News

Toews Has Been Smearing Online Surveillance Critics For Weeks

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ shocking comments on critics of online surveillance in the House of Commons yesterday have attracted widespread media attention with coverage in the Globe, CBC, and Postmedia. Toews responded to questions about online surveillance by accusing critics of siding with child pornographers:

As technology evolves, many criminal activities, such as the distribution of child pornography, become much easier. We are proposing measures to bring our laws into the 21st century and to provide the police with the lawful tools that they need. He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.

Toews may be surprised by the negative reaction because he has been saying similar things for weeks.  Consider:

February 3, 2012

“Lawful access will aid child porn investigations. I call on the NDP to stop making things easier for predators and support these measures.”

February 2, 2012

“As technology evolves, many criminal activities, such as the distribution of child pornography, become much easier. That is why our government will be reintroducing lawful access legislation. Rather than making things easier for child pornographers, I call on the NDP to listen to the police, listen to the provinces, and support these balanced measures that protect law-abiding Canadians and their children.”

November 15, 2011

“I would call on the Liberals to finally stop putting the rights of child pornographers and organized crime ahead of the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The “lawful access” bill will be introduced later today.  My FAQ on the bill and online surveillance can be found here.  More information on how the government’s own documents do not support mandatory disclosure of subscriber information without a court order here.

77 Comments

  1. Ramblin' Rose says:

    Allan Fotheringham wrote…
    “The Tories are like cream — rich, thick and full of clots.” – LOOK MA…NO HANDS (1983)

    Should I have used a Proxy posting this?

  2. Well, seeing as the bill i snow being tabled it makes sense that his comments would get more focus. Doesn’t make them any less stupid just because he’s been saying them for a while now.

  3. Devil's Advocate says:

    Familiar Theme
    “He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.”

    George Bush, much, eh Vic?
    Some people pick some pretty curious role models to emulate.

  4. Will they let we, the people, their so-called employers, spy on them? No? Well, I guess they’re dabbling in kiddie porn too.

  5. Vic Toews
    Vic Toews stands with every regime that would remove it’s citizens rights and freedoms for the purposes of warrant-less surveillance.

  6. Never mind how Orwellian the title of “Public Safety Minister” sounds, is this the level that Canadian political discourse has sunk to: weak and absurd ad hominems?

  7. the same “family values” Vic Toews who got his parliamentary assistant pregnant? Wow.

  8. Yet Again
    This is one of the common lines stated by authoritarians: If you’re not with us, you’re against us. The next most common one about illegal invasion of privacy: If you did nothing wrong, then you have nothing to hide. How long do you think it will be before Toews starts spouting this one?

  9. William Evans says:

    Northern Foundation
    Look it up…Stephen Harper was a founding member. That is where this piece of legislation is coming from.

  10. Law enforcement success without these measures
    On the heels of a huge child pornography ring, it’s difficult (nay impossible) to accept the Tories’ argument. Clearly, using child pornography as your mantra will get the unwashed masses on board since they don’t understand the implications. It’s alarming how quickly the First World countries are degrading into police states. History will repeat itself.

  11. I guess three is the magic number for both public safety ministers and pedophiles.

  12. think of the kiddies
    online, 24/7 surveillance, paid for by ISPs? it’ll get used for politics, then economics, then, and only when the citizens are already doing it themselves as vigilantes, used to slap child porn.

    same old Entrapment.

    will the CSIS (et all) use this as a money maker in extortion in stead of politics?

    what does a bear do in the woods?

    packrat

    packrat

  13. Enough with the false logic already.
    Just because I don’t approve that a cop should be at our door every time we go out doesn’t mean that I approve of murderers and fiends.

    Furthermore, if they do incorporate this Draconian technology, they better have a monitor that can speak all languages, otherwise English only is discriminatory.

    Cheers,

  14. Mike Simmons says:

    Does he wring his hands and emote like Mrs. Lovejoy when he cries out about ‘thinking about the children’?

