Stephen Harper and the Great War on the Internet

He rules by fear. He tries to muzzle his opponents. He is terrorizing the civil service, and politicizing the police.

So when the Privacy Commissioner warns that Stephen Harper is trying to control the only thing he can't control, the internet. 

Canadians should be alarmed.

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien warned senators today that the increased police powers proposed in the government's cyberbullying and internet surveillance bill need to be matched with ways of tracking their use. Therrien also warned against the lower standard of proof provided for in the bill, C-13, and said he disagrees with the government's assertion that the information intended to be sought isn't sensitive.

Because Stephen Harper's so-called cyberbullying bill has very little to do protecting children, and a lot more to do with invading our privacy.

"It is important to remember that these new investigative tools would sweep up vast amounts of personal information by an open-ended group of 'public officers' for a wide range of much less compelling purposes than the fight against cyberbullying."

In his office's written submission to the committee, Therrien says the new bill will lead to "a marked difference in privacy protection."

And giving him more more power to track down and intimidate his opponents..



For if you want to know where all this is going all you have to do is read this. 

When Scott Naylor, a detective inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police was asked the question during a Senate hearing earlier this month on the government’s lawful access legislation, he responded that he would eliminate anonymity on the Internet.

Because as the NDP's Charlie Angus points if the Cons are willing to defy the courts, by including their totalitarian online surveillance bill in the cyberbullying bill.

"It's an almost unprecedented situation where a justice minister thinks if he keeps banging his head against the Supreme Court of Canada, the court is going to move," he said. The bill is "headed for defeat in the courts," Angus added, "at huge cost" to Canadians.

So among other things the hapless Con stooge Peter MacKay can pose as a defender of children...



You know they will ignore the Supreme Court's recent ruling affirming the right to internet privacy and online anonymity.

The Supreme Court’s recognition of anonymity as a particularly important component of Internet privacy will not come as a surprise to millions of Internet users to rely upon it to varying degrees to exercise free speech rights and to preserve their privacy. What is surprising — or at least discouraging — is that the OPP and a Canadian Senator would seemingly jump at the chance to bring it to an end.

And that if this ghastly leader is not stopped, or driven from power as soon as possible.

He will undermine what liberties we have left.

And he will turn us into a police state...



Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.