Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, February 17, 2012

Lawful Access: Online Surveillance Bill Will Protect Public Better Than Gun Registry, Says Tony Clement

TORONTO - A Conservative cabinet minister swept aside accusations Friday that the government values long-gun owners over web users.

Critics have blasted Ottawa over a new online surveillance bill they argue would compromise Internet users' privacy.

Many pointed out the Tories scrapped the gun registry in part because of concerns that it violated the privacy rights of lawful gun owners.

But Tony Clement defended the government's record on privacy Friday, saying in both cases, officials aimed to "protect society better."

At a social media talk in Toronto, the Treasury Board president said the gun registry did nothing to boost public safety, while the online surveillance bill could help prevent serious offences.

"It's important to make sure police investigators — if there's someone who is in the midst of planning a terrorist act or someone in the midst of planning some kind of child abuse — we do want to give them the tools to find those people," he said.

"When it comes to the Internet, there's always a balancing of rights and obligations, but no one has 100 per cent rights and no one should have 100 per cent obligations."

The Conservatives tabled the Internet bill this week and quickly sent it to committee after it sparked massive backlash from the public and privacy advocates.

The move comes as the majority government won approval to scrap the controversial gun registry and destroy gun ownership records, something Prime Minister Stephen Harper had repeatedly promised to do since taking office in 2006.

Original Article
Source: Huff 
Author: canadian press  

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