Canadian VPN joins Signal, NordVPN and Windscribe in threat to leave Canada over surveillance law
VPN companies say they are forced to design surveillance into their systems.
Image by Iryna Tolmachova | Shutterstock
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- Psiphon says it will leave Canada if Bill C-22 passes in its current form.
- The bill would require digital service providers to build surveillance capabilities for police and intelligence agencies.
- Psiphon says the law could weaken protections for users in countries with heavy censorship.
- Signal, NordVPN, and Windscribe have also threatened to leave Canada over the bill.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
A VPN, born from a University of Toronto project built to help people evade censorship under repressive regimes, says it will leave the country if a tough new surveillance law passes.
The new law, Bill C-22, which is currently going through Parliament, would require telecoms, internet companies, and other electronic service providers to build surveillance capabilities for police and intelligence agencies.
The Canadian government has argued that it needs these powers to keep up with international cybersecurity alliances, such as the Five Eyes.
However, Psiphon says complying with Bill C-22 could force it to alter its architecture – compromising essential protections for those living in countries like Iran, Myanmar, Russia, and China.
The company told The Globe and Mail it has started drawing up plans to move its operations out of the country.
Vice-president Kenzie Elsworthy said Psiphon is trusted thanks to the open-source model, and that it would be impossible to add a secret back door into a system that's completely public.
He warned that the Bill would “force us to rewrite our code, dismantle our robust privacy architectures and design surveillance into our systems.”
That is not lawful access. It is a published vulnerability,says Psiphon Vice-president Kenzie Elsworth of Bill C-22.
Psiphon – which has around 20 million monthly users worldwide – joins Signal, NordVPN, and Windscribe in threatening to leave the country if the Bill passes in its current form.
In June, Signal executive Udbhav Tiwari warned Canadian lawmakers that the bill would effectively turn digital services into a surveillance network by mandating metadata retention.
The bill still passed the House later that month, but with amendments that added protections for end-to-end encryption and cut the metadata retention period from a year to 6 months.
Last month, Access Now – an international digital rights group – joined a coalition of European civil society organizations in publishing an open letter urging European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials to intervene over Bill C-22.
