author legacy

Kathleen O'Brien

Thomas Drake, whistleblower and former senior National Security Agency (NSA) official, began his talk at the University of Toronto by telling the audience that he was told at the airport that his American passport was not enough to get into the country.

He had to provide papers showing he was invited to give a lecture at U of T's Faculty of Information (iSchool).

Drake cited this as an example of what’s at stake for democracy and liberty as he began his talk, "Secret NSA/CSEC Surveillance versus Democracy: What's at Stake for the US & Canada?"

With interested followers from around the world watching a live feed, Drake explained how, after working at the NSA for six-and-a-half years, he was investigated and charged with espionage for allegedly disclosing secret information. The charges were dropped and since then Drake has devoted his life to helping citizens become more aware.

“When you see what I went through for five plus years, at the receiving end of a surveillance state in the US, you gain a better appreciation for what truly is at stake," Drake said. "I’ve already lived in a surveillance state. And I don’t want anyone else to live it with me, and don’t want the future to be owned by a surveillance state.

"We are individuals, human beings, we have rights. That makes us sovereign."

Professor Andrew Clement invited Mr. Drake to speak after recent explosive disclosures made by another former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, that have challenged notions of privacy and democracy.

“The little we know about these surveillance agencies comes not through our usual institutions of democratic oversight, but because of a few very brave whistle blowers who have worked on the inside, and who have not been able to tolerate what they see, and who at great personal risk, expose the information to let us, the public, be much better informed, to what we have a right to,” Clement said in his introduction.

As listeners expected, Drake didn’t hold back, discussing how in a post-911 era, he feels the government has gone far beyond investigating legitimate threats.

“National security, an extremely overloaded phrase, is now the state religion in many democracies, including in the US, now increasingly in Canada. When you invoke the label of national security, you are exempt from all inquiries, from all queries, from oversight, and you do not question the high priests of secrecy,” Drake said.

Master of Information student Greg Hughes said he thought the December 5 talk was riveting. “It was like hearing all the thoughts you've buried or put to the back of your mind about the truth of the surveillance state come to light."

Drake urged the crowd to stand up for the truth, and support their right to freedom.

"I will never forsake my sovereignty for the sake of the State."

iSchool alumna Christina Darvasi watched the lecture from Mexico City and tweeted, “So jealous I'm no longer at the iSchool to see it live.”

Kathleen O'Brien is a writer with the iSchool at the University of Toronto.

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