Double Standards

If it was wrong for Egypt, Libya, and others to cut off Internet access, why would it be OK for Britain to do something similar? It is incredible how easily politicians are willing to curtail the freedom of the very people that elected them. Who the hell do they think they are?

Unrest Is Spreading

The day before things went to hell in London, I had a conversation with my sister Marie in the UK. We predicated that the unrest in North Africa, the Middle East, and some European countries like Greece, would continue to spread around the world. Why? The underlying cause of the unrest is economic, not political.

A dictator's power depends on keeping the population content. Dictators make sure the trains are always on time. They keep the cost of food low, because once the people are going hungry, they have nothing left to lose. That is a breeding ground for revolution.

Democratic governments keep the population content by spending money on it. Government belt-tightening always affects the population negatively. If you cut enough social programs, you will eventually have a lot of bored youth. If you have high unemployment, you have a lot of bored youth with no money. This is not a good combination.

The conditions that created these hooligans, are only going to get worse, so I do not see the unrest in the UK magically resolving itself any time soon, just as it continues in Egypt and elsewhere. And as it has happened elsewhere, eventually the military will be sent in. Even in the UK.

Because, once the population is no longer content, suppression is the final option for all governments.

Politicians Are Stupid

If encryption were to be banned, wouldn't that kill e-commerce dead in its tracks? Would anyone be willing transmit their credit card information of a public network in the clear? Well, I suppose a few uninformed folks might do it once. I doubt they would do it a second time, after their information has been abused by some nefarious types.

And yet Pakistani government seems intent on banning encryption so that they can more easily snoop Internet traffic. What they apparently fail to realize is that this allows everyone to snoop the Internet traffic. Politicians are really stupid aren't they?

The New Dictators

The new totalitarian regimes (or wannabes) do not use jack boots to step on their citizens. That's so last century. The modern dictators (or wannabes) pass laws which require the corporations to do the dirty work for the government. The U.S. government is definitely a wannabe (totalitarians in training, if you like). They have just passed such a law which uses the old child pornography bogey man again. The Canadian government is also a wannabe and is desperate to catch up with our neighbours. Our version of this law is expected in the fall. All hail to the new dictators!

The Fish Stinks

The Canadian Broadcast Act exists to protect the Canadian broadcast industry (Bell, Rogers, Quebecor, et al) which is why the CRTC treats non-broadcast entities, such as consumer groups, like they do not matter. Those same companies are also the largest Canadian ISPs, who appear to be perfectly OK with the government's upcoming lawful access legislation.

Now ask yourself, why would the government change the Broadcast Act (or Telecommunications Act) to improve consumer choice or to enforce net neutrality, when the companies covered by those laws are happy to do the government's dirty work by spying on Canadians? The fish stinks from the head down.

Beware Of Backlash

Meanwhile, the Netherlands is going in the opposite direction to everyone else by becoming the first nation to pass an Internet neutrality law. It started when the ISPs tried to filter access to filter Internet access, which triggered a public backlash.

The Dutch ISPs must not have as much clout with the government their US or Canadian counterparts. As this Techdirt article notes, it is hard to imagine a law like this being passed in the US or Canada without getting watered down to nothing by the telco lobbyists.

However, the fact that the law in the Netherlands came about because of a public backlash, is a warning to ISPs everywhere of what can happen if you push the users too far.

Internet Censorship

It looks like the Australian government is trying to censor the Internet. Again! The largest ISPs are on board this time so I wonder what they got in return. Were they not opposed the last time?

The really sad part is that I can see this happening in Canada. We have just been lucky to avoid it. The Conservative Party has quite a few Reform Party crackpots left from when the parties merged and they would be the ones to contemplated censoring the Internet, "for the good of the people".

Stop Online Spying

Even though the Conservative government delayed its lawful access legislation until the Fall, it is a dangerous idea that would turn Canada into a surveillance state. Lets try to nip this in the bud before it goes too far. Please sign the petition if you are a Canadian. Unfortunately, with a majority government, it will be easy for them to ignore a petition unless it has a significant number of signatures. Get the word out to as many people as you can.

And The Winner Is...

A Conservative majority. Damn, we got the worst case.

The first New Democratic Party opposition? It's a pyrrhic victory in my opinion.

The Liberal Party decimated. They are still paying for their arrogance.

The Bloc Quebecois routed. This may actually fuel separatism.

And... the Green Party wins its first seat!?

We live in interesting times, my friends. Perhaps a little too interesting. The good news is no Federal elections until 2015. The bad news is this could be a very long four years.

Promises Promises

Micheal Geist has summarized the digital policies of the three main parties. As with all campaign promises, making them is easy, keeping them is what counts. Unfortunately, since it looks like we will get at least another Conservative minority, I actually hope they don't keep their promises in this case. It looks like the first steps towards a surveillance state to me.

Random Election Again

The Liberals are adrift and rudderless. The NDP have no hope winning as usual. The best outcome that we can hope for in this election, is another minority Conservative government. The worst outcome is a Conservative majority and that is a truly scary thought. What really bothers me is how easily people have been persuaded that the Conservative agenda makes any sense, especially among my own family. Sigh.