  15. The other side…
    The way these guys talk it makes you wonder what they’re hiding on the other side? It’s like the age of consent. Great we have a law to protect our children from pedophiles… yet how many 15-17 yr olds get dragged through the courts because their dating someone a little over 2 years younger then they are?

    Yes I agree let’s create laws to protect against abuse but I don’t think we should do it in a way that creates new ways to abuse people.

  16. “you either support lawful access or stand with child pornographers” demonstrates that Mr Toews is a bigot populist. It is a shame that Canada, once one of the most democratic country in the world, has now such devastating trolls in power.

  17. Careful with the logic
    Is Vic Toews using an inclusive OR when he writes “either stand with us or with the child pornographers”?

  18. Wow… they used ad-hominem, appeal to emotion, strawman, and false dilemma… I don’t know whether to be repulsed or impressed at such an array of logical fallacies being used in an attempt to support a single position.

    Here’s a point for these guys to consider… do they support the notion that law-abiding citizens should have an expectation to not have their privacy invaded arbitrarily? Note, I said “law-abiding”.

    Because if they would claim that they do, I’m immensely curious how they propose to be able to preserve the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens while simultaneously invading only the criminals’ privacy. How, exactly, is it that they expect to know the difference beforehand? And if they cannot tell the difference beforehand, then it only stands to reason that some measure of privacy for perfectly law abiding citizens would also be compromised by such an approach. Why should law-abiding citizens have to expect their privacy to be invaded just so that the lawmakers can have more tools that make it easier for them to go after the “bad guys”?

    Really, it’s far less a matter of standing to protect the rights of criminals as much as it is a matter of standing to protect the rights of the perfectly law-abiding citizens that would find this sort of measure unduly invasive. Are these law-abiding (and I cannot stress that term enough) people who find that their own personal privacy would be compromised somewhat by these measures also supporting the rights of child-pornographers, or are they simply trying to stand up for their own rights?

  19. Charter Rights
    Could this be challenged as “unreasonable search or seizure” in court?

  20. Shawn Halayka says:

    Prediction
    Criminals learn that a whole lot of WiFi networks use weak or no security at all, and that netbooks are incredibly inexpensive, thus circumventing pretty much everything that lawful access was designed to do.

    Add a few more braincells, and they’ll add in darknets and encryption.

    All of these notions are found on major news sites already. It’s not rocket science.

    Vic Toews is a shmuck.

  21. unrational
    Where is the rationale for which trying to catch few offenders you remove the right to privacy of millions? Those few will find another way (sex offender were here before internet and will survive it) but the damage of this law will stay with us for a long time.

  22. George Klima says:

    Danny Williams summed it up nicely, “Vote ABC: Anybody But Conservative”

  23. Making the news down south …
    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/canadian-government-proposes-warrantless-internet-spying-bill.ars

    Don’t you just love it when a deck of cards begins to fold? Let’s cue the ‘if you got nothing to hide’ argument next. Heck, let’s just all walk around naked 😀

  24. Chris Bruner says:

    grunt
    Definitely fits the communist ideals. All you know/do belongs to us, and we will have our kgb watching you.

  25. Communism!!
    “Definitely fits the communist ideals. All you know/do belongs to us, and we will have our kgb watching you.”

    I was just going to say the same thing!!!

  26. Just because I don’t want the government to have carte blanche,Does not MAKE ME support Child pornographers.I want checks and balances to keep the government from turning into The New East Germany.

  27. It seems we dont need many voices to have the cons scrap this bill.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/871359–canadians-want-long-form-census-poll-finds?bn=1

    We just need one person to say this is unreasonable and they will scrap it! Imagine that!

  28. Use the Existing Laws
    Here’s a prime example of someone caught with child porn on his computer, who faced no charges:

    http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/russell-williams/sex-killer-russell-williams-had-child-porn-but-no-charges-laid/article1961444/?service=mobile

    Busted, but a plea deal blew it off. A government employee and military commander, no less? Is this the kind of government employee/law enforcer who will be assessing the personal information of internet and cellphone users in Canada?

