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Canada's Internet Surveillance Bill: Not Dead After All 53

First time accepted submitter Maow writes "Despite a recent story claiming that Canada's Bill C-30, covering internet surveillance, has died a 'lonely' death, the minister responsible claims otherwise. 'Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is denying reports that the Harper government intends to quietly shelve its controversial online surveillance bill, C-30.' Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Toews insisted the legislation was moving ahead. He has previously stated this is the bill that you either support, 'or you stand with the child pornographers.'"
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Canada's Internet Surveillance Bill: Not Dead After All

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  • except me of course
  • by busyqth ( 2566075 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @06:15PM (#40022397)

    He has previously stated this is the bill that you either support, 'or you stand with the child pornographers.'"

    How lame. He needs to spice this up: Either you support his bill, or you are a child pornographer.

    Now that has some zing.

    • Event better: Either you are child pornographer, or you don't support the bill.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Only sith deal in absolutes.
    • by mark-t ( 151149 )

      That would be, in most cases, far too easy to shoot down as slanderous. Not that I'm suggesting that what Mr. Toews was saying has any basis in reality, but what a person secretly supports or endorses, as opposed to something that they personally actually do, is much more susceptible to opinion, and therefore considerably harder to present infallible evidence to refute it.

      Of course, the rhetoric that Mr. Toews used in his now highly publicized claim is widely known as poisoning the well [wikipedia.org], and is usually

      • Yes, John Howard (ex-Aussie PM) used this tactic to great effect when he and the attorney general were undermining the rule of law in the David Hicks case. Howard continually reffered to Hicks as a "terrorists" and his critics as "Hick's supporters" despite the fact that most of them (including me) were supporting the rule of law and thought Hick's was a dickhead. It's one of the most shameful episodes in Australian politics I have seen in my 50 odd years, I cannot think of another case of political impriso
    • by Anonymous Coward

      You're either against this bill, or you're with the nazi totalitarians.

      There, we can play that game too.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Phrogman ( 80473 )

        Well "Nazi Totalitarians" isn't that far off from our current Conservatives. Harper executes pretty strong control over all his followers, he is restricting free speech, attacking the environmental movement, supporting big business regardless of the effects on Canada or the cost to the public, organizing a police like state (with training at the G8/G20 session, minimum penalties for crimes, eliminating the concept of personal privacy for the citizenry, etc).

    • by flyneye ( 84093 )

      As a Polly-tit-ian he should make the contents of his harddrive available for public report from a forensics tech.
      Methinks "short eyes Toews" doeth protest too much...

  • What's this bill doing here? Do you really think it's appropriate to bring this kind of legislation to a constitutional monarchy?
  • GodDAMN (Score:5, Funny)

    by CanHasDIY ( 1672858 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @06:18PM (#40022429) Homepage Journal
    What an absolute fucking douchebag this guy is...

    Also, judging from the picture in TFA, very likely a comic book supervillian as well...

    Dr. Douche? Fagneto? Somebody help me out here...
  • It's just going to be snuck into the Harper Government's next omnibus novel^W bill

  • or you stand the with the child pornographers...

    Someone needs to spit this line right back at them!

  • Come on... the submitter should have been able to slip in the Python reference; it's extremely apt under the circumstances.

    Speaker of the House: Bring out yer dead! [opposition puts a bill in the bin, unaware of the fact that the bill is actually in discussion]
            The Opposition: Here's one.
            Speaker of the House: That'll be ninepence.
            Bill C-30: I'm not dead.
            Speaker of the House: What?
            The Opposition: Nothing. [hands the collector his money] There's your ninepence.
            Bill C-30: I'm not dead!
            Speaker of the House: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
            The Opposition: Yes he is.
            Bill C-30: I'm not.
            Speaker of the House: He isn't.
            The Opposition: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
            Bill C-30: I'm getting better.
            The Opposition: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
            Speaker of the House: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
            Bill C-30: I don't want to go on the cart.
            The Opposition: Oh, don't be such a baby.
            Speaker of the House: I can't take him.
            Bill C-30: I feel fine.
            The Opposition: Oh, do me a favor.
            Speaker of the House: I can't.
            The Opposition: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
            Speaker of the House: I promised I'd be at the Liberals'. They've lost nine today.
            The Opposition: Well, when's your next round?
            Speaker of the House: Thursday.
            Bill C-30: I think I'll go for a walk.
            The Opposition: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
            Bill C-30: I feel happy. I feel happy. [The Speaker glances up and down the commons furtively, then whacks the bill with the his mace, solving the problem]
            The Opposition: Ah, thank you very much.
            Speaker of the House: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
            The Opposition: Right.

