Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden released more documents that reveal remote spying operations that include bulk data collection and user tracking, this time concerning the Canadian public, CBC News reports. According to a presentation dating back to May 2012, the Communications Security Establishment Canada has used an airport’s free Wi-Fi system over a period of two weeks to collect information from travellers that had cellphones or laptops with them.
SourceA top secret document retrieved by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowdenand obtained by CBC News shows that Canada’s electronic spy agency used information from the free internet service at a major Canadian airport to track the wireless devices of thousands of ordinary airline passengers for days after they left the terminal. After reviewing the document, one of Canada’s foremost authorities on cyber-security says the clandestine operation by the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) was almost certainly illegal. Ronald Deibert told CBC News: “I can’t see any circumstance in which this would not be unlawful, under current Canadian law, under our Charter, under CSEC’s mandates.”