  29. Toews
    Toews like to throw around the word pedophiles. Well I have some other words for him.

    Corruption
    Collusion
    bribery
    unnecessary
    wasteful
    pointless
    useless
    pay-offs

    Hopefully Toews is reading this. These are all words I use to describe our conservative government. Since I like my privacy, I must support pedophilia?!?!? C’mon!!! If I’m not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to hide, so why do I need privacy? What is this Cold War-era Russia? How do you even sleep at night. It amazes me that with comments like this and that others in “Stevie Wonder”‘s government have made that you still have jobs.

    Toews makes me ashamed to be Canadian when we have incompetent buffoons like him in positions of power.

  30. How I imagine Toews justifying this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo

  31. Toews
    It’s a common enough habit for Toews to engage mouth before brain but you’d think that after so long using this “you’re either for this bill or your for kiddie porn” he’d stop.

    There is no parallel. There is no connection. As someone sexually abused when I was a child I find using phrases like this almost, but not quite though close, to the abuse itself.

    Perhaps more of us should speak out but most of us wish to remain anonymous at this level and I don’t have all that much of a problem with that because of my name.

    “Think of the children!”

    I am. I was and am one. For all of that I’m also thinking of their future in a world where our privacy is rapidly eroding as it is for them to be subject to constant spying on their activities by their own government. Breaking Stockwell Day’s promise is just another example of the trustworthiness or lack of it of Teows.

    The laws as they stand are working well without this bill. Of course police don’t want to have to get warrants, I don’t expect them to want to do that. I do expect that they’ll have to seek them for this or any other tapping into my or anyone else’s communications. Just this small matter of reasonable cause, right?

    And no, this isn’t a Liberal vs Conservative thing. In 1999, when this started, it was the Liberals in charge. It’s more a government thing and more fear than anything else.

    Sorry, Vic…you think about the children the the country the will inherit is this bill goes through and survives constitutional challenges. I never dreamed that I was born in East Germany but that’s rapidly what’s happening.

  32. Ramblin' Rose says:

    They could get caught in their own Web
    Contributing editor Michael Wolff in his June 2008 Vanity Fair article, “It’s the Adultery, Stupid” wrote…

    “When a middle-aged politician has sex with someone other than his middle-aged wife, it represents, not least of all—because who would possibly want to have sex with these unattractive middle-aged politicians?—arrogance, a sense of entitlement, hypocrisy, and abuse of high office. A politician’s willingness to have sex with the young women who will have sex with him indicates self-destructiveness, a penchant for risky behavior, and flagrant lack of self-control.”

    Mr Wolff’s article followed the demise of the former New York State Attorney General and Governor and he noted earlier in his article, a lesson to be learned…

    “Eliot Spitzer represents not just an especially louche scandal but a shame-on-us moment because we didn’t see that Mr. Clean was Mr. Dirty. That’s a lesson for us: Don’t be snowed; assume the extreme. And that’s a lesson for politicians: Your official self can’t be so at odds with your sexual self—that’s what gives scandal its bite. Getting Spitzer wrong means we have to be more tenacious in our analysis.”

    Mr. Wolff went on to point out that…

    “…more get caught nowadays because sex is accompanied by an indelible electronic record. Sex, with anyone other than your wife, is a traceable act—it has to be scheduled, housed, discussed, traveled to. And it leaves, so often, not just a path but a virtual representation: e-mail protestations and rehashes, telephone records, telephone sex, texts, text sex, and now, apparently, Skype sex.”

    Here we are in Canada listening to a former Manitoba Crown Attorney, MLA, who while a Minister of the Crown impregnated a younger parliamentary assistant and who in his latest Ministerial capacity is proposing legislation which he claims will permit the police easier access to sexual predators.

    South of the border Herman Cain in this current American election year has already left the scene as a result of “alleged” past sexual indiscretions in the workplace where one of the significant issues appeared to be whether or not he had taken advantage of or abused a position of power and authority.

    Down the road, Herman can’t be appointed a judge because he isn’t a lawyer and can’t be appointed to the Senate because down there it’s an elected office.

    What’s it really all about?

