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Canadian Minister Lies On Net Surveillance Claims

An anonymous reader writes "As we discussed last month, the Canadian government has introduced Internet surveillance legislation that requires ISPs to disclose customer information without a warrant. Peter Van Loan, the Minister in charge, claims that a Vancouver kidnapping earlier this year shows the need for these powers. Michael Geist did some digging and revealed this as a lie — the Vancouver police acknowledge that the case did not involve an ISP request and the suspect is now in custody."

12 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Lips by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    An old but all too often true observation:

    How do you tell if a politician is lying?

    His lips are moving.

    1. Re:Lips by Petrushka · · Score: 4, Informative

      His lips are moving.

      Sure. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't lynch them when you catch them at it.

  2. Re:Lessons from the Bush Administration. by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Informative

    9/11 was America's Reichstag fire.

  3. Of course it is a lie... by Foobar+of+Borg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tyranny-loving politicians always try to scare the shit out of you to make it seem like they have no choice but to take your freedoms away. And it is always something horrible, like kidnapping or child rape. That way, if you don't give them what they want, then *you* must be responsible for their kidnapping/rape/death since you stood by and didn't let them do anything.

    1. Re:Of course it is a lie... by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tyranny-loving politicians always try to scare the shit out of you to make it seem like they have no choice but to take your freedoms away. And it is always something horrible, like kidnapping or child rape. That way, if you don't give them what they want, then *you* must be responsible for their kidnapping/rape/death since you stood by and didn't let them do anything.

      That's right - and we saw it again last week. Somehow it's OUR fault that Roman Polanski avoided justice all these decades. "We", the peons, don't "get it".

      Fortunately, the power of the Internet is able to route around the brain-damaged "celebrity types" who signed that stupid petition expressing outrage that a pedophile should actually be arrested. counter-petition

      Maybe we need to charge public officials with corruption or fraud when they try to lie so blatantly. "That statement is no longer operative" is just one more fuddle duddle.

  4. Re:STOP THE PRESSES! by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, come on. It's his JOB to know. The guy either lied or he's incompetent. Either way, fire the bum!

  5. Re:STOP THE PRESSES! by vadim_t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yep, we should completely ignore it and let the lie stand unchallenged, so that a bad piece of legislation can become a law for the wrong reason.

  6. Re:STOP THE PRESSES! by Tx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or perhaps he was simply misinformed or mistaken.

    So you mean that rather than being a liar, he might just be ignorant and incompetent? It's the job of politicians to get their facts straight when formulating the laws of the land. Our politicians are always complaining that people don't trust them any more, and that young people are disillusioned with politics. Well perhaps if we could trust what they fecking said, then that wouldn't be the case. It doesn't matter one jot whether this guy flat out lied, or whether he somehow conveniently got his facts wrong, it's just yet another event to knock the credibility of politicians back into the gutter.

    --
    Oh no... it's the future.
  7. Re:Well, what do you know by John+Hasler · · Score: 4, Funny

    > Canada has a conservative government after all.

    It must, because no liberal has ever told a lie in the entire history of the world (and, of course, everyone everywhere is either a liberal or a (spit) conservative. There are no other possibilities).

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  8. Re:STOP THE PRESSES! by shentino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem with politicians is that they are people in a position where they can largely ignore the law.

    I think anyone, no matter how honest he THINKS he is, will sooner or later succumb to tempation and abuse his power.

  9. Internet Town Hall meeting Oct. 26 Halifax by farbles · · Score: 5, Informative

    Concerns over this and other issues such as copyright laws, digital rights management issues, the Digital Divide, and privacy have prompted the Chebucto Community Net and the Dalhousie Student Union to hold a public Internet Town Hall meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Monday, October 26th at 7 pm in the McInnes Room of the Dalhousie Student Union Building. I saw the notice on their website here: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Current/CourtesyCCN.shtml

    Their main speaker is Laura Murray, co-author of Canadian Copyright: A Citizenâ(TM)s Guide, and they've got speakers on the other issues too. They're calling it "Who's Shaping Your Digital Future?" and it's noteworthy for being the only meeting of its kind in the Atlantic Provinces. I don't know why they're not promoting this better, maybe they don't have the money or something, but I know I'll be going to it.

    I wonder if anyone from the government or the mainstream media will be showing up.

  10. Re:STOP THE PRESSES! by RelaxedTension · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He got asked about it and instead of giving the honest answer (i.e. "I dunno, but I'll ask my experts and come back to you") he made up some answer. Why? Because for some odd reason people expect politicians to have an answer for everything.

    I gotta call bullshit on this one. As stated earlier, it's specifically his job to know this. He is writing a law that he knows will erode personal rights of privacy, and also knows the backlash that is possible. If he is not fully aware that he has "enhanced" the story, then he has no business writing the law in the first place.