Alberta Gov't To Craigslist, Get Rid Of Erotic Ads!

In September Craigslist shut down it's prostitution ads in the U.S. when it received complaints from the attorneys general of 17 states. The ads have persisted outside of the U.S. however and on Friday Alberta's Justice Minister and Solicitor General sent a letter to Craigslist requesting the removal of erotic ads appearing in this country following suit of 3 other Canadian Provinces. 

"Alberta has and will continue focusing on investigating and prosecuting any allegations of human trafficking whenever the evidence warrants,"  Alberta Justice spokesperson Jody Korchinski said.

"However, the ministers also recognize that advocacy and awareness … does also play an important role, which is why they decided to lend their support to their colleagues which have raised this issue in past weeks."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/10/23/edm-craigslist-erotic-ads-ban.html?ref=rss#ixzz13MirkJHV

New Bill To Give Police Access To Personal Data Without Warrant

At a news conference in Ottawa yesterday, Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan announced new bills aimed at providing law enforcement virtually unrestricted access to information gathered by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) regarding their customers and their activities online.

According to this CBC article:

"One bill, announced by Van Loan, would require telecommunications and internet service providers to:

• Install and maintain "intercept-capable" equipment on their networks.
• Provide police with "timely access" to personal information about subscribers, including names, address and internet addresses, without the need for a warrant.

Van Loan said the bill won't provide new interception powers to police, but simply update the legal framework designed "in the era of the rotary telephone."

He noted that police can already get the authority to intercept communications, but the network is often incapable of allowing such interception."

In addition a second bill introduced would:

• Allow law enforcement officials to obtain transmission data that is sent or received via telephone or internet if authorized by a production order or warrant
• Require telecommunications companies to keep data related to specific communications or subscribers if that information is needed in an investigation and requested via a preservation order.
• Make it a criminal offence for two or more people to agree to or arrange child sexual exploitation by means of telecommunications.
• Modernize the system for tracking warrants.

I'm all for police getting the tools they need to combat crime, however, "without the need for a warrant." seems a little scary to me...