As if Canadians didn’t need another reason to be concerned with Bill C-22, the government’s so-called Lawful Access Act, news broke earlier this week that suggests the legislation not only represents a threat to consumers’ privacy, but also to their pocketbooks.
The legislation would force select Canadian electronic service providers, including telecom companies, to upgrade their systems to have the ability to store consumers’ metadata for up to a year, among other measures.
Upgrading these systems to meet the government’s requirements, according to telecom companies, will be extremely expensive.
Passing on costs
And, as we all know, companies don’t just take increased costs lying down. They pass those costs onto consumers. Even Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree admitted that certain companies “may need to pass on some cost,” although he argued that should not be across the board, and insisted large telecom providers should foot the bill themselves.
But Anandasangaree has to be kidding himself if he genuinely believes there will be cases where costs won’t be passed onto consumers.
Eric Smith, senior vice-president of the Canadian Telecommunications Association, whose group represents major telecom companies like Bell and Rogers, told the Toronto Star taxpayer money should be used to cover these increased costs.
