Category: Surveillance State

The New Police State

Freespeechers It's Probably Nothing nannystate Surveillance State 52 Comments

Not only can the Scottish police now charge you with “hate speech” on a wide variety of topics, but they can do so based on criteria that drops any  and all pretense of objectivity. It seems that for Scots the best way to avoid prison would be to tape their mouths shut and abandon social media.

Asked whether “misgendering” someone or making a comment about their religion would be a crime the minister replied: “This will be up to Police Scotland. I wouldn’t say misgendering if you say something on social media for example it would be up to Police Scotland to determine.”

Rest assured, however, the police will move heaven and earth to investigate such “high level” crimes:

Just last month the national force said it was no longer able to investigate every “low level” crime, including some cases of theft and criminal damage.

It has, however, pledged to investigate every hate crime complaint it receives.

I Want A New Country

nannystate Surveillance State 44 Comments

RCMP- Saskatchewan RCMP begin Mandatory Alcohol Screenings (MAS) on routine traffic stops

In 2018, the MAS became part of the Criminal Code Section 320.27(2), being a lawful demand of a breath sample from any driver of a motor vehicle, without the need for reasonable suspicion. Drivers will not be pulled over for the sole purpose of completing a MAS – the MAS will only be requested once a driver is pulled over for other various traffic violations (i.e. speeding, careless driving, brake lights not working, etc.).

Your Criminal Future

It's Probably Nothing nannystate Surveillance State 21 Comments

The notion of prior restraint, or the idea that a person can be sanctioned today for a crime that he has not yet committed, but might commit in the future, just got a whole new lease on life in Canada. This idea gained traction during the pandemic when people were forced to quarantine despite the absence of any evidence that they were carrying Covid, so it’s not surprising to see some innovative totalitarians finding new uses for evil ideas.

Justice Minister Arif Virani has defended a new power in the online harms bill to impose house arrest on someone who is feared to commