Canadian Government Scrapping Internet Predators Act 50
dakohli writes "The Conservative Goverment of Canada is scrapping the controversial bill C-30 They will instead make 'modest' changes to the existing Warrantless Wiretap bill. This bill was widely panned by Privacy Critics and members of the opposition. Another victory for online privacy!"
Re:Modest changes (Score:5, Informative)
I suspect that by modest changes they mean that they are going to gut our rights. Anyone who works in government quickly learns that control of information is power. It makes them angry that they can't get more information and it makes them scared that we can get so much.
Well, my first question is do you actually live in Canada? If you did you'd already know that the SCC has a history of upholding the charter of rights and freedoms against intrusive laws unless the government can justifiably demonstrate that there is a valid S.1 argument [justice.gc.ca]. And there have been very few cases where the SCC has let the S.1 argument give leeway. Probably the best case to show where the government has been given leeway under that is the RIDE Program [wikipedia.org], where warrentless stopping of a vehicle is considered a small enough violation of public rights vs the protection of society as a whole.
Remember now, that this has already been to court in terms of the warrentless wiretap, and the SCC struck it down as an overeach of power. This bill is to come into compliance to the SCC's ruling, it will end up being challenged again, and if the bill is found to be in breach or an excessive overreach the SCC will strike it down again.
Re:Modest changes (Score:5, Informative)
"Ah, another "government is this monolithic entity that is sooooooo scary" post. Massive upmods incoming."
If you knew anything about the history of the current conservative party (reform party take over) you would not be saying such things. Most people commenting in this thread know nothing about canadian politics and how the canadian parliamentary system works. Right now Conservatives have a majority, what that means is they essentially get to shove any legislation they want through with impunity.
Whether they 'slightly soften' totally bankrupt laws is a non issue since the opposition has no power at all given the majority.
Re:Modest changes (Score:3, Informative)
The interested parties (military industrial complex anyone? what the US spends most of its budget on)
Actually, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - together accounted for 21 percent of the budget. Defense and international security assistance was 20 percent... tied with Social Security. A fair breakdown can be had here. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258 [cbpp.org]