Snubbed

After Canada was snubbed in the elections for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, one might expect some humility from Prime Minister Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Cannon. Instead they point fingers, hint at conspiracies by lobbyists, complain of backstabbing by allies, and even blame the voting system. With such a classy response, is it any surprise that Canada lost the seat? The world is sending a message that Canada has lost the respect that it once had on the international stage. Our glorious leaders are too full of themselves to accept that it was their policies that cost us the seat.

The Letter G

This post is brought to you by the letter "G". "G" is for: G8, G20, Good bye, Good riddance, and GTFO! I'm thankful the city made it through the weekend relatively unscathed (trust me, it could have been much worse) but there are many questions that will remain forever unanswered.

Why do they insist on having these meetings in the middle of a city? It's not like the politicians actually use anything in the city they visit. They show up, cower behind a big fence, chit-chat for a day, accomplish nothing, and leave. The meetings could be held in a remote resort which would be easier to secure. Or have the meeting on a military base where the security is already in place.

Of course, we are talking about politicians, who can't resist wasting tax dollars. Harper uses the riot on Saturday to justify why the security costs so much money. He conveniently ignores that the money was spent to protect the politicians inside their private fenced area, not to protect the city or its people.

And then there was the shameful suspension of basic human rights. First McGuinty secretly passed a law that required anyone with 5 meters of the fence to show identification. "Hello comrade, papers please." Apparently the law was passed so late that it won't be officially published until after the period that the law was in effect.

Ah yes, and let's not forget the police behaviour on Sunday where they used the kettling tactic, which smells of police practices more commonly found in totalitarian societies. The police were likely embarrassed by how they lost control of the events on Saturday and wanted to show 'em who's boss. Unfortunately, all the police showed is that they can be thugs just like the Black Bloc hooligans.

I was involved in the 1976 anti-Apartheid protests in South Africa where it was essentially no-holds-barred, do-what-ever-it-takes, open warfare between police/soldiers and protesters. If the police were facing such a situation, their behaviour might be justified. But they were not and we should expect better from our police. What is really troubling is how the police leadership and the politicians all condone for this kind of behaviour. It pushes us just a little closer to becoming a police state.

Speaking of which, what were most of these groups protesting anyway? There were so many different groups taking the opportunity to promote their causes, that their messages were just a jumble. The lame scream, er, mainstream media doesn't care about the message protesters are trying to deliver. The media are just hoping there will a riot because it sells more copy. And how about one more for the road.

Now will they hurry up and get the damned fence down. You can't even get a straight answer as to how long it will take. And do you know something? There aren't enough swear words beginning with "G".

How To Shoot Your Foot

Politicians shoot themselves in the proverbial foot so easily that it must be natural skill. The Auditor General wants to audit the spending of the MPs and they say no. Wow! If there's a better way to make themselves look worse in the eyes of the public, I can't think of one. It gets even better. The MPs unanimously said no to the audit. Double wow! Imagine what could be accomplished if they could agree on really important matters, not just hiding their expenses.

The Fix Is In

Oh, this is so typical of those bloody politicians! The copyright consultation last year was a pointless waste of time. The final decision on the future of copyright in Canada was made by... the Prime Minister! But wait! It gets worse!

It looks very likely that we will end up with a Canadian version of the DMCA, because the PM sided with James Moore, who seems to have forgotten he is the Canadian Heritage Minister. Last year he appeared to be on the same page as Industry Minister Clement, but not any more. The fix is in and it looks like the lobbyists from the (U.S.) entertainment industry got to Moore.

How bad will the Bill be? Will Canada have a three-strikes law? We wait with bated breath.

Broadband Promises

So Ignatieff, our wannabe Prime Minister, is promising broadband for the whole country. Sounds great! Er, wait, he is only aiming for 1.5Mb/s! How did we suddenly return to 1998? Since new infrastructure will be needed in rural areas to support broadband, you might as well use the latest technology. Then there is the question of who is going build the infrastructure. If the the incumbents (Bell, Rogers, etc.) are left to themselves, they won't spend more than is necessary to meet the minimum speed, with no room for future growth. I get the feeling that Ignatieff hasn't put much thought into this, which makes it difficult to take seriously.

ACTA: The Extremes

Last week the European Parliament passed a resolution which shoots down the entire process in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. On the other side of the Atlantic, President Obama throws his unreserved support behind ACTA. This is about as extreme an opposing view can possibly get. Each nation in the negotiations has a veto over what information can be released, so as long as the U.S. takes this position any transparency on ACTA is impossible.

Oh Canada Movie

I just watched Oh Canada! Our Bought and Sold Out Land, a satirical movie that examines the economy, explains why it is intentionally broken, and who benefits from having it that way. It was funny watching politicians squirm when asked questions which would never get asked by the main stream media. The solution to fixing the economic system is actually very simple but would never happen because it would require governments to actually serve the people as they are supposed to do. The movie is two hours long so give yourself sometime if you decide to watch it.

Flip-Flop

Wow, the Canadian Government flip-flopped on the changing the anthem really quickly. The cynics (waves hand ^_^) can't help but think that it was just an attempt to distract everyone the other issues. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, that's just our Prime Minister pulling the strings.

Political Distractions

So our lazy, good for nothing Members of Parliment are back at work after our Prime Minister arranged a nice Winter holiday for them back in December. So let us see, what pressing matters are on the agenda? I know! Let's change the Canadian national anthem to be more gender neutral! Politicians are really good at distracting people with stupid junk. Do they take courses for that or is it a natural talent?