Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Fighting online Surveillance



Harpers' warantless online surveillance is in the news again. Warrantless Online Spying Bills Target all Canadians; Unpopular Legislation Tabled as Petition Tops 80,000 Signatures. Conservative Government Ignores 8 in 10 Canadians.

"Snoop and spy" bill could be costly overreach - The Globe and Mail.The petition is at StopSpying.ca

The Harper government claim this over reaching bill will help them catch criminals like pedophiles.That is a bold faced lie. This warrentless Internet surveillance has absolutely nothing to do with catch criminals.

Under the current legislation,formed in accordance with the Canadian charter of rights protecting citizens from unnecessary searches and seizures states that the police can get a warrant to tap a phone or do any kind of surveillance on a suspect if there is enough or any reasonable suspicion that person is involved in criminal activity. That law already exists. We have seen it in action.

We have seen inept or corrupt judges in BC throw out good wire tap evidence when a warrant was issued. In the David Giles case the judge said well I didn't hear what you heard on the wire tap but that was not true. His lawyer admitted his client said convicted cocaine dealer Dave Revelle made him $30,000.00 in the past several months. His lawyer argued that only proved Revelle was working for Giles not that they were involved in criminal activity. Nonsense. His lawyer failed to show what legitimate business Revelle was doing for Giles that earned him that much money in such a short time.

So the issue of getting warrants for suspected criminal activity is not a problem. The problem is when the government wants to spy on people for political affiliation not for suspected criminal activity. That is why they want to change the legislation then foot us the bill after cutting funding for our pensions.

Remember the last election. The Harper government was caught kicking a young activist out from attending one of his speaking engagements because they has seen her post a photo of herself with another candidate on facebook. That was documented. They realty did that. How on earth did they know she had posted a picture of herself with another candidate on her facebook? That is way too intrusive and is a clear example of spying for political affiliation not for criminal suspicion.

Giving them even more parameters for warrantless surveillance then making taxpayers pay the bill is wrong. This is not a conservative bill. Conservatives oppose warantless surveillance. Stephen Harper is not a conservative. He is a neocon.

2 comments:

  1. Agree 100%, K. Nice piece of opinion.

    The government's already got enough irons in the fire as far as trampling individual freedoms at the detriment of the average citizen.

    Toews and Harper are operating as if they were installed by the last US Republican regime. How these turncoats continue to be elected boggles the mind.

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  2. The Harper government was caught kicking a young activist out from attending one of his speaking engagements because they has seen her post a photo of herself with another candidate. That was documented. They really did that. How on earth did they know she had posted a picture of herself with another candidate on her facebook?

    That's WAY out of hand and the people responsible need to face charges. How much you want to bet Harper has an "enemies list"?

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