    • Nd here I was, all set to go with:

      It's not dead yet!
      It's just a flesh wound.
      It's feeling BETTAH!

      Story of my life. A day late & a dollar short...
    • What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.

      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.

        I'm just surprised they aren't ramming it and other pet legislation through via the budget bill. That thing's already got more than the budget in it - it rewrites several laws as well. Given it's at least 5 separate pieces of legislation (1 of which is the budget), why not toss in a few more?

  • Poor Vic (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bob9113 ( 14996 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @06:25PM (#40022515) Homepage

    He has previously stated this is the bill that you either support, 'or you stand with the child pornographers.'"

    Damn, Vic -- must be tough. Most people actually think you are a greater threat than a child pornographer. I mean, I think you are a wildly irrational authoritarian with far more power to harm the Canadian populace than any person with your mind-set should have, but.... well... OK, maybe they're right. I guess you are more of a threat than a child pornographer.

    Heh, I guess, maybe you should be careful with the comparisons you draw. You might just wind up on the wrong side.

  • by AarghVark ( 772183 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @06:27PM (#40022525)
    Funny how people often use the excuse "think of the children" when asking you to give up your rights and freedoms.

    I am thinking of the children. Children who will one day not enjoy the rights I had if I do not fight for those rights today.
    • Funny how people often use the excuse "think of the children" when asking you to give up your rights and freedoms.

      I am thinking of the children. Children who will one day not enjoy the rights I had if I do not fight for those rights today.

      A thousand-fold this.

  • by Sique ( 173459 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @06:38PM (#40022643) Homepage

    Are you for mandantory searches of all homes? No? So you stand with the child pornographers.
    Are you for mandantory screening of all letters and packages? No? So you stand with the child pornographers.
    Are you for mandantory monitoring of all private places? No? So you stand with the child pornographers.

    If enough people state publicly that he obviously stands with the child pornographers, maybe his bill will lose support.

    • Vic Toews probably does support mandatory warrantless searches of all homes, etc. That way he can find terrorist materials like gardening books.

  • by hawkingradiation ( 1526209 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @06:43PM (#40022691)
    Yup, things are surely working out in the Canadian Parliament. What can you expect when these retards [youtube.com] get a majority. (In case you couldn't figure it out, he is talking about format shifting, which will probably become illegal after C-11 gets it 3rd and final reading sometime soon.)
    • by mark-t ( 151149 )
      It won't become entirely illegal... it just won't be legal unless the copyright holder gives permission for it to occur (which implies that they would have to provide the tools or decryption keys necessary to accomplish it), or else not employ any form of digital lock at all, in which case the end user has all the conventional fair dealing privileges.
      • by msobkow ( 48369 )

        It'll be interesting to see if the various DVD ripping, copying, and resizing tools sold in stores today are still legal for sale post-C-11.

        Our rights in Canada to transcode and back up media have been enshrined by the courts for decades (I remember hearing about cases when I was still in high school, and that's well over 30 years ago now.) The very idea that it's "illegal" to decrypt data in order to back it up goes against our established rights to transcode.

        Search for the cases in the 70's and 80's

        • by mark-t ( 151149 )

          It'll be interesting to see if the various DVD ripping, copying, and resizing tools sold in stores today are still legal for sale post-C-11.

          If they remove locks that the distributor put in place to prevent copying in the first place, then probably not.