  33. Didn’t you guys know?
    Minister Vic Toew is likely a pedophile….I mean its so perfect a cover…hiding in plain sight…He goes by the name of AKA Mr. Squiggles…

  34. Creepy
    What are we supposed to do against laws like this? Are we supposed to start a revolution?
    This kind of law is what makes tyranny. We need power to stop insanity like this! Vic Toews should be jailed for even proposing a law like that one!

  35. Wanting privacy is really not so much a matter of having something to hide, as much as it is a matter that people invariably are going to want privacy for some things.

    How many people would be put off by cameras in bathrooms, for instance? Granted, there are some that wouldn’t be… but should one necessarily come to the conclusion that anyone who has a problem with it must also be doing something wrong? Should every long-distance call to your family be intercepted and eavesdropped upon, simply because they live in a middle-eastern country, for example?

    To an extent, I suppose you could say, that there are some things that are *supposed* to be confidential or hidden… not because they are wrong, but simply because they are private. Toewes needs to get a clue.

  36. Jack Robinson says:

    Harper’s Blue Meanie Thugs Now Lawfully Leashless
    Forget that this unconscionable piece of New Rome North boot heel legislation is being K-Y greased through Parliament by our fave fan o’ waterboarding and chop-o-matic Black Tower Justice shill Vic Toews in a scenario that only Jonathan Swift or Franz Kafka could appreciate… If yuz linguine-spined, Jolt Cola pixel-addicted legions of Twitter junkies and faux Facebook narcissists can’t get it up an’ collectively summon a Cyber Sunami of Ire an’ Outrage over this Uber Nacht Lock-Down… Methinks I’ll be havin’ me gnarly-knucked pick o’ the pussy litter in the Big Brick House yer Ostrich Herd disengagement provided the mindfudge and mugwhump mortar for…

  37. McCarthyism?
    The practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence.

    This has no place in our society, and neither should Vic..

  38. How to counter any Public Safety debate, Toews Style!
    “Against warrantless entry of your home? You must be abusing a child!”
    “Against public cameras tracking your every move? You must be planning to abduct a child!”
    “Against drug prohibition? You must want to give drugs to children!”
    “Against warrantless wire-tapping? You must be talking about internet surveillance legislation!”

    Wait, that last one needs work.

  39. Title VS Content
    Shouldn’t the content of a bill at least bear some association to the bill’s title? From what I’m reading on CBC’s website, the only reference to child pornography is the title itself, but the content of the bill is (summarily) limitless surveillance without oversight.
    This is criminally deceptive behaviour as far as I am concerned. Call it predatory politics.

  40. Is this just a sensationalist diversion to keep us from focusing on the DRM law?
    Let’s assume they have the capability to monitor anyone at anytime on any device already. Does passing this law change anything? Obviously if it gets shut down due to “public opinion” it will feel like a victory. We’re kind of damned if we do, damned if we don’t on this one.
    In the words of a wondrously rambunctious robot that drinks and smokes cigars while looking at scantily clad circuits: “We’re Boned.”


  41. Now only if TTP & Bill C-11 could get this much attention and news time.

  42. Minister Toews’ inflammatory comments aside, the gist of the government’s policy is to bludgeon ISPs into blanket surveillance, evidently, rather than relying on their ninety-five percent voluntary compliance. This sort of paranoia is anything but helpful.

  43. @Windows8
    Now I have a unique perspective in that my wife’s father was a conflicted pedophile and child murderer. You know what’s funny? Living through that whole experience as a teen, my wife now has an extreme sense of privacy and is extremely guarded. She is VERY careful about anything she puts on-line and would object strongly to having anyone snooping on her or her children’s activity.

    It’s simple really, it has NOTHING to do with pedophiles, who are generally smart enough to use technologies allowing them to not get caught, it’s a complete red-herring to try and shame the population in to support. It’s sick really. They need “Lawful Access” in order to enforce C-11, but have no real justification, so must resort to calling all non-supporters pedophiles and supporters of child pronography. Start expecting mass “John Doe” infringement letters after this passes. Warrantless tracking is the only way they could ever remotely hope to even begin to enforce C-11. Now how that’s for a mouthful? Kind feels a bit like gagging on these laws that are being rammed down our throat.

