consequences

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And once around and around again...

"..fundamentally reshape the Internet in Canada -- from a relatively open medium to a closed and paranoid space."

It won't be reshaped for me. I've always been paranoid, as I am convinced people are already doing these things and have been for years, and we are only seeing them being made legal now as a kind of window-dressing. 'Going on the net' has always been a matter of conquering one's agoraphobia, and any illusion to the contrary is just that - an illusion. Just go on regaling 'them' with cake recipes and accounts of your travels, what do you care? As for political views, if you scribble anything subversive, they can already go after you now, so nothing in reality changes, and a sufficient number of your fellow citizens like the spying, don't think anything else. Years ago, when my place of work got key cards for outer doors, we were told it could be seen by the 'system' that a certain door had been activated. A considerable number of my colleagues were disappointed because the system couldn't identify what individual key card had done the activating. More people than you care to think about will give up most if not all of the freedom they don't know what to do with anyway, in order to keep tabs on all those dangerous people out there (you).

Time to fight yet again.

The NDP should be fighting this tooth and nail.

The police already have the powers they need to fight internet crime.

EROSION

Just like anything else, the erosion of our privacy and personal freedoms can always be justified in the name of "better security" or "greater safety".

Just a bunch of double speak by the fascists as far as I am concerned, time to get off the grid and move up country, where the thought police have no place in society

I shouldn't be saying this...

Last evening on TV was a program regarding the Toronto G20 summit and the random/whimsical abuse of people by forces armed and in some cases unidentifiable. A man who had suffered this perverted use of power was remonstrated by many of his friends who asked him; 'Why didn't you stay home'?
Following this, I tunned in to PBS Frontline to watch a most interesting enquiry into the difficulties of satsfying our various imperialistic designs in Afganistan and then, presumably, withdrawing our military from the place. The US and Afgan forces had secured a large area to facilitate elections free of Taliban terror. Of the 100,000 eligable voters in the area...3 showed up to vote! I guess the others...'stayed home'.
When the no-mind Canadian citizens who re-elected a government found in contempt of parliament and discredited in a non-confidence vote by their peer legislators suggest to me that these abuses and the threats to their lives are of no concern to them because they have 'nothing to hide', I cry inside. These complacent, compliant losers are in default and intellectualy deficient. They represent the enemy to my ideals, even though they would claim to support the same. The lost liberal!
They assume freedom is a 'given' when in fact it must be nurtured an is to be taken. Will it be taken by 'them' or by us?
...but I am saying this and the fear now is that I had to register here to do it

think again!

"these abuses and the threats to their lives are of no concern to them because they have 'nothing to hide'"

No, it's simply a question of whom people are more afraid of. They are more afraid of all those uncontrolled people 'out there', whom they hope the government will keep in check. They will happily get caught for inconsequential microscopic transgressions as a payment for that perceived security. I have heard people being giggly and coquettish about being 'caught', seeing that this means 'the system works'. You are dealing with a level of fear that you probably have not ever experienced, other than when there was real physical danger. It cannot be trifled with, or mocked, or disdained. It must be lived with, carefully, for these people can hurt you. They are the majority. And all you have to do is dress and eat funny in order to be scary. It's due to the loss of the village. We don't know each other any more, and some cannot handle the unknown-ness of the crowds they meet every day. They did not elect this government in error. It represnts what they want: The devil they know.

The Dirty Tricks of "The News of the World" Resurrected .....

On Parliament Hill

In the form of The Conservative Party of Canada.

An Ongoing Process

Stephen Harper's government has been testing the public incrementally for years, making little pushes against our freedom, then withdrawing and going silent until the next time. Two steps forward, one step back, and over the years this has shifted the status quo in favour of increased state surveillance and police action. This is helped by the fact that the new generation, which is already less numerous and vital than previous generations, is so used to voluntary public disclosure of private details that this gives the government and private institutions much room to push forward the front line of privacy invasion, as the young people (the ones that usually start all the shit on campuses and such) have trouble differentiating between voluntary and involuntary disclosure, it's so common... your friends talk about you online, your family... when do you get angry about it?

