Require Court Order For Any Covert Surveillance

Text of the Policy

 * Require law enforcement to obtain a court order in order to perform any covert surveillance of specific individuals or groups.
 * Where obtaining a warrant would prevent the police acting on an immediate threat or pursuing a lead in an investigation, a court order should be obtained alongside the ongoing surveillance and, if denied, the subject of the surveillance must be informed.
 * Enforce laws that if the court finds that the surveillance was for political, personal, or other illegitimate purposes, the official who gave the order for the surveillance could face penalties.
 * The court order required should be proportional to the amount of surveillance, the degree of the suspected offence and the amount of evidence against the individual or group.

Rationales

 * There is no democracy without due process. Current push for a mass surveillance national security state and anti-privacy laws all seek to do away with due process. Copyright monopolist with strong influence in current U.S. government also wants to bypass age old and essential due process while stubbornly hanging on to old business model and are pressuring service provider and carrier to violate the democratic safeguards and their users privacy. Laws are being lobbied that would legalize mass surveillance and tear down due process, a pillar of a free society. An undemocratic law getting passed does not make it anymore democratic or just.

Snippet of Discussions

 * A secret court with a close working relation with an agency or department is not an arms-length judicial body that could provide judicial due process called for in our constitution.
 * ISP cannot arbitrarily issue private data based on allegation by a company or collection agency (or copyright trolls companies) if no judicial oversight and orders are obtained first.

Possible Misinformations
Myth:  Fact:

Related News or Articles
S-4, C-13, Anti-Bullying bill, various Snowden Leaks, CIA Torture revelation (and Canada's complicity - Tor Star)

Back to Policies 2015 Main Page

\