  44. @Windows8
    I was agreeing with you, but got distracted. I meant to remove your name. It was meant as a reply to your post, not directed at you.

  45. Ohdear me
    I resent that Vic Toews, the “Public Safety Minister” calls me a child pornographer because I oppose this legislation. If he is calling me names why cannot I describe him as a “philanderer” because did he not play around with a young lady while still married to his long term wife? A baby resulted. Not a good Mennonite Brotherhood member if you ask me. Now will I be subject to warrantless Internet surveillance by the RCMP – and why is that organization commenting on the proposed legislation?

  46. Just wondering…
    Will they be burning our books soon, or does that come much later?

  47. @ZOnlin
    “If he is calling me names why cannot I describe him as a “philanderer” because did he not play around with a young lady while still married to his long term wife?”

    The difference, of course, is that, while he calls us all child pornographers, which will not be accurate for a vast majority of cases, calling him a philanderer is based on fact.

    http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/columnists/story.html?id=743e9b7e-d2d6-43c2-a37d-71e38a84163e&p=2

    “But the 55-year-old Toews’ public face of self-righteous morality is now clashing with his troubled private life. An MP dubbed the “minister of family values” by Liberals is embroiled in a messy divorce after fathering a child last fall with a much younger woman.”

  48. You guy’s are weakening your case
    I’ve got to say, after hearing the last few posts I’m starting to admire Toews’.

    He’s a player, and if I’m on his side, you are the child pornographers.

    Since when has smearing ever been a valid tactic in Canadian politics?

  49. The Legislation of Tyranny Act
    We are in the midst of the formation and general acceptance of a police state…the fears of decent citizens regarding peodophelia and our hatred of child pornographers is being exploited as a vehicle to legislate tyranny…the bill should be named as such “The Legislation of Tyranny Act”…then you’d see how much support they’d receive.

  50. Piracy
    It’s for the children.
    pirateparty.ca

  51. @Windows8
    How is a statement of fact, a smear? If anyone is running a smear campaign, it our illustrious conservative. They’re not just smearing the opposition, they’re smearing Canada.

    I fully expect lawful access and C-11 to pass in full, they must obey their American task-masters after all. God forbid, we actually do something better than the US, we are only Canadians after all. So we’ll do it the same is the US (Patriot Act and DMCA, or perhaps SOPA, respectively) and have them fail just as spectacularly and have all the same “unintended consequences”, law suits and trolling, though it’s more intentional ignorance on the part of our government.

    They have a chance to learn from the mistakes of other countries, but have chosen to turn a blind eye and kowtow to their American task-masters. I have absolutely no respect for our current administration, who so callously ignores it’s own people.

  52. @IamME
    I fully oppose the DRM provisions in C-11.

    What does “a statement of fact” about a politician have anything to do with the proposed legislation? If this law does pass there will still be ways to protect your privacy digitally (there will always be newer and better ways).

    I’m just trying to point out the fact that everyone is misdirecting their outrage. We should still be chanting about DRM restriction. I reiterate: “Let’s assume they have the capability to monitor anyone at anytime on any device already.”

    This law just gets me excited about the potential market value of new encryption ideas.

  53. @Concerned Citizen says:

    He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.
    Is there any organized group or association that is attempting to stop this boneheaded legislation? I am definitely opposed would like to participate with others in a coordinated letter writing campaign or other activity.

  54. Ramblin' Rose says:

    Open Media has a petition going
    But 80,000 signatures are a far cry from the over 400,000 that protested Usage Based Billing…I guess if they promise their constituency a stay in prison for collecting a family picture album in these difficult economic times, many Conservative supporters would prefer that to a trailer with a leak?

    http://www.openmedia.ca

  55. @Concerned Citizen says:

    Thank you Ramblin’ Rose. I will sign the petition. I have already sent Harper an email.

