Feds unveil plan to safeguard 2019 election from foreign meddling, disinformation | CTV News - Rachel Aiello:
February 27, 2019 - "The federal government has unveiled a series of new measures aimed at ... enhancing Canada's readiness to defend the democratic process from cyber threats and disinformation.... The objective is to have a plan ... without being seen to be interfering in the campaign.
"This will be done through what’s being called a 'Critical Election Incident Public Protocol' that will be overseen by five senior level non-political government officials.... The members of this new high-level group will be responsible for deciding when, and how they decide to inform Canadians about concerning online behaviour or content that comes to their attention. It is comprised of the Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada’s National Security Adviser, and the deputy ministers of the Justice, Public Safety, and Global Affairs departments....
"The overall plan is four-pronged, and was announced by Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. The next federal election [is] just nine months away....
"In addition to the public alert protocol, the government announced the creation of a Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE), to prevent 'covert, clandestine, or criminal' attempts to interfere in elections and respond to them. It is comprised of intelligence officials from CSIS; RCMP; the Communications Security Establishment; and Global Affairs Canada....
"In an effort to keep a closer eye on international threats, the government is activating the 'rapid response mechanism' at Global Affairs to identify, respond, and share information about threats.... This will include monitoring foreign social media activity....
"Gould is in the process of talking to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter about their role in Canadian elections, and she is asking them to commit to apply specific measures that they have enacted in other countries, such as Twitter's ad transparency centre. Though, this expectation is not among the newly legislated requirements for these platforms.... [NDP democratic reform critic Nathan] Cullen was critical of there not being further measures to compel social media companies to comply....
"Lastly the government is launching a new campaign for citizen-literacy about misinformation online.... As part of this effort the government is spending $7 million on 'digital, news, and civic literacy programming'....
"These measures are in addition to ongoing efforts to secure Canada’s electoral system, such as: passing Bill C-76, which imposes new limits and penalties related to spending and foreign participation ... and, collaborating with social media companies on plans to combat fake news and disinformation from interfering with public opinion during the campaign. Bill C-76 also gave Canada's Elections Commissioner new powers to conduct investigations into election interference, and compels social media platforms to create databases of their advertising during the campaign."
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-unveil-plan-to-tackle-fake-news-interference-in-2019-election-1.4274273
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February 27, 2019 - "The federal government has unveiled a series of new measures aimed at ... enhancing Canada's readiness to defend the democratic process from cyber threats and disinformation.... The objective is to have a plan ... without being seen to be interfering in the campaign.
"This will be done through what’s being called a 'Critical Election Incident Public Protocol' that will be overseen by five senior level non-political government officials.... The members of this new high-level group will be responsible for deciding when, and how they decide to inform Canadians about concerning online behaviour or content that comes to their attention. It is comprised of the Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada’s National Security Adviser, and the deputy ministers of the Justice, Public Safety, and Global Affairs departments....
"The overall plan is four-pronged, and was announced by Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. The next federal election [is] just nine months away....
"In addition to the public alert protocol, the government announced the creation of a Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE), to prevent 'covert, clandestine, or criminal' attempts to interfere in elections and respond to them. It is comprised of intelligence officials from CSIS; RCMP; the Communications Security Establishment; and Global Affairs Canada....
"In an effort to keep a closer eye on international threats, the government is activating the 'rapid response mechanism' at Global Affairs to identify, respond, and share information about threats.... This will include monitoring foreign social media activity....
"Gould is in the process of talking to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter about their role in Canadian elections, and she is asking them to commit to apply specific measures that they have enacted in other countries, such as Twitter's ad transparency centre. Though, this expectation is not among the newly legislated requirements for these platforms.... [NDP democratic reform critic Nathan] Cullen was critical of there not being further measures to compel social media companies to comply....
"Lastly the government is launching a new campaign for citizen-literacy about misinformation online.... As part of this effort the government is spending $7 million on 'digital, news, and civic literacy programming'....
"These measures are in addition to ongoing efforts to secure Canada’s electoral system, such as: passing Bill C-76, which imposes new limits and penalties related to spending and foreign participation ... and, collaborating with social media companies on plans to combat fake news and disinformation from interfering with public opinion during the campaign. Bill C-76 also gave Canada's Elections Commissioner new powers to conduct investigations into election interference, and compels social media platforms to create databases of their advertising during the campaign."
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-unveil-plan-to-tackle-fake-news-interference-in-2019-election-1.4274273
'via Blog this'
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