Toronto-Based VPN Provider Plans to Quit Canada over Lawful-Access Bill
4 hours ago
- Psiphon, a Toronto-based VPN provider, plans to leave Canada if Bill C-22 (the lawful-access bill) passes in its current form.
- Bill C-22 would require electronic service providers to secretly modify systems to enable surveillance by police and CSIS.
- Psiphon, originally a Citizen Lab project, has 20 million monthly users worldwide who rely on it to bypass online censorship in countries like Iran, Myanmar, Russia, and China.
- The company states it would move its operations out of Canada to avoid compromising user privacy protections.
- Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert warns that Bill C-22 would make many privacy-preserving tools and applications impossible to operate in Canada.