  56. consern citizen
    I have been to many countries,communist,dictatoral,fachist.you know what you are in for,they,openly profest it,so you know how to safeguard your self,but heat its very suttle,&decieving,this will worsen the already hatred towards the police,will creat more jepody for law enforcement,this is superfical democrisy,this should be stoped by all cost.the two wars were fourget because of people like this taking over our rights&freedom .

  57. @Concerned Citizen says:

    Here’s the link to the petition: http://www.stopspying.ca/

  58. the begning of the seperation of the countary we love
    feb 13,police chief caught drunk driving,very rare,yes chief of ride program.Can we trust them?.innocent citizens at g 20 summit interigrated,can we trust them.what are the real stats of child porn offenders?any stats.they are trying to formulate a cause to make it a police state.It must be stoped for the sake of canada,very conserned citizen.We are not the u.stupid state of the americas.

  59. The only way to enact this law would be to eliminate the Charter of Rights, a document that defines us.
    I am Canadian, I stand for the freedoms enshrined in the charter of rights. The Conservatives are opposed to me so they must not be Canadian!

  60. Not That Anonymous says:

    ‘He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.’

    Only Sith’s deal in absolutes. We do what we must.

  61. Another Concerned Citizen says:

    This is only about suppressing dissent against the corrupt government itself and fueling the growing prison-industrial complex
    People are waking up to the grand illusions orchestrated by Western governments and elite interest groups through “Public Relations” and control of mass media. Bill C-51 is merely another attempt to reign in the freedoms that accidentally got into the hands of the general public through the advent of the Internet. It has nothing to do with “protecting the children.” If anything, this bill is about enslaving our children.

  62. Fuck Off Harper says:

    It’s hard to write a joke
    as funny as the pure horse-sh** that comes out of these fascist a**holes’ mouths. But the brain-dead old fart fascist porno mustache (what kind of a friging name is “toewes”?) forgot to tell us that hitler did the same thing to Germany.

    Good one, Canada, for letting this repugnant minority of stone-age knuckle-dragging throwbacks take power.

    Seriously, harper and his uniformly fat brain-dead lying f***ing scumbag foghorns are making Canada a bigger f***ing embarrassment than bush made the US. And that is a hard act to beat.

    Pathetic. Sorry to see you go, Canada.

  63. Just in from Meals on Wheels delivery…
    Want to hear a stream of profanity from a little old lady? Just say
    Stephen Harper!

  64. One of several billion MAC addresses says:

    I want my money back
    I was not sure whether to laugh or cry when Vic was asked today how much he thought it would cost the ISP’s to implement the new gun law, as he replied he had “no idea”. Right said Vic.

  65. Marcelle Marion says:

    Lawyer – Montreal
    I saw M. Geist on Power and Politics and the other one (CTV)yesterday. He did an excellent job on the flaws of this new legislation. It is indeed a law we need to be very concerned with. For those who harboured concerns over the suspension of civil liberties during peace time – the War Measures Act, that legislation was mild compared to what the Conservatives are proposing. Unless a war has been declared but we have not been informed, Canadians should be very concerned about Bill.

  66. Frederic Bonfontaine says:

    Nobel Prize
    Dr Geist deserves a Nobel Prize or an Order of Canada Award for his tireless work on such issues. Bravo Dr Geist, we Canadians are better for having you..

  67. concerned citizen says:

    wake up Canada
    They’ve tried this before.
    I remember a visit to a foreign country where in city, town and village women would not go out on the street alone after dark because if they did the local males out and about would attempt to win her favor. If she said no, harassment would become more and more intolerant. It would also filter down from the alpha male to all the others. This would continue on a repeated basis until she stayed home or submitted. This is how government operates. They were told no way before but they just keep on coming, until we relent and throw our hands up in the air in frustration and disgust. Or they’ll pass it when no one is watching.

    This bill that gives police rights others don’t have, to monitor internet activity and gain confidential/private information without a warrant is easily circumvented by criminals. No, it is not for our own good but against our own good.

    If you want censorship from porn then get a filter or demand one from your service provider but do not help turn Canada into a police state with proposed legislation.

