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Canadian Police Recommend Online Spying Tax For Internet Bills

Posted by Soulskill on from the complicit-in-your-own-surveillance dept.

An anonymous reader writes "One of the major unanswered questions about Bill C-30, Canada's lawful access/online surveillance bill, is who will pay for the costs associated with responding to law enforcement demands for subscriber information ('look ups') and installation of surveillance equipment ('hook ups'). Michael Geist recently obtained documents (PDF) from Public Safety under the Access to Information Act that indicates the government doesn't really have its own answer. But he reports that the police do — a new 'public safety' tax to be added to Internet and wireless bills."

9 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. who will pay? by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Its *always* the consumer. Be it from direct taxes and fees, or just passing the cost down from the companies, we, the consumer, always pay the cost.

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    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re: who will pay? by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Riiight, because all those CEOs are gonna give up their coke and hooker bonuses so they don't have to stick it to the consumer...oh wait, that's not what they do, they simply jack up the price! I hate to break the news to ya sparky but even in areas where there is supposedly competition we have seen what happens is companies simply collude to raise prices together. Every time the government tries to stick it to a corp thanks to globalism if they don't raise prices they simply move but there is no way in hell they are gonna just eat the cost as that would cut into profits and with Wall Street being Vegas with nicer clothes if you do that then your stock takes a nosedive.

      Whether you like it or not any gouging of the corps just ends up being dumped on the back of the poor consumer. Hell in my own area the working poor simply can't even have Internet as the cableco and teleco have been matching each others price raises one for one so now the cheapest usable Internet (I don't consider a WISP that offers 512Kb down with towers that go down for days at a time really usable and even that is $60 a month and a $125 hookup fee) is $75 a month and that is if you can even get it as even though its a college town and the city has grown by over a third neither the cableco nor the teleco have moved a single inch as far as coverage in over a decade.

      This is why we need to nationalize the lines and open them up to REAL competition as what we have here in the states now is a bad joke unless you live in one of the megacities. We already paid 200 billion to have the nation wired for high speed and all we got in return is a Goatse from the corps so we should demand they pay the money back with interest in 90 days or we take the lines. if they want a monopoly? We'll give them a decade on every house they run FTTH, 25 if those homes previously had no service. Because the whole "greed is good" mantra that has infected this country like a cancer has killed any chance of getting anything vital like nationwide broadband done by private corps, hell they don't even upgrade their own systems and instead simply slap caps and other crap on instead of increasing capacity.

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      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Good, do it... by Fishead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do it. That will make it a whole lot easier to drum up some outrage at the next election.

  3. Police Services are a scam by HeavyDDuty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The police are an economical scam. With normal goods and services, supply and demand dictates spending. Well we here in Canada are experiencing the lowest crime rates since forever. Police know this and steadfastly refuse or make it nigh impossible to report or prosecute thieves and burglars (think break-ins) to skew crime statistics as best as possible It happened to me, a neighbour, and a grandmother. All separate incidents. So when have we EVER seen any significant cut to police services when demand (crime is at an all-time low)? Never. Frankly, what the police fail to realize is, if everything really went to plan, their reward for doing a excellent/perfect job would be a pink slip. Instead, we have them entrenching. And asking for more monies in new and trend setting ways. They have a budget. Now they want an ISP tax. Smells like MPAA and RIAA. This whole thing stinks. [sorry for ranting].

    1. Re:Police Services are a scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the occupy movement got their mantra wrong.

      government spending is nuts, especially in bc. now they want more money, and want to screw those that deserve a bit more. my wage has steadily declined since 1992 to the point where i can't even afford cable and internet, let alone desire it. hell, gas is getting harder to buy.

      government entities are the first to give themselves a fat raise on a whim. icbc, translink, bc ferries, the mlas themselves. all got huge or multiple raises in recent years. and our taxes go up.

      now the cops, who do jack shit but hand out road tax speeding tickets, want a tax on the internet?

      screw that. DO MORE WITH LESS. i have to.

      DO MORE WITH LESS

    2. Re:Police Services are a scam by MacGyver2210 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's like saying "Just because there is no war on doesn't mean we should pull the soldiers back from the most recent battlefield. If they leave, surely the fighting will resume again!" It's flawed logic.

      The real problem facing everyone in North America right now is that there are TOO MANY LAWS. Eventually, the 'lawmakers' and 'amenders' of law will need to stop. Otherwise, it is an eternal cycle of creating more laws without ever losing them. How long do you think it will take until breathing in a certain area is illegal? Until every single thing we do is so regulated, that a step 6" too far to the right will land us a ticket or in jail?

      What we need is lawDESTROYERS, not lawmakers. The legal system in the US and Canada is completely overrun with trivial nonsense laws, and the current round of lawmakers is busy trying to find something to do. Instead of going back to reform clearly bogus laws which their constituents hate, they're trying to find the next hot topic for their fellow party campaigners.

      I wish they had built a big RESET button into the US Government. I would be pushing the SHIT out of it right now.

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      If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
  4. Wait, what? by epp_b · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, they want to invade privacy in what should be an illegal manner and they want me to pay them to do it?

  5. Re:Soon ... by someone1234 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't understand you. Government bullets were always bought on taxpayer money.

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    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  6. Do something about it by ifwm · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://stopspying.ca/ petition against Bill C-30 http://www.realprivacy.ca/write-my-mp Ontario Information & Privacy Commissioner’s letter writing tool. Please make your voice heard.