DancingSamurai.ca

Well, I’m taking a bit of a break from catching up on the mounds of paperwork from my practice. My son is busily banging his toys on the floor beside me… for the moment managing to forget his erupting teeth (thankfully!!).

I’m going to have to lower the mattress in his crib – he’s making attempts to pull himself upright even as I speak, and although not yet successful, it’s only a matter of time… bless his adventurous little heart!!

Anyway, here are a couple of updates from the web:

• Via BoingBoing: A hilarious chart illustrating one of the problems with the movie industry – the product you pay for is far inferior to the product you can get for free. Obviously, people want the better product, even if it is illegal:
• School in the states gives their students laptops, but doesn’t tell them that they can turn the webcams on at any time. Even when said laptop is at home. In their bedroom. 1984, anyone? (But they only use this feature if the laptop has been stolen. Honest!)
• BoingBoing has a page for ‘Games to Get‘ – a list of their recommended games. Most are small, indie titles that are quite interesting, that you would otherwise never hear about. Check it out!
• CHIP and PIN – used in Europe for a while and being pushed in North America – is totally flawed (at least, the European implementation). What good is relying on the PIN & chip on the card for verification when you can trick the device into thinking it’s checked everything without actually checking? (via Schneier and BoingBoing)

And that’s about all for now… OK, back to work!!

This is a great list of events & articles showing the Conservative’s anti-democratic moves. A very small excerpt:

CONTEMPT FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
Ottawa moves to block detainee-transfer hearings [2008]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/article722656.ece

Redactions hamper Afghan detainee probe [2009]
Unreadable documents make meaningful inquiry ‘almost impossible’ and reflect government efforts to keep record a secret
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/redactions-hamper-afghan-detainee-probe/article1383375/

Ottawa won’t release Afghan documents
Harper government says it will not comply with Opposition motion passed by Parliament, setting stage for legal battle
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/737634–ottawa-won-t-release-afghan-documents

Tories to ignore vote on releasing prisoner reports
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091211/afghanistan_motion_091211/20091211?hub=TopStoriesV2

Parliament in showdown with Harper government over Afghan documents
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/091211/n1211113A.html

Tories refuse to release uncensored documents on Afghan detainees
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Tories+refuse+release+uncensored+documents+Afghan+detainees/2330193/story.html

Tories force shutdown of hearing on torture [2009]
Opposition blasts boycott as whistleblower readies rebuttal to Ottawa today
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/739427

(via Dawg’s Blog)

Via Dawg’s Blog, I heard of this episode of abuse by rent-a-cops:

Scott and Diane Robinson are livid with the Walmart store in Barrhaven and think apologies to their daughter Sydney and a friend, both 14, are in order for holding them for six hours over an unfounded shoplifting allegation.Police didn’t lay charges or even speak to the girls, according to Diane Robinson. She says once police finally arrived at the Walmart at the Barrhaven Market Place, they stayed fewer than three minutes. Diane says an officer talked briefly to store security and then to her to explain what the store was alleging. She says the officer left it at that before leaving.

An apology? How about a wrongful imprisonment suit? [Local cache of informative legal note: False Imprisonment]

Well, with increasing police powers & stories of their excesses circulating more and more in the media, being aware of the rights you do have when dealing with them is important. The Flex Your Rights video “BUSTED” (US-centric, but UK / Canadian law is similar enough that it’s worthwhile watching) has always been an excellent source for this. Now via BoingBoing, I learn that they’re putting out a new video – 10 Rules for Dealing with the Police. Not out yet – will post something again when it is released!

Might not be the best idea:

Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him. At the end of it, local police laid a felony charge of assault against a federal officer against Peter. On Wednesday, he posted bond and walked was taken across the border to Canada in shirtsleeves (he was released by Port Huron officials with his car and possessions locked in impound, into a winter storm that evening). He’s home safe. For now. But he has to go back to Michigan to face the charge brought against him.

If only the US (and Canada) did the same, we wouldn’t have jails full of people who perhaps make dumb decisions but never harmed others. And we could focus on treating addiction as the medical problem it is, instead of as a criminal one.

Via The Spectator:

A controversial new law decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of heroin, marijuana, cocaine and other illicit substances was quietly slipped on to the statute books in Mexico today.

There is more news in the Abousfian Abdelrazik case… this the Canadian who was arrested in Sudan at CSIS’ request and stranded there by a government who refused to issue him a passport for no good reason. I wrote about him in a previous post.

Well, it seems after his arrest Sudan asked Canada (paraphrased by Dr. Dawg): “You want we should take care of him, Boss?“. And the Canadian government essentially said we don’t care what you do. To a Canadian citizen. Who had done nothing wrong.

In other, related news, is the story of another visible minority being mistreated and stranded abroad. Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a Canadian, went to visit relatives in Kenya. On her trip back, a border guard – in an apparent bribery solicitation – looked at her passport and said the picture didn’t look like her. Well, she didn’t want to pay the bribe so they seized her passport and are threatening to deport her to her native Somalia. She’s tried to get help from the Canadian embassy, who refused.

Their story? She’s clearly an impostor, and not the Canadian citizen she claims to be. Never mind her 12 year old son or family back home who call her and vouch for her. They’re simply washing their hands of the matter.

What country are we living in again?

Local cache:

• Ottawa Indifferent to Sudan’s threat to kill Abdelrazik [PDF]

BoingBoing points out a couple of concerning stories from the US – In Tiburon (apparently a smally, idyllic town with a very low crime rate) officials want to photograph every car / license plate entering and leaving town, and are using the classic “if you’re innocent, what have you got to hide?” justification. (BoingBoing post)

I think there are plenty of Google Street View examples of people caught in embarrassing but legal situations, for one. Bruce Schneier actually wrote a piece on privacy and has some good replies:

Some clever answers: “If I’m not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me.” “Because the government gets to define what’s wrong, and they keep changing the definition.” “Because you might do something wrong with my information.” My problem with quips like these — as right as they are — is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It’s not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect.

Two proverbs say it best: Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? (“Who watches the watchers?”) and “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, “If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged.” Watch someone long enough, and you’ll find something to arrest — or just blackmail — with. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused: to peep, to sell to marketers and to spy on political enemies — whoever they happen to be at the time.

The other related post is a story about Baltimore was thinking plastering their buses and trains with microphones and recording all conversations of passengers and drivers. Just in case. They even asked for a legal opinion about this, and hastily withdrew the proposal when they realized the public could find out about it.

I feel echoes of the Stasi here… am I wrong? What would Orwell think?