We all are well aware of the fact that various brands collect user data in order to serve them with personalized services and advertisements. It seems reasonable if the data being collected is being used to serve the consumer but if the data is being poised for the purpose of surveillance it may be considered as violation of freedom of the person. And if the data is being enquired by some government agencies? This issue was raised by a whistle blower stating that governments collects data of their citizen for the purpose of surveillance without his/her acknowledgement. It may seem a little unmerited. Thus, warrant canaries were introduced to cope up with this issue.
What is a Warrant Canary?
Warrant Canary is a statement, webpage or printable published by a service provider, a manufacture or a telco stating the fact that they have not received any database pull request by any government agency. This statement may be published on yearly, half-yearly, quarterly basis depending upon the provider’s aptness. This statement doesn’t declare that the brand has received any database request by the government instead it states the fact that no pull request has been summoned to the brand itself. If the provider is summoned with a pull request this warrant canary disappears that signifies the element that some database has been demanded by rule for purpose of surveillance.
Jargon Of Warrant Canary
Canary birds were once used in coal mines as a carbon monoxide detection system. Canaries would show signs of illness sooner than humans once carbon monoxide levels began to rise. In this way, the birds served as an early warning system.
Warrant canaries alert you to the non-existence of a warrant. Say a company creates a dedicated webpage stating that it has never received a warrant for customer data. This page is the warrant canary. If it goes down, or the wording changes, then you can infer that the company has received a warrant.
What is Canary Watch?
Canary watch tracks and documents Canary Warrant statements. This site lists warrant canaries we know about, tracks changes or disappearances of canaries, and allows submissions of canaries not listed on the site.
Conclusion
Warrant canaries are often provided in aggregation with a transparency report, listing the process the service provider can publicly say it received over the course of a particular time period. The canary is a reference to the canaries used to provide warnings in coalmines, which would become sick before miners from carbon monoxide poisoning, warning of the danger.
