Bill C-13 - watch out for more on this

13.12.09: Stephen Harper is at it again ... continually trying to increase control over taxpayers.
It never ceases to amaze me what he will try to get away with.

This bill (C-13) was tabled last month by Peter MacKay and continues to get adverse attention.

It is labelled the cyberbullying law (to protect our young people on the Internet) and is in an omnibus format (containing many diverse and unrelated items).
The problem with an omnibus format is it limits apposition analysis ... and taxpayers ability to question the proposed legislation.

Globe & Mail Dec 6th
Ottawa Citizen Dec 6th


As Solomon Friedman points out (in the Ottawa Citizen article above), with this government there is always a 'but'.

Included in this bill are a couple of totally unrelated items that give police unprecedented power to impose on taxpayers at their discretion.
The second may not be a concern to Internet users who don't require confidentiality in their Web usage (including me).
The first item, however, is very scary and would certainly change EVERYTHING if it were allowed!.

I do find this "Myths and Facts" site, owned by MacKay's people, particularly offensive and demeaning to Canadians. 
Does he expect taxpayers will believe his convoluted and vague explanations!

As per Solomon:

1. Currently, for police to obtain search warrants or production orders, they must demonstrate to a judge that they have “reasonable grounds to believe” that an offence has been committed and that the search will reveal evidence of that offence.
This bill would allow "reasonable suspicion" to replace "reasonable grounds". In other words, revealing evident of an offence is no longer a required result.
Can you imagine how our gun shooting (and tazering) police will use this ... and how it would drop the word 'privacy' from our dictionaries? 

2. Internet Service Providers will voluntarily give customer information to police without any criminal or civil liability.
Canadians who sign contracts with ISPs expect that their personal data will be guarded and not shared without their consent
Bill C-13 will serve to break that trust and expose customers to government snooping, all without prber oper notice or judicial authorization.

It is important for taxpayers to voice support for those who object to these types of legislative proposals ... and be prepared for future exploitations of this nature ... and to remember these many bad decisions (and huge waste of taxpayer dollars) at election time.