CSEC Wi-Fi snooping experiment prompts calls for review

A B.C. MP is calling for anindependent review of theactivities of Canada's electronic spy agency, after CBC News revealed this week that the agency conducted an experimenttrackinginternet users who logged in through wireless access points at Canadian airports.

Vancouver QuadraMP Joyce Murray,the Liberal Critic for National Defence, saidthe Vancouver and Toronto Airport Authorities should investigate the alleged security breaches that allowed theinformation of airportWi-Fiusers to be harvested en masse.

"This agency is out of control," Murray said in a written statement Friday.

What they are doing is a violation of Canadian law, and it is unacceptable that the minister of national defence downplayed this violation.- Vancouver QuadraMP Joyce Murray

"Like most Canadians, I was shocked to learn that Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been monitoring the internet traffic of unsuspecting, law-abiding Canadian travellers at the Vancouver and Toronto airports," Murray said.

Murray also said that all domestic surveillance must cease, immediately.

"Domestic spying is clearly not permitted underCSECsmandate. What they are doing is a violation of Canadian law, and it is unacceptable that the Minister of National Defence downplayed this violation," she said.

• More: MPs grill defence minister on spying revelation

A 2012document leaked by EdwardSnowden titled "IPProfiling Analytics& Mission Impacts" indicates that Canada'sspy service was provided with information captured from unsuspecting travellers' wireless devices by the airport's freeWi-Fisystem over a two-week period.

The document shows the federal intelligence agency was then able to track the travellers for a week or more as theirwireless devices showed up in otherWi-Fi"hot spots" in cities across Canada and even at U.S. airports.

The document also described howCSEChad so much data it could even track the travellers back in time through the days leading up to their arrival at the airport.

Representatives with the Vancouver International Airport and with Boingo, which suppliesWi-Fiservices at other Canadian airports, including Toronto Pearson, have denied supplying Wi-Fi traffic information to CSEC.

• More: CSEC used airport Wi-Fi to track Canadian travellers

Watchdog lawsuit gathering evidence

A B.C. privacy watchdog hopes the new revelations about CSEC's activities will help strengthen its court case against the security giant.

In October, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) filed a lawsuit against CSEC, claiming its activities violated Canadians' charter rights by intercepting private communications and by conducting a sweeping collection of communications metadata.

• More: Is Canada's spy agency eavesdropping on the private communications of Canadians?

LawyerCailyDiPuma, speaking for the BCCLA, said the leaked document outlining the Wi-Fi interception and tracking experiment is an "appalling" example of the type of spying her group is concerned with.

"This is the kind of indiscriminate dragnetspying that we've been concerned about since these Snowden revelations started happening, about six months ago," she said.

DiPuma said not only is theBCCLAconcerned about the alleged secret spying activities, but it is also "deeply concerning" thatCSEC appears to be operating without parliamentary or judicial oversight.

This is really, compared to the U.S., even a worse situation in terms of the accountability and oversight for whatCSECis doing.- BCCLA lawyer CailyDiPuma

"There is no parliamentary committee that's watching whatCSECis doing, there's no judge authorizing any of these types of collections. This is really, compared to the U.S., even a worse situation in terms of the accountability and oversight for whatCSECis doing," she said.

The BCCLAhasargued in its lawsuitthatCSEC'ssweeping data-collection activities infringe on Charter rights that guaranteefree expression andprotectionagainst unreasonable search and seizure.

"This kind of information, when it's collected, can tell the government all sorts of things about yourself:intimate details of your personal life, your relationship to other people, your religious affiliation, your sexual orientation, where you are at any given time," DiPumasaid. "That is unacceptable and it's unconstitutional."

The federal government hasfiled a response to the civil claim.

The suit is now in the pre-trial phase of discovery,with both sides gathering evidence.

CSEC, whichsays it reports to the minister of defence,describes itself as "Canadas national cryptologic agency."

CSEC says it supplies two main services: foreign signals intelligence, which means monitoring electronic communications emanating from abroad,and protecting domestic electronic information and communication.