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Internal government spying: Necessary to stop terrorism or an invasion of privacy?

The Canadian government has been spying on its own citizens.

According to a report in the Globe and Mail, the phone calls and Internet data of Canadians are being monitored by the Department of National Defence.

The secret program, which was implemented in 2005 under then-PM Paul Martin, was temporarily suspended in 2008 when a federal watchdog agency raised concerns about warrantless surveillance of Canadians. But it was reinstated in 2011 and signed off on by Defence Minister Peter McKay.

According to the Globe, the information-gathering program doesn't look into users' specific content, but is focused on the metadata that surrounds it, small tags of information that generally specify what the content is and who is talking to whom.

This comes on the heels of an expose in the United States revealing that its government has been logging and collecting the data of Americans for the past seven years.

Response to the news has been subdued at best. It appears most citizens accept that government monitoring of internal communications is an acceptable infringement of privacy if it helps stem terrorist activities in a post-9/11 world.

But what do you think? Is it acceptable for our government to monitor our phone conversations and e-mails?

Have your say in the comments area below.