Slashdot Mirror
CIPS Chimes In On Internet Predators Act
alphabet26 writes "The Canadian Information Processing Society has formally responded to the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act introduced in February of this year. Bill C-30 would grant authorities extended powers to monitor and track Canadians online. In the statement CIPS recommends that the Government of Canada 'prohibit access to personal information, related records/data, content, communications or records of internet use without the safeguard of a warrant.' CIPS is a non-profit organization that represents Canadian IT professionals and is a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)."
This week, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said that Bill C-30 would have allowed police to catch a killer who had posted his killing and dismemberment online. He wants us to believe that the fact that police need to take a few minutes to get a warrant prevented them from pursuing this guy who had posted the killing online and had for years posted his animal cruelty vids. Problem is this: People DID report it to the police who ignored it. If they had chosen to investigate they could have found him quite easily, but they chose not to use the rather robust powers they ALREADY have to investigate. Bill C-30 only really gives the government (even non-police entities) the ability to snoop on citizens without need for a warrant or even a suspicion of illegal activity without leaving any sort of paper trail or accountability. The current government has already been found to be hiring people to spread propaganda on forums and scour facebook to find people that might not agree with their policies and remove them from rallies. We should trust people like that to not abuse their power? A government embroiled in a voter fraud scandal, several finance scandals and the FIRST Canadian government to have been found in contempt of Parliament? No thank you Mr. Toews.