{"id":55645,"date":"2020-11-16T08:06:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T13:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55645"},"modified":"2020-11-16T08:06:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T13:06:28","slug":"you-have-zero-privacy-says-an-internal-rcmp-presentation-inside-the-forces-web-spying-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55645","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You Have Zero Privacy\u2019 Says an Internal RCMP Presentation. Inside the Force\u2019s Web Spying Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article__header\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"organisms\/article\/article__header\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<h3 data-bind=\"title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/News\/2020\/11\/16\/You-Have-Zero-Privacy-RCMP-Web-Spying\/\">\u2018You Have Zero Privacy\u2019 Says an Internal RCMP Presentation. Inside the Force\u2019s Web Spying Program<\/a><\/h3>\n<p data-bind=\"teaser\"><strong>\u2018Project Wide Awake\u2019 files obtained by The Tyee show efforts to secretly buy and use powerful surveillance tools while downplaying capabilities.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"featured-media\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"02-organisms\/article\/featured-media\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<figure class=\"figure \" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-img\" src=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/News\/2020\/11\/15\/WideAwakeProjectMain.jpg\" alt=\"WideAwakeProjectMain.jpg\" width=\"960\" height=\"707\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption\">The Tyee cracks open 3,000 pages of RCMP documents released via a freedom of information request.\u00a0<span class=\"caption__media--credit\">Illustration by Christopher Cheung.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<article class=\"article__body main-col-container\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"organisms\/article\/article__body\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid clearfix \">\n<p>A 3,000-page batch of internal communications from the RCMP obtained by The Tyee provides a window into how the force builds its capabilities to spy on internet users and works to hide its methods from the public.<\/p>\n<p>The emails and documents pertain to the RCMP\u2019s Tactical Internet Operation Support unit based at the national headquarters in Ottawa and its advanced web monitoring program called Project Wide Awake.<\/p>\n<p>The files include an internal RCMP presentation that contradict how the force has characterized Project Wide Awake to Canada\u2019s privacy commissioner and The Tyee in past emails. A slide labels the program\u2019s activities \u201cSocial Media Surveillance,\u201d despite the RCMP having denied that description applied.<\/p>\n<p>Communications show one high-level officer blasting the project before leaving the RCMP for Chinese tech firm Huawei.<\/p>\n<p>Other members were jokingly dismissive of public concerns about privacy violations \u2014 a training slide for the project says: \u201cYou have zero privacy anyway, get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"aside \" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/aside\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<section class=\"messaging-block messaging-block--ask\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/messaging-block--ask\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\"><\/section>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In seeking contract renewals and wider capabilities, the RCMP claimed its spying produced successful results, including finding online a \u201cdirect threat\u201d to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n<p>The documents reveal the RCMP:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Gained permission to hide sole-source contracts for Project Wide Awake from the public through a \u201cnational security exception.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Discussed \u201ctier three\u201d covert operations involving the use of proxies \u2014\u00a0intermediary computers located elsewhere \u2014 to hide RCMP involvement with spying activities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Purchased software with an aim to search \u201cDarknet,\u201d which it defined to include \u201cprivate communications\u201d and those from \u201cpolitical protests.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure \" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/figure\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018You Have Zero Privacy\u2019 Says an Internal RCMP Presentation. Inside the Force\u2019s Web Spying Program \u2018Project Wide Awake\u2019 files obtained by The Tyee show efforts to secretly buy and use powerful surveillance tools while downplaying capabilities. The Tyee cracks open 3,000 pages of RCMP documents released via a freedom of information request.\u00a0Illustration by Christopher Cheung. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24021,103,5570,30583,3542,5499],"class_list":["post-55645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-bryan-carney","tag-canada","tag-mass-surveillance","tag-project-wideawake","tag-rcmp","tag-the-tyee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55646,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55645\/revisions\/55646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}