A perfect foundation exists for the surreptitious introduction of a surveillance state. At least we know that the police are shitty at using technology, and that we do, after all, live in Canada... it takes a certain level of internal strife and cruelty to build a proper totalitarian state.

We shouldn't sit on our laurels, though - anything could happen. Legalizing the abuse of power is a standard procedure in the establishment of a totalitarian regime, as is ignorance and disbelief at events unfolding before one's very eyes.

Post 9-11 surveillance expanded

This goes far beyond the search for possible terrorists, organized criminals or even on-line bullies. It is truly invasive into the private-public domain.

This Harper government espouses a smaller role for the federal government, while actually increasing its role in the lives of Canadian society. I suppose that his policies only apply to big corporate issues, such as environmental assessments.

This government wants to intrude into the private and public discourse of Canadians while hypocritically trying to reduce the transparency of their own activities (note the Afghan files amongst so many others).

Who are these guys that would spread their own paranoia to the rest of us? It surely isn't just another money making scam for their high tech security buddies. All this while crime in Canada has once again been reported to be down by another 6%.

Perhaps not fascist, but surely incremental totalitarianism.

I've long stated that democracy is very fragile. If we don't all attend to it carefully, it will diminish and finally disappear.

Anarchy is always countered by tyranny. History is loaded with examples.

The early French Revolution was a major shift toward a more democratic and egalitarian society, but food shortages, the anarchy of bread riots and the Great Fear, including Louis XVI' execution, led to the totalitarian, Jacobin "Reign of Terror". The "Law of Suspects" implicated everyone with little judicial recourse.

Talk about paranoia. Yet the righteous leader, Max. Robespierre thought he was doing the right thing as he imprisoned (and guillotined) his opponents and those who didn't tow his line. Spies were everywhere.

Eventually the nationalistic Napoleon took his place but democratic principles disappeared for many decades.

Mr. Harper and his Conservatives resemble those guys as they push nationalism and metaphorically guillotine their opponents as they put out the electronic spies, likely thinking they were doing the right thing.

It is more than starting to look like George Orwell was correct, just titling his book a little less than 30 years too soon, but he probably would have expected Canada to be one of the last nations to go this route.

Law enforcement agencies can

Law enforcement agencies can get information on potentially dangerous criminals and terrorists from communications providers with a court order or an order in council. That should not include information on everyone, from tweens to geriatrics.

Furthermore the information will follow people all their lives and who knows who will ultimately get access to that information. No one can determine what sort of government we'll have in 10, 20 or 30 years, but the trends are disturbing.

Given that Canada's Treasury Board information, under Conservative Stockwell Day, and the International Monetary Fund database info on many nations, were hacked over the previous few months. Likely much vital, but an undetermined amount of information was stolen. We can't even determine who will ultimately obtain such information from providers, or how this source might be used.

Huge amounts of info, but database software is becoming very proficient in sophisticated searches and analysis.

I suppose that those of you who might not want to hear from me or others any more, could get this law passed. I'll shut up. Some of my relatives went through the Nazi terror in which you could not trust your partner or offspring to speak of even the most mundane issues.

However it won't stop the bad guys, it will just push them further underground. Anyone remember how the FLQ were organized into cells that didn't know what each other were doing? Makes it even more difficult to implement safety measures by the authorities.

Sign that petition. If this helps to reverse such a law, it may be one of the most important things that we, as citizens, can do to help prevent the erosion of democratic principles in these times.

And it could save us some tax money as well.

Irony

Harper's Conservatism bears stronger resemblance to the old East Germany with each passing day. This from a man who pretends to small government, lower taxes, less government invasion...we must assume then Harper intends his governance for a select group.

Big Brother outsources the watching

Well, this scares me. And I don't even live in Canada. It's like requiring Canada Post to photocopy all your mail and forward it to the local cops. In the interest of protection from the threat of whatever the current bogeyman might be.

I will be appalled and disappointed if Canada lets this happen.