Canadian Police State

[PMC]

Advocates for internet users and civil liberties groups have launched a petition against proposed laws that would give police new powers to monitor and intercept internet communications in Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story ... ition.html

Those of you that know me personally from my broadcast days, understand that I have been playing with the bits and bytes of communication for 30 years. I am a tech geek in the true sense of the words. I have written software that has been used around the world to run websites, can send and receive e-mail, send and receive files of any type... basicly I can argue the fine points of what can occur when a government wants to create a police state and monitor all internet traffic.

The Harper government wants to impose a communications police state. This government is going to copy what exists in the u.s. and I can assure you, that currently in the u.s. there are many people that have become innocent victims of this police state of communications.

I will give you a very simple example, and I hope that my message proves the stupidity of what occurs in the u.s. and what will occur if this legislation is passed in Canada.

Many of you don't know this, but every time you use a web browser, you are tracked. Look at the left corner of the CBC web page and it will show your location and the current temperature. This information is pulled from a database, and the web server uses your connecting IP address, which is similar to a phone number, and is used to track and trace you for many things.

There are companies that store this information. It all occurs without your knowledge and you can't turn it off. All the major websites use this tracking software. The collected information is then sold to anyone that is willing to buy it. The u.s. government is a big customer. This is not new, it has been going on for years... did you really believe that your web browser was actually free ?

As I write this, I am using a notebook computer that has a wifi connection to the internet. The connection is being done through a router that someone, whom I don't know, allows others to use their router to connect to the internet. Wifi is a popular method of connecting to the internet. Not all wifi routers are open to everybody, but many are. This is especially true in the u.s.a. and becoming more so in Canada.

If I wanted to, I can visit porn sites, or websites that the NSA or CIA would consider to be terrorist related... a terrorist can be defined in many ways etc.

When the tracking and tracing is done, it will show the owner of the Wifi router as the visitor to these websites, since the owner has an open Wifi router, and not me, as a guest that is using the wifi router remotely.

Currently in the u.s. there are victims that have had police forces smash in the front doors of homes, made the occupants of these homes get beatings by police officers, and then arrested and taken away, because someone used their Wifi router to access a website that the NSA or CIA considers to be against the state... this includes sites that offer free music or movie downloads as example.

If this Canadian legislation gets passed, the same thing will occur here.

Facism is alive and well in the u.s. and we don't need it here. Do you really want to have a big brother police state ?

As the CBC story link says, there are some that are against this legislation already, however the Harper government has a majority, thus the only way to shut this down, is for public opinion to shout loud and clear, that it is not wanted.

I have given only one example of the abuse that can occur, there are many other ways that can create innocent victims in this communication police state.

Others will use the cost factor of installing the software and hardware to make this occur. I only want to show how easy it is to screw people with it, because the bureaucrats are puppets of the American Conservative Party.

I leave it up to to you to notify all the people that you know, to get involved and shut the door on this proposed police state that Harper's government wants to create.

[Jack Bennest]

made the occupants of these homes get beatings by police officers

No disrespect intended but what does this mean? - I will have to reread the article but I lost it on exactly what is being proposed and
how is this different from cops watching someone watch porn.

[PMC]

made the occupants of these homes get beatings by police officers

No disrespect intended but what does this mean? - I will have to reread the article but I lost it on exactly what is being proposed and
how is this different from cops watching someone watch porn.

Read the article Jack, do a google search on what has occured in the u.s. to people that have had their home raided by cops looking for those that are suspected. Use Patriot Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act as the parameters.

Stop thinking in terms of a telephone tap. It is beyond that, also appreciate u.s. law enforcement is famous for `entrapment'.

[PMC]

For you Jack and others that may think that I am blowing hot air. A great lawyer and law professor may have a better impact on what I am saying. Michael Geist has a bit that quotes NDP Charlie Angus. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
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Of particular concern is Clause 16 of the former Bill C-52 allowing security services unrestricted access to any device identification data from an ISP or other telecommunications service provider without a warrant. This will allow law enforcement to identify individuals involved in a striking array of online activity including anonymous political opinions made in blog posts or newspaper comments, location data posted online from a smart phone, social networking activity, private online instant message or email exchanges, and a host of currently unforeseeable future online interactions that are sure to come with new innovations and services. This unrestricted access to e-mail addresses will make it possible to track individuals across a vast range of online services, activities, and even locations.

Angus also points to the lack of oversight built into the bill:
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See Geist's site under the header of Angus On Lawful Access: Serious Erosion of Privacy Rights

[skyvalleyradio]

PMC - I think you're bang on with your views and assessment of technology run amuck in the hands of police and government officials. The potential for abuse of privacy is enormous. In a similar vein, I am just starting to investigate stories that the new, proposed smart meters which BC Hydro plan to implement, will also have their data accessible to police in their quest to stamp out grow-ops in our province. While government and police seek out new ways to invade our privacy electronically, ironically, the United Nations is mulling over Internet access as a human right, according to one of the sidebar articles on Michael Geist's site. As awareness of the U.S. as a police state becomes more & more apparent, the sinister reality that the Harper government wishes to adopt similar measures in Canada is frightening.

[slowhand]

The Canadian government has long tracked and probably read mail from (and probably to) individuals with no criminal record, not just in times of war. A friend of mine's uncle worked for the RCMP and read my friend's RCMP file. It included the fact that he had written to a Cuban radio station in 1965, requesting verification of his reception from Vancouver as a DXer. He was 15 years old at the time. That single fact was enough to create an RCMP file in his name.

In one of my first jobs, I knew a girl who was going to university and worked summers at the RCMP. She had free access to the national criminal files and read mine. I never asked what was in it, but I did have an RCMP file despite not even having a parking ticket up to that point in my life.

The large scale collection of information on individuals without criminal records and without being a Person Known to Police has been standard practice for a very long time. I was even questioned by a detective in the 1980s after being confused with a person on the fringes of the criminal world. Local police kept track of the fact that I reported to them a car blocking the alley entrance to the building I worked in and the detective used that information a year later to misidentify me.