Just finished reading a great piece by Jim Bronskill on how the RCMP routinely develops profiles from publicly available social media postings, on activists.
Should they be doing this without having cause to suspect an individual or group, of criminal activities of wrong doing? Please feel free to voice your opinion in the comments.
Personally, I don't believe so and apparently neither does the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Cara Zwibel, director of the organization's Fundamental Freedoms program says, “The fact that someone's an activist should not be enough to render them the subject of suspicion by law enforcement, That to me, is a problem in a democratic society”.
For activists CSIS spying revelations were cold comfort
Should they be doing this without having cause to suspect an individual or group, of criminal activities of wrong doing? Please feel free to voice your opinion in the comments.
Personally, I don't believe so and apparently neither does the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Cara Zwibel, director of the organization's Fundamental Freedoms program says, “The fact that someone's an activist should not be enough to render them the subject of suspicion by law enforcement, That to me, is a problem in a democratic society”.
The RCMP is defending its practice of profiling people by scouring their social-media postings, saying the police force lawfully obtains information with the aim of protecting Canadians.related:
A Toronto activist concerned about mining-industry abuses recently learned the Mounties compiled a six-page profile of her shortly after she showed up at a federal leaders debate during the 2015 election campaign.
An analyst with the RCMP's tactical internet intelligence unit ultimately found no indication that Rachel Small, an organizer with the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, was involved in criminal acts.
Small said it was "kind of creepy and unsettling" to see the RCMP profile, which came to light years later through an access-to-information request.
read: Mounties defend social media profiling of protestors
For activists CSIS spying revelations were cold comfort
