Rights and Freedoms are not a part of Stephen Harpers vocabulary.

I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... A while ago, I scoulded health canada for 'flaunting its power like a raging boner'. When the 'war on smoking' was turned up to 11, and smoking retailers were forced to change their tactics of abstain from the sale of cigarettes all together, I, being part of a smoking retailer at the time, took great offense at the grievance this situation had cast upon my daily activities.

Now however, I am here to 'bitch' (for lack of a better term) about something far more serious. The "Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act". That would in sum give the state an alarming amount of power all in the name of fighting Child Pornography.

The Bill would grant the law the power to demand ISPs give personal information to the goverment, (including names of the Customers, as well as their Mail, E-Mail and IP addresses) on demand without judicial oversight. This is especially dangerous because the courts after all are the one body of power which are supposed to keep everybody, even the government, in check. How is it democratic if the government can do what it wishes in the name of 'all that is good' without the oversight of the courts?

The ISP's would be required to install surveillance software at the partial cost of not just the companies, but the tax payers as well. Smaller ISP's would be given a grace period of three years before they would have to adhere to the laws themselves. (My guess is to have time to adjust their systems given they would not have the immediate financial backing that larger conglomerate ISP's such as Telus, or Rogers would have.)

Government isn't the only beneficiary of power to this bill however, The Police would be given considerable power advantages as well. 1) They would be able to abtain information on internet-based messaging, including the web-sites that people are visiting and who they are talking to. This information WILL be subject to a judicial order so there is some semblance of sense there, albeit minimal. 2) Police will also have the power to demand ISP's hold information on their users 3) The police will have the power to obtain a warrant to remotely monitor and record telecommunication devices such as cell-phones. 4) Deals more with computer virus' so that it makes it easier for Canada to collaborate its efforts with international authorities.

This will effectively give the power the ability to censor us further. It's laws like these that are very damaging to the rights and freedoms that we take for granted (and rightfully so!) on a daily basis. If the Government has the ability to go around the courts, and monitor our activities. Who is to say that they won't abuse this power? (I can almost assuredly assume that they would. Be damned any common sayings about assumption...)

Jesse Kline said it best in Western Standard. "It is essential that people have the ability to publish their opinions and ideas anonymously to prevent government censorship and allow a free flow of information in the marketplace of ideas. The proposed legislation would make it easier for the government to monitor online communication and obtain the identities of those who wish to express themselves on the Internet. With the amount of information people send over the Internet increasing all the time, this issue becomes even more important. Anyone who thinks they have nothing to lose by giving big brother the right to watch them at all times is sorely mistaken. This is not 2009 folks, it's New Year's Eve, 1984."

The Internet is a free for all, and it should continue to be so. That's what makes it so great, it's a place for everyone to come and shed their identity and reveal their true colours. (For better, or worse) I don't want to have to worry about the federal government breathing down my neck every time I feel like calling Stephen Harper a smarmy son of a bitch, because he is, and I do it often. It makes me sick that initiatives like this are even being established. If you sit there wondering why this is such a big deal, under the guise of 'well, I do nothing wrong so I have nothing to worry about'. Think of the fact that, even if you were in contact with somebody who was found guilty of fraudulent activity on the internet. You are, all of a sudden, guilty by association for effectively, doing nothing.

I think that Government in general, is going way outside its necessary protocols in the name of what it would consider the 'greater good'. Canada is a country where the Liberal Government's practices that pat the asses of oil companies that bribe and blackmails their workers into abstaining from the vote so that a mere half of the Provence will vote in its provincial election, allowing a drunk hypocrite to be elected to his third term of premiership. Such was the case when B.C. held its provincial elelction this year and re-elected Premier Gordon Campbell with less than a quarter of the province supporting him.

A country where, not one re-election is good enough and another looms yet the country is virtually divided in half over which aura of incompetence we would decide to chose to run this country. Do we chose Stephen Harper, who alienates everybody who doesn't blindly support him. Or Michael Ignatieff, a politician who has come out of nowhere to lead the crippled Liberal party. The conservatives have painted him to be an American parading in Canadian colors, and that's reason enough for me to not want him running this country. The NDP Leader Jack Layton might as well be a blind, deaf, mute because the party he's representing has had its reputation tarnished almost irrevocably. He is not an individual who inspires anything other than cowardice, and as such, will not be voted for by anyone who isn't just tossing their vote to the NDP out of mercy.

Yeah I kind of took a left turn there but my main point is the fact that so few Canadians care enough about politics, and those that do are more concerned with AMERICAN politics that they refuse to read between the lines, see the warning signs and care for the country in which they live and breath. Canada is a shallow husk of masked identity, and its disgusting. Its laws like these that only fuel my fleeting Canadianism. Nobody gives a fuck, why should I? Well this is something I think we should all pay attention to. And when the government comes knocking, curious about your suspicious internet activity. Well, you can definitely expect that I'll be the one singing "I told you so!"

- Peace.

Investigative Powers For The 21'st Century

Government of Canada Moves To Monitor Internet Users

Legislation Would Allow Canadian Government To Monitor Internet Users