Law, Pr ivacy
and Sur veillance
in Canada in the
Post-Snowden Era

Law, Pr ivacy
and Sur veillance
in Canada in the
Post-Snowden Era

Law, Pr ivacy
and Sur veillance
in Canada in the
Post-Snowden Era

E
dward Snowden burst into the public consciousness in June 2013
with a series of astonishing revelations about US surveillance
activities. The Snowden leaks, which have continued for more than
eighteen months, have confirmed that fears of all-encompassing
network surveillance and data capture that were envisioned as worstcase scenarios more than a decade ago have become reality. With
scant debate or public awareness, surveillance agencies around the
world have become remarkably adept at capturing network communications at the very time that billions of people have come to rely on
the Internet as their primary tool for communication, social connection, and information gathering. As a result, the “open Internet” is a
far cry from what millions of users might have otherwise expected
or believed, with openness more aptly referencing their openly accessible private communications

Michael Geist