Saturday, January 19, 2008

SPP : Surveillance and privacy


Canada drops a ranking this year in the annual report from Privacy International, "a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations".
Why is Canada worse off this year?
  • The hideously flawed and secret Canadian 'no-fly' list, compiled with assistance from Homeland Security.
  • The CIA's accessing of Canadian banking records through the SWIFT banking information system.
  • Canadian government compliance with US calls for biometric documents and passports.
See a pattern here?
The US, towards which Canada is increasingly bending its previously excellent record on privacy, is listed as an "endemic surveillance society", along with the UK, Russia, China, and Malaysia.
The US Constitution, despite some search and seizure provisions in 4th Amendment, contains no right to privacy.
West End Bound has already provided extensive coverage of this report. I just wanted to underline how Canadian participation in the Security and Prosperity Partnership and the US 'war on terra' is now directly widening the circle of who is reading your financial records, your medical history, where you shop, who you know...

1 comment:

West End Bob said...

Good to see you back on the job, Alison!

Now, about those "beloved" details I asked you about . . . . e-me, please! :-)

Speaking of the joined-at-the-hip tories and reguglicans, have you seen where Canada has removed the US and Israel from the list of countries that torture?

Guess stevie got a call from dickhead cheney. It couldn't have been from georgie. He is undoubtedly still jet-lagged after his begging tour of the Mideast . . . .

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