#TellVicEverything

Draconian Internet Bill takes pratfall in the House.

by Jody Dallaire, Dieppe Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunity between Women and Men

At first I thought that the "Harper government" (as it wants to be called, rather than "the Canadian government") was being inconsistent, had made a faux pas even, with the internet snooping bill. I mean think about it.

You will remember that, out of their concern for our privacy, the government abolished the long form Census questionnaire — and soon afterwards, the gun registry. Now Harperites propose a law giving the government great swooping powers to snoop on Canadians who use the Internet?

 

 

That's contradictory and ironic, I thought. Hadn't they thought it through? The progression isn't logical.

At second thought, I realized it isn't logical, but that's from our point of view. The Harper government is not trying to make rational sense. It has a To Do list.

This government doesn't need facts. That's why the Census long form was worse than useless to them. Nor does it need to identify a problem in order to want a solution — which is why it doesn't matter that crime has been going down for decades and Canadians say they feel safe. Willy nilly, we're getting more prisons whether we need them or not.

Nor does this government need to know whether something works to adopt it. That's why we're getting mandatory minimum sentences. Since we have more prisons, we need to populate them, right?

There is no questioning the Harper government's To Do list. But lately, people have been laughing at it. Consider what Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said, when he became irritated with how democracy works (he got questions from other Members of Parliament about the bill). He tried to cut debate short by saying people can "either stand with us on this bill or stand with child pornographers".

You know the type, guys who say, "my way or else". But usually you meet with them in a bad marriage, or a bad job, or a police state, or in a schoolyard, not in Parliament.

Evidently Harper and Toews are after more than what's on Facebook, even though I've always thought I learn and see much more than I want to when I visit people's Facebook pages. Or possibly they're mad because no one wants to be their friends on Facebook.

Upshot: the internet snooping bill was great farce as it played out across the land. First Toews renamed it Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, so that no one should even think of opposing it. (Note that the only place that the words "child" and "predator" are found is in the title.)

The online world had great fun imagining other demagogic titles for Harper laws, such as "The Protecting Kittens From Combines Act", for a bill to improve farm safety. Or the "Bill to Protect Parliamentary Glass Roof From the First Stone".

So the Harper government's To Do list is really scary — and hilarious at the same time.

Let's look at the scary part. The online snooping bill, if adopted, would be a massive invasion of privacy. The bill, as it stands, shows a government irritated with how justice works. The proposed law would allow unlimited and warrantless access to our personal online data. Your internet service provider would have to give investigators your personal information, without a warrant and without even telling you.

Vic Toews — who it soon became clear had not read the bill he was introducing in Parliament — eventually agreed to consider amendments to the bill. (There there, Mr. Toews, that does not mean you are with the child pornographers.) Meanwhile, the swooping powers of the bill as it still stands are making for great fun on the internet.

Weeks after Toews' original statement, the "#TellVicEverything" thread is still going strong on Twitter. Thousands of Canadians making sure that Vic Toews has all the information he seems to want. Or as an early contributor said, "You either #TellVicEverything or you side with the child pornographers".

Some my favorite tweets include:

• "I used soy milk on my cereal cause I was too lazy to go buy milk. Hope this helps in war on child porn #TellVicEverything."

   

• "Oops! I think I accidentally deleted an email. Can I get your copy, @ToewsVic?"

   

• "You're so vain, you probably think my email's about you…@ToewsVic"

MP Justin Trudeau tweeted: "During Question Period John Baird dropped by and I asked him to tell Vic Toews that I had to pee. He didn't know we TellVicEverything. Awkward."

Tweeting is a passive-aggressive way of dealing with a politician who showed disrespect for us and for Canadian systems. As Margaret Atwood tweeted, "At last, a chance to laugh, I mean really laugh, at Canadian politics".

The same spirit rose in the House, when Liberal MP Sean Casey of PEI asked to be provided with the list of all websites accessed on the computers, mobile phones or other devices used by Vic Toews.

We have to laugh together or surely we will cry alone. We have a government who loves to divide us. As retiring Progressive Conservative Senator Lowell Murray, said about the Harper government, "This is the first government that I have known that has intended to divide by its action and intended to turn people against each other."

© Copyright 2012 Jody Dallaire, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca