New laws would let police eavesdrop on Internet users

Under the proposed bill, police would first have to get court approval before they could listen in.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan told the House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee Wednesday that the legislation is needed because current laws are out-of-date.

"We have legislation covering wiretap and surveillance that was designed for the era of the rotary phone," Van Loan said.

The current legislation was written in a time before text messages, Facebook and voice-over-Internet phone lines. Van Loan says there have been recent situations in which police wanted to act quickly to stop a crime, but couldn't because they were constrained by current laws.

"In some of these cases, time is of the essence," he said.

"If you find a situation where a child is being exploited live online at that time - and that situation has arisen before - police services have had good co-operation with a lot of Internet service providers, but there are some that aren't so co-operative."

Police agencies have been calling for new laws since at least the mid-1990s. They say the situation at present provides a digital "safe haven" for criminals, pedophiles and terrorists.

But some privacy advocates are worried about what the proposed bill would allow. In some countries, lawful-access legislation has forced Internet providers to routinely gather and store all electronic traffic of their clients. The stored data can then be obtained by police via search warrant, and effectively places users under constant police surveillance.

But RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said with recent Internet technology developments, it's often difficult or impossible for police to wiretap communication between suspected criminals.

He said the RCMP is supportive of any changes of legislation that would allow them to better intercept criminal communications.