A report has recently revealed that the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CESC) gathered metadata from thousands of travelers connected to wi-fi at a major Canadian airport. The CSEC is an agency that is designed to protect Canadians from electronic security threats and, by law, is not prohibited to gather information about Canadians or anyone in Canada without a warrant.

Therefore, gathering this information at an airport located in Canada may in fact be breaching the law. Recently, the CSEC was questioned by the Senate security and defense committee, who deemed collecting metadata was not a breach of the law. This is because metadata does not contain the actual content of communication. However, metadata may be more invasive than the actual message, as it contains information such as phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and length and time of calls.

An independent review of this situation would help to clarify if Canadians are having their rights violated. Urge the Canadian government to begin an independent investigation to ensure Canadians and travelers in Canada are not being spied on!