The Toronto Star is reporting that "Toronto police and RCMP officers deploying controversial Stingray surveillance technology over a two-month period swept up identifying cellphone data on more than 20,000 bystanders at malls, public parks and even a children’s toy store."
Last year the Toronto Star exposed the fact that the Toronto police were using Stingray antennas after they denied they were using them. These are the same antennas outside Surrey pretrial and the East Vancouver courthouse the police use to capture all cell phone data without a warrant.
These are the same stingray antennas the police have set up outside my house and all over Surrey at numerous intersections beside the new surveillance cameras. The problem isn't just that they collect innocent bystanders data when they are looking for specific criminals. The problem is they conduct warrantless surveillance of citizens who are not accused of criminal activity for their political affiliations. Edward Snowden: The whole kingdom Snow White
Downtown Charlottetown PEI is covered in police cameras. The cops roll around with assault rifles in the trunk and they recently bought radar technology to map the inside of buildings from the outside. The cops are also all huge coulda woulda been NHL players with all the arrogance you can imagine. They never walk the street unless there is a cruise ship around (a common question from tourists is "do you guys even have cops?") so they just drive around with the windows rolled up completely isolating themselves from the community. We've had one murder in three years (in February, just kids being stupid on drugs not organized crime). We have no gangs and our HA prospects are a fucking joke. Why do we need to be under surveillance 24/7? I can understand in a bigger place with guns and gangs but why the fuck are we under constant surveillance?
ReplyDeleteNot to mention if the cops do show up they just put all their energy into browbeating you to let it go so they can go back to driving in circles with the windows rolled up.
Good question. Warrantless surveillance is illegal.
DeleteIn PEI you say. That is hilarious! What, are the potatoes rioting, joining terrorist groups. surely they have something better to do with their money than hiring too many police officer, who seem to have too much time on their hands along with all the gadgets. Isn't there an auditor general in PEI?
DeleteI should add, there are some guys out there who are "The Real Police™ but they aren't "yes-men" and you don't often find them in middle, and never in upper management where the primary qualification is baa-baa black sheep stuff. ("yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir") Unfortunately guys like this have to keep their necks wound in if they want to retire from the job. Don't arrest or investigate the wrong people, (especially your own guys when they do stuff that a citizen would be in jail for) don't make waves, etc., just do whatever we tell you. Pretty pathetic. I think most would agree that this is kind of out of line with "True North, Strong and Free".....but those 3 aspects don't exist anymore either IMHO.
ReplyDeleteThink about what "True North" really meant in that context. It comes from map reading and navigation techniques, things that were more mainstream in the latter part of the 19th Century and most of the 20th. There are 2 kinds of "North", Magnetic North and True North.
The meaning in context of the anthem is pretty clear.
This is what happens when a country is run by un-elected bureaucrats, politicians, and scumbags (but I repeat myself) instead of the citizenry who own it. They (you know, "they") have been suckering you all into letting them do it for you, the way they want to do it instead of the way you tell them to, for a long time now, hence the circumstances as presently exist.