Psiphon Plans to Leave Canada Over Proposed Lawful Access Legislation

Toronto-based software provider Psiphon plans to leave Canada if the federal government passes Bill C-22 in its current form, The Globe and Mail and PCMag both report. The Citizen Lab and CyberInsider also report that the company intends to relocate over concerns regarding the lawful-access legislation. Bill C-22 would mandate that electronic service providers make secret system modifications to facilitate government access. [1][3][4][5]

The proposed legislation would force service providers to alter their infrastructure secretly to enable surveillance. Psiphon operates a software platform designed to assist internet users living under oppressive regimes in evading online censorship. Company leadership stated it would depart the country rather than comply with the requirements outlined in the bill. [1][4][5][6]

Psiphon was originally spun out of The Citizen Lab as a free and open-source internet censorship circumvention tool. The platform utilizes a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies, including virtual private networks, Secure Shell, and web proxies. Its infrastructure consists of a centrally managed network of thousands of geographically diverse proxy servers using single-hop and multi-hop routing architectures. [1][7]

Juno News and CyberInsider both report that the legislation was introduced by the Canadian Liberal government. Security professionals and privacy advocates continue to monitor the progress of Bill C-22 as it moves through the Canadian federal parliament. [5][6]