  68. Petition
    How many names on a petition do we need in Canada before it is taken seriously? In the US, they only need 25000 names and they have about 10 times the population. By relative population, we have the equivalent of 800,000+ names and our government is completely silent. On top of that, by random pole, over 80% of the Canadian population oppose warrantless access. How can they get away with this? Even with a majority, someone must police the law-makers to ensure laws are fair and do no violate the charter of rights and freedoms. Is the only option truly to wait until it passes and mount a constitutional challenge in court?

  69. @Windows8
    “If this law does pass there will still be ways to protect your privacy digitally (there will always be newer and better ways).”

    Even now there are many ways, public access points, VPNs, proxies, TOR, i2p (Which uses a layer of public key encryption, so it might break), darknets, hop-nets, among others, but yes, new and better ways will emerge, stronger and better encryption will emerge. Even now, TOR is virtually untraceable, and is under constant development, so it will only get stronger. But we shouldn’t have to use such tools. Privacy should be a right and access to private information should require cause and court oversight. This is a gross overreach of power and will be abused much like the patriot act in the US.

  70. “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide.” This entire concept can trivially proven to be false by example. Consider both of the following:

    Most people go about their daily business wearing clothes for most of the day… They effectively hide their own bodies from other people by doing this. They do this because going around without clothing is not usually recognized as culturally typical, not because anything is necessarily wrong with their bodies.

    People sometimes discuss personal matters in a context of implied or explicitly requested confidence. They do this because the matters are of a personal or confidential nature, and sometimes again it could be perceived as a cultural taboo to discuss such matters openly (such as talking about one’s relationship, personal finances, etc), not because they are discussing anything that is actually wrong.

    The bottom line is that almost everybody has *something* to hide (particularly from people that they do not know)… not because it is something necessarily wrong, but simply because it is, at least to them, something private, and something that they don’t want others, especially faceless people who they have never seen, knowing about or seeing.

    To presume that such unknown agencies should have any more right than anybody else to know details about matters that innocent people believe to be private is incredibly destructive to the worth of those people as human beings, and instead treats them as if they were somehow the property of whatever agency is granted such rights.

  71. Vikileaks Tweets the Dirt on Vic Toews
    Turnabout is fair play?

    http://blogs.canada.com/2012/02/15/vikileaks-attacks-vic-toews-on-twitter/

  72. @Trystus
    “Turnabout is fair play?”

    When he accused most of Canada of siding with child pornographers, everything is fair play. What was it, 83% of Canadians polled were against warrantless access? Exploiting those most vulnerable in our society for is “Cause” is sickening. My father-in-law was a pedophile and child murderer and privacy and security is of paramount importance to my wife to keep our kids safe.

    Toews has no idea what he’s talking about, he’s shamelessly exploiting those most vulnerable for what is obviously a personal cause, and deserves to have his name dragged through a sewer like the scumbag he is.

  73. Vic Toews
    If there is any doubt!

  74. Ms.
    Isn’t it ironic that Vic Towes is so concerned about the “children”, when he just had an affair fathered a child out of wedlock and refuses to pay child support. He should be dismissed as a public servant for going against Canada’s laws on child support. Disgusting and disturbing who’s running the country. I suppose this kind of communication will be less open in future Big Brother land.

  75. concerned citizen says:

    rules are for plebs
    Torys do seem to have trouble following rules . eg the wheat board dismantled against the law and farmers wishes, Now the torys are in for a multi billion dollar law suit,

  76. IamME said: Toews has no idea what he’s talking about, he’s shamelessly exploiting those most vulnerable for what is obviously a personal cause, and deserves to have his name dragged through a sewer like the scumbag he is

    Which is ironic since he’s using abused kids for his own gain. So who is the child abuser,ohhh I think he name is Vic Towes. Thats right Vic Towes is a child predator. He’s using sexually abused children to pass a bill that circumvents due process.

  77. Does anyone here remember…
    …back in the ’90’s when Stockwell day was still a MLA in AB (Treasury Secretary, as I recall), he made a similar statement to the effect of “defence lawyers who represent accused child molesters are as bad as their clients”? He was successfully sued and the tab was picked up by the citizens of AB.