New Canadian bill forces messaging apps to log data; VOTE NO ON THIS!

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, how's it going? Hope you're having a lovely day. Welcome to today's episode of How You're Getting [ __ ] I'm your host, Lewis Rossman.

[00:00:04]Today, I wanted to go over what I think is a horrible piece of legislation that's being proposed in the House in Canada. This is Bill C22. I'm going to read some parts of it to you pretty quickly because I have a lot to do today and I don't have a lot of time to do a video or edit. So, let's go over the parts that suck if you enjoy using encrypted messaging applications like Signal. The first part of this bill that sucks is the part that says that even if it is a foreign entity, they still have to provide this information as long as the application is working in Canada.

[00:00:29]Application transmission data or subscriber information. On exparte application made by a peace officer or a public officer, a justice or judge may authorize a peace officer or public officer to make a request to a foreign entity that provides telecommunication services or that provide services by means of telecommunication to the public to prepare and produce a document containing transmission data or subscriber information that is in the foreign entity's possession and control when it receives the request. So what does this mean? Even though Signal is an American messaging application, Canadian authorities are going to be allowed to request that information from them. But it gets worse. Let's talk about what subscriber information actually means in this bill. We're going to read the definition. I believe that's around 2C.

[00:01:11]Subscriber information. information that can be used to identify the subscriber or client, including their name, pseudonym, address, telephone number, and email address, identifiers assigned to the subscriber or client by the person, including account numbers, and information relating to the services provided to the subscriber or client, including the types of services provided, the period during which the services were provided, and information that identifies the device, equipment, or things used by the subscriber or client in relation to the services. Now, the reason this is bad is because Signal is an application that is designed with privacy in mind. It is an open source app that doesn't collect this type of data. it doesn't collect this information on you. So the people that make Signal would actually have to reprogram the application to collect all this information and then come up with a way to log that information so it would be available if the Canadian authorities come knocking, which I don't think they want to do. I don't think that the people that make Signal want to reprogram the applications they can collect tracking data on you against your consent so that they can comply with this law just so that they can provide messaging services in Canada. It it gets better. It actually doesn't just ask for any of the information that the company has sitting around. that's going to actually force them to compile and build things that they don't usually keep. Production order, subscriber information. On exparte application made by a peace officer or a public officer, a justice or judge may order a person who provides services to the public to prepare and produce a document containing all the subscriber information that relates to any information, including transmission data that is specified in the order and that is in their possession or control when they receive the order. It gets worse.

[00:02:34]It doesn't sound like there is a warrant or a judge needed for certain types of information. If we go further down, you can see that whether or not they have provided that information to a subscriber is something that they can ask for without actually needing a warrant. I believe that is over here.

[00:02:49]Confirmation of service demand. A peace officer or public officer may make a demand in form 5.0011 to a telecommunication service provider requiring them to confirm within the time and in the manner specified in demand whether or not they provide or have provided telecommunication services to any subscriber or client or to any account or identifier specified in demand. a peace officer or public officer, not a judge, not somebody with a warrant, not requiring a warrant. They they cop can just call up and say, "Yo, does Lewis Rosman use signal?" "Yay, he does. Thanks, bro." What? It gets better. It gets better. It gets better.

[00:03:20]The peace officer or public officer who makes a demand may impose conditions in the man prohibiting the disclosure of its existence or sum of all of its contents for a period of not greater than one year after the day on which a demand is made. So, this is great. So, not only is the cop allowed to call up Signal and say, "Yo, does Lewis use Signal, they're allowed to tell Signal, by the way, you can't even tell Lewis or anybody that we asked if Lewis uses this." So, not only do you not need a warrant for that, but you also have a gag order that is implied in the bill so that the people who are forced to collect this information and give it out without a warrant can't even tell people that they were forced to do it. Just bad, bad, bad. There's also immunity for voluntary snitching on people. So the law is going to protect companies that decide to fold over and hand user data over voluntarily without waiting for a legal demand. Request for confirmation.

[00:04:05]No demand under subsection is necessary for a peace officer or public officer to ask a telecommunication service provider to voluntarily provide the confirmation referred to in that subsection if the telecommunication service provider is not prohibited by law from providing it.

[00:04:16]A telecommunication service provider that provides a confirmation in those circumstances does not incur any criminal or civil liability for doing so. And I repeat, a telecommunication service provider that provides a confirmation in those circumstances does not incur any criminal or civil liability for doing so. So, Signal can't produce information on you that they don't have. In order to comply with this bill, these types of messaging applications would have to fundamentally alter the way that they operate so that they collect as much personal data on you as possible so that it's available.

[00:04:44]It would be available to the peace officers and the police without a warrant. And they're placed under a gag order where they're not even allowed to tell anybody that they were forced to give the police this information. This bill sucks. This is junk. And I don't understand what it is about society where all the age verification [ __ ] all the 3D printer lockdowns, all of this is all happening at the exact same [ __ ] time. No privacy for you, no ownership for you, no wait, just no. Just go away.

[00:05:08]Let me know what you think in the comments down below. If you live in Canada, I highly suggest that you contact your local politician and tell them the same thing that I tell everybody to write in the template for American politicians. Dear politician, C-22 is a horrible bill in my opinion because it destroys the concept of privacy and requires companies that provide privacy protecting messaging services to log information they do not currently log. I am a single issue voter. I have not voted in the last 10 or 20 years, but I am watching how you will vote on this. If I do not believe that you have done everything you can to stop this bill from moving forward, I will vote for your opposite or your challenger in the primary and general election. Thank you very much. Please let me know how you wish to proceed.

[00:05:44]Have a lovely rest of your day. Just keep it nice, short, and sweet. Now, you may think that's not actually true, Lewis. I do not want to vote for the opposite. The opposite is horrible.

[00:05:51]That's not what it's about. It's not what it's about. All they need to know is that there is a threat to their ability to stay in office and keep their seat, that they may lose their job if they decide to push this forward. And if they hear that from enough people, perhaps this will go away. Let me know what you think in the comments down below. That's it for today, and as always, I hope you learned something.

[00:06:06]I'll see you in the next video. Bye now.