          And look into the CDR levy in Canada -- the "deal" that the music industry made to "tax" blank media in order to recoup their "losses" due to piracy

          Actually, that's a (very) popular misconception. If you review the actual text of the levy's purpose, the levy

    • by caseih ( 160668 )

      According to Michael Geist, C-11 is a mixed bag, some good, some bad. Almost all of the demands of the copyright lobby were soundly rejected by committee. However other things that are bad remain, including legislation on digital locks.

      But yes, I agree whole-heartedly about the state of affairs. The Conservative Republican party of Canada is arrogant and power hungry. I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between interviews with Canadian federal ministers and Republican congressmen, both in tone and c

      • Actually, I'd argue that the Alberta provincial PC Party has moved (comparatively) centrist with their new leader. So much so that the more right wing elements were up in arms enough to do the usual take-their-ball-home conservative political party split (Alliance, Tea-Party) and formed the Wild Rose Party, a super-right wing party that basically said that they'd crap all over the urban centres to please their rural neocon masters.

        Polls had them getting a solid majority, with up to 40% popularity, right
        • Polls had them getting a solid majority, with up to 40% popularity, right up until the recent election. Fortunately for the rest of us, the 'undecideds' came out en mass and thumped them soundly, giving the PC's the province once again... hooray for reasonableness. Though I can hardly believe I just used the word 'reasonable' in describing any modern political process or outcome...

          Because it wasn't reasonable. Albertans handed the reins back to the corrupt PC party because they were petrified of the Wildr

  • by arthurpaliden ( 939626 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @09:01PM (#40023871)

    The Real Problem with Bill C_30 is Sections 33/34:

    Vic's Asst. 1: So have we had any luck tracing that person who sent those emails or who he is working with. You know the other people he has been in contact with.

    Vic's Asst. 2: Nope. All we have is the email address but that does give us the name of their ISP.

    Vic's Asst. 1: OK so get a warrant for that ISP and find who it was that sent it along with who he is working with.

    Vic's Asst. 2: Can't do that. What was done was not a criminal act.

    Vic's Asst. 3: Well then how about this. We get the Minister to appoint someone we trust as his agent as per Section 33 to check out this ISP for compliance to Bill C-30. They go there and then once they are in the ISP's premises we use Section 34, which states he can make copies of 'any' information found at the site regardless of where it is stored, to get everything. That gives us all the ISP's user account data as well as the contents of all current user emails, instant messages, voice over IP conversations as well as all the system backups which will contain everything even if has been deleted by the users. Then we bring it all back here and go through it at our leisure looking for 'compliance violations'.

    Vic's Asst. 1: And that is legal?

    Vic's Asst. 3: Getting it yes, mind you searching it could get the Minister into trouble but then hey isn't what Senate appointments are for.

    Vic's Asst. 1: Ok then, works for me.

  • by ohnocitizen ( 1951674 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @09:11PM (#40023931)
    Perhaps before this guy opened his mouth, rather than trying to let it die a quiet death, they were trying to quietly pass it.
  • by MadMaverick9 ( 1470565 ) on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @10:10PM (#40024277)

    in response to mr toews comment "this is the bill that you either support, 'or you stand with the child pornographers.'".

    Life isn't black and white. It's a million shades of grey. [families.com]

    what mr toews needs to learn here is that there is at least one more opinion: i do not support child pornography and i do not support a surveillance society.

    govts all over the world - stop giving us these black and white choices. it ain't that easy.

  • Email him every mundane detail of your life... or just cc him on everything: vic.toews@parl.gc.ca
  • Tell Vic Everything (Score:4, Informative)

    by brunes69 ( 86786 ) <[slashdot] [at] [keirstead.org]> on Thursday May 17, 2012 @07:06AM (#40026191)

    Seems like we shoud resume the "Tell Vic Everything" campaign. If Vic is really that interested in spying on everyone, then make it easier for him.

    - Add @ToewsVic to every tweet you send.
    - Start posting your breakfast details on his Facebook page.
    - CC him on every email you send using all his addresses (note they made him new ones after the last campaign - vic.toews@parl.gc.ca / toewsv1@parl.gc.ca / Toews.V@parl.gc.ca )

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/16/pol-twitter-tell-vic-everything.html [www.cbc.ca]

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