Alex Boutilier reports:
Bell, Rogers and Research In Motion pushed to hold back details on how often customer data is being handed over to law enforcement agencies, recently released documents show.
The companies were concerned about “antagonizing” the federal government and police if they shared too much information about authorities snooping their customers’ personal data, according to correspondence obtained by the Toronto Star and Halifax Chronicle Herald.
Read more on Toronto Star.
What would have been the outcome of releasing information though?
The gov:
-Not getting winning bids to get free non-repayable money to build out rural broadband from the gov (billion dollars there given out to build infrastructure).
-Non-favourable wireless spectrum auctions?
-The telco lobby groups would be on the back burner when requesting sit-downs with the ministers?
-More heavily taxed?
What could the gov do when only Rogers, Bell, Videotron and Telus control all of the Canadian wireline and wireless teclo’s, as well as most all Canadian media?
The only thing that comes to mind is the free billion dollar handouts and allowing the continuing of their monopoly in telecom.
What am I missing here?
Police:
Why would Roger, Bell and Telus be afraid of antagonizing the police?
What could they do?
Is there police corruption they are aware about and the police will do things to their families if the cops don’t get full access to all telco info on every subscriber?
Do the police and gov have some “dirt” on the monopoly telco’s that could maybe be spilled into the media that would cause an uproar?
What exactly do they have to fear? What is it they are… hiding?
I can’t seem to wrap my simplistic thinking around this. Why do they have to hide?