Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
I warned you!
If you have the time and the inclination, you might want to visit the Cosmos website and check out a rather lengthy column I wrote on April 8, 2010. In that column, I spoke of the Orwellian nature of the British state and how we were in danger of having it introduced into Canada.
Too bad that nobody listened, because it is now here, or will be in a couple of months.
Later this fall, the Harper government will be introducing an omnibus bill that wraps up all their anti-crime agenda into one piece of legislation. All or nothing. And with a commanding majority in the House of Commons, it is going to be all. And that includes Bills C-50, C-51 and C-52, which cover something called “lawful access”.
In a nutshell, “lawful access” will allow the government, police and other agencies to snoop into your Internet activities without a warrant, without court supervision and, indeed, without suspicion. They will be able to read your e-mails, check out your Facebook and Twitter activity and monitor your Internet surfing. (As a by-the-by, the Conservatives have already been caught doing this. Remember the girl who was thrown out of a Conservative rally in the last federal election because the Conservatives found a picture of her with Michael Ignatieff on her Facebook page?)
In order to monitor your Internet activity, the legislation will require Internet service providers (ISPs) to install new technology allowing for surveillance of customers' Internet activities in real time. That will cost the ISPs millions of dollars and you just know how they will recoup those costs. We will, in effect, be paying for the privilege of having the government spy on us.
The legislation will also require the ISPs to provide law enforcement agencies with customer information without a court order. Under current laws, ISPs can voluntarily disclose customer information to the authorities, but they are only required to do so if served a warrant. To get a warrant, the authorities must convince the courts - or a judge - that their actions are necessary to to uncover criminal activity. Without a warrant needed, they can just go on fishing expeditions. Lawful access will give the police access to your basic information, which covers your real name, your online identities, your e-mail addresses, your IP address, your home address and your home telephone number.
It will also enable the police to intercept “communications” without a warrant as long as they deem the intervention necessary. But there will be no one other than said authorities to determine whether such intervention is necessary.
Now, I just know there are those among you who will say: “Why should I care? I have nothing to hide.” Really? Then, in that case, presumably you wouldn't mind if police or some other government agency decided to visit your mail box and open and read your private mail because you have nothing to hide. Presumably, you wouldn't mind if police or other authorities listened in on your private telephone conversations. After all, you have nothing to hide.
I have nothing to hide, but on occasion I might send my sweetheart an intimate e-mail. I don't want someone else reading that e-mail just so everyone can go to bed secure in the knowledge that the police are hunting down criminals and terrorists.
Unfortunately, that is a real possibility, not only because of the Conservative majority, but because the Canadian people have become sheep. At what point did we turn into this quivering mass of jelly, huddled in corners waiting for the government to tell us when it's safe to come out? Believe me, they will never say it's safe to come out. Because crime has been with us always and will be with us forever. If you believe the Bible, the first recorded crimes were Eve's theft of the apple and Cain's murder of Abel.
But statistics show crime rates have been dropping for years (statistics which the Conservatives choose to ignore, relying instead on “statistics” about the increase in unreported (?) crimes). As for terrorism, it's been 10 years since the World Trade Centre tragedy, and we haven't had a terrorist attack in Canada yet, despite our involvement in the Afghan war and the Libyan bombing campaign.
I don't go to bed at night worrying that I'm going to get mugged the next day or worrying that I'm going to get blown up by a suicide bomber in Zehr's. What I do worry about is the kind of police state in which my grandchildren, nephews and nieces are likely to grow up. The kind of police state we had for a few days last summer, when police were stopping people in Toronto – far away from the G20 site - searching their bags and backpacks and, at times, confiscating personal property without cause and without a warrant. All in the name of security.
I'm in favour of so-called law and order as much as the next person. But if I have to forfeit my freedom in order to deprive some criminal of his freedom, then I might just as well become a criminal.
Tell me, am I wrong?
