Letter Terror not an excuse to degrade privacy

OpenMedia.org has alerted me to Bill C-13, which will be tabled in the Senate very soon.

The bill is in breach of traditional democratic standards of personal privacy.

Much change has occurred to the ways modern societies communicate, with the addition of newsgroups and social media blogs, the Internet and portable devices, but nothing has changed regarding the ethics and standards for personal privacy — until now.

Terrorism and crime may be the excuse for transgressing the traditional legal standards and to begin breaching the trust and privacy of the Canadian public, but it is a smoke screen for a very personal invasion of privacy rights.

This can result in furthering the police state, a condition that existed in places like Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union.

Privacy is a delicate issue and needs priority scrutinization by all citizens. Passing a bad bill is not a step in the right direction.

Borrowing from an article by Openmedia.org’s Megan Sali, who quotes Prof. Michael Geist of the Canadian Bar Association saying, “Leading experts and even the Canadian Bar Association have spoken out about how C-13 enables government authorities to monitor our private lives without a warrant and without oversight.”

Make this known and pressure our Senate to do their job, to reject this attempted privacy invasion. Send the Bill to hell.

Nathan Champaigne
Sudbury