espionage
Canada Lawmakers Helped Foreign Powers Influence Elections, Report Alleges
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The Canadian Parliament’s National Security Committee implicated multiple parliament members of “semi-witting or witting” cooperation with foreign powers to influence elections, according to a recent report.
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) supported their findings with 4,000 documents totaling 33,000 pages. Their findings allege “pervasive and sophisticated foreign interference” in Canadian politics, including allegations that multiple unnamed parliament members worked with foreign actors to influence elections and campaigns in 2019 and 2021.
China was called the most “prolific actor,” according to the report.
The NSICOP says alleged illegal activities by the Parliament members is unlikely to net criminal charges, citing in the report the difficulty of using classified information in judicial proceedings.
Opposition members to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party have pressured the government to release the names of the alleged implicated parliament members. Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke last Wednesday during question time in Parliament, demanding the names be revealed.
“The National Security Committee indicates there are members of this House who have knowingly worked for foreign hostile governments. Canadians have a right to know who and what is the information,” Poilievre said, “Who are they?”
So far, the government has not committed to releasing the names of the parliamentarians responsible. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc pushed back on releasing the names of the MPs in response to Poilievre.
“The leader of the opposition knows very well no government, including the government [of] which he was a member, is going to discuss particularities of intelligence information publicly. So he knows better than that,” LeBlanc said in the House of Commons. “He would be much more informed than he is now and we would invite him to do so, so he wouldn’t stand up and cast aspersions on the floor of the House of Commons without any information whatsoever.”
The report comes after previous investigations into foreign involvement in Canadian politics and society. Last September, Trudeau’s government charged Quebec Judge Marie-Josée Hogue to investigate foreign interference in elections after some alleged that China aided in mustering voters against a conservative candidate in Western Canada and helping elect a Liberal in Toronto, according to Politico.
The previous report from the NSICOP in 2019 did not specifically focus on the federal election that year, and instead was broader in scope, says the report.
The UK Labour government’s secret order to Apple for an iCloud encryption backdoor ignites US-UK tensions as lawmakers demand action.
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The Labour government’s reported decision to issue a secret order to Apple to build an encryption backdoor into iCloud is turning into a major political issue between the UK and the US, just as the move is criticized by more than 100 civil society groups, companies, and security experts at home.
The fact that this serious undermining of security and privacy affects users globally, including Americans, has prompted a strong reaction from two US legislators – Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and Congressman Andy Biggs, a Republican.
In a letter to National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, the pair slammed the order as “effectively a foreign cyber attack waged through political means.”
Wyden and Biggs – who sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, respectively – want Gabbard to act decisively to prevent any damage to US citizens and government from what they call the UK’s “dangerous, shortsighted efforts.”
The letter urges Gabbard to issue what the US legislators themselves refer to as an ultimatum to the UK: “Back down from this dangerous attack on US cybersecurity, or face serious consequences.”
Unless this happens immediately, Wyden and Biggs want Gabbard to “reevaluate US-UK cybersecurity arrangements and programs as well as US intelligence sharing with the UK.”
They add that the relationship between the two countries must be built on trust – but, if London is moving to “secretly undermine one of the foundations of US cybersecurity, that trust has been profoundly breached.”
The letter points out that the order appears to prohibit Apple from acknowledging it has even received it, under threat of criminal penalties – meaning that the UK is forcing a US company to keep the public and Congress in the dark about this serious issue.
In the UK, well-known privacy campaigner Big Brother Watch agreed with what the group’s Advocacy Manager Matthew Feeney said were “damning comments” made by Wyden and Biggs.
Feeney said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s “draconian order” to Apple was in effect a cyber attack on that company, and that the letter penned by the US legislators is “wholly justified” – and comes amid “a shameful chapter in the history of UK-US relations.”
“Cooper’s draconian order is not only a disaster for civil liberties, it is also a globally humiliating move that threatens one of the UK’s most important relationships,” he warned, calling on the home secretary to rescind it.
The same is being asked of Cooper by over 100 civil society organizations, companies, and cybersecurity experts – an initiative led by the Global Encryption Coalition (GEC).
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SPEECH CONTROL
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UK Refuses to Weaken Online Censorship Laws Despite US Pressure |
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The UK government has firmly stated that its online censorship laws will not be softened to appease US President Donald Trump or to facilitate trade negotiations with the United States. Technology Minister Peter Kyle repeated Britain’s stance on maintaining strict digital speech regulations, shutting down any speculation of a shift in policy toward American AI firms.
During the Paris AI summit, Kyle dismissed claims that Downing Street was considering relaxing sections of the Online Safety Act in discussions with the US. Refuting a report from The Daily Telegraph, he asserted: “Safety is not up for negotiation. There are no plans to weaken any of our online safety legislation.”
The Online Safety Act, one of the strictest online speech crackdowns in a democratic nation, which is set to come into force this year.
Industry moguls such as Elon Musk have voiced hopes that a Trump-led administration might resist global regulatory pressures on US-based tech companies.
Despite these concerns, Kyle expressed confidence that Trump would not obstruct Labour’s forthcoming AI legislation, which mandates that leading AI firms undergo “safety” evaluations before rolling out new software. He confirmed that voluntary safety pledges would now be replaced with enforceable mandates, ensuring strict compliance.
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