Lawful access bill faces pushback from tech companies, privacy advocates

Añadido: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]At Canada's tip-line for online child sexual abuse and exploitation, workers field thousands of complaints a year, scan millions of abusive images online, but rarely see police charges. We've got a lot of information about crimes that are occurring that our police aren't even able to get to because they're spending a lot of time in the early investigative stages to try to get the information.

[00:00:23]It's why they are hoping the Liberals will use their majority in the House of Commons to pass Bill C-22. The federal legislation would make telecom and internet companies change their back-end systems to make it easier to hand over evidence. how we would >> But it faces mounting backlash and accusations of overreach. The government will have the power to order the large communications companies to retain information about where you go, who you communicate with, literally for an entire year. The concerns aren't just domestic. Tech companies like Meta, Apple, Signal, and NordVPN say the Canadian bill would force them to weaken their privacy protections. Part two of the bill would potentially force us to break encryption and to install government-directed hardware or software on our encrypted networks that would inevitably then also become a target for hostile actors. Last week, the chairs of two American congressional committees even wrote to Canada's public safety minister saying Bill C-22 would create significant cross-border risk to the security and data privacy of Americans.

[00:01:34]Canadian police are skeptical. We certainly want to make sure that, you know, profit margins are not being prioritized over public safety. Public Safety Minister Gary Anand is angry is also pushing back on critics saying the bill's intention isn't to break encryption, but to make sure police have a pathway to the increasing amount of digital evidence, provided they have a warrant. Tech giants are misinterpreting some of the safeguards that are already built in. Critics want to see the bill updated to make clear that the government won't break encryption. The minister's office hopes to pass the bill by summer, leaving little runway for substantial changes. Catherine Tunney, CBC News, Ottawa.