Against Online Surveillance? You Must Be 'For' Child Porn, Says Legislator

An anonymous reader writes "Following up on yesterday's story about the Canadian government's internet surveillance legislation, one of the bill's proponents is now accusing those who oppose it of standing with child pornographers. Those against the legislation include: Law professor Michael Geist, Open Media, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Council of Canadians and many others. 'Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told a Liberal MP he could either stand with the government or "with the child pornographers" prowling online.' Toews is enjoying his Parliamentary Privilege, which grants him the freedom to say pretty much anything he wants without fear of a slander suit."

Comments

Sent to the PM and related MPs

[msobkow]

Sent to Ralph Goodale (my MP), Stephen Harper (PM of Canada), and Vic Toews (the jackboot who insultingly claims I support child pornography because I won't kiss his ass):

I DO NOT consent to searches and spying by the government, CSIS, the RCMP, or any other police force in or out of Canada without a proper warrant.

I have nothing to hide, but it is a matter of principal. I have a right to private communications unless someone can explain to a judge WHY I should be investigated and convince them to sign a warrant.

This bill is useless in reality anyhow, because anyone but the most technically illiterate criminal will use an anonymizer and encryption, so the spying will net no proof of a crime, even if someone is surfing child porn like a psychotic fiend.

This is nothing more than a fishing expedition and an attempt to violate Canadians fundamental right to privacy.

Just say "NO" to politicians who stoop to claiming you support Evil Horrible Unimaginable Thing just because you value your own rights.

Even the Nazi's "Stazi" had to report to someone.

How to explain the law to a non-techie

[Lev13than]

The proposed bill is like the Government of Canada forcing the phone companies to keep a record of every call that you make or receive, and insisting that Canada Post keep a register of every piece of mail that you send or receive. They'd still need a warrant to actually open your mail, but they don't need anyone's permission to build a profile of who you correspond with including who, how often, at what time of day etc...

The minister has gone on record to say that if you don't want the government to have a complete list of the letters you send through the mail, then you support child pornography. There is apparently no middle ground.

Now take the phone/mail analogy and replace it with everything that you do online - all the websites you visit, Facebook posts you make and emails you send. If you think that's a reasonable limit on your freedom then you should support the bill. If you don't want the government poking around your history file then you should let them know.

Re:Come on!

[Samantha Wright]

Albertans. Imagine Texas with snow, and you have Alberta. Culturally the province is more conservative than most of the US: oil, attempts at privatized health care, silly hats, rodeos, fear of taxation, the whole shebang. Sometimes even the accent!

Re:Come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

And conversely, most Texans have never been outside their own state. And despite being dead last in education, dead last in civilization, and dead last in culture, for some reason most of them don't WANT to leave their own state and think everywhere else is a "librul hellhole."

Hell, they even think they invented barbeque... when it turns out it was imported to Europe (as barbacoa) from the Caribbean and traveled to the Americas with Spanish and French settlers. Not only that, but Texas barbecue is universally a dry, tasteless mess that is only edible by slathering it with a ton of sauce.

Re:Come on!

[theshowmecanuck]

This applies more to rural Alberta now. Calgary (nicknamed Cowtown with the world's largest rodeo) for example, has a population of 1.1 million people and the first Muslim mayor of a major city in Canada who is of Ismaili descent. This obviously does not reflect the right wing extremely white Alberta of say a few decades ago (yeah I'm white). Alberta was known for having some supremacist (ahem) clans in the past. They might still exist but definitely are quite rarefied now. But granted, Alberta is a traditionally politically right of centre province. I don't think it has ever elected a left of centre government. And for what it's worth, some people there designate the area from Calgary on south as 'Utah North' due to the huge number of Mormons in the area. But in general, definitely a cowboy province. And yes I lived there before for about 5 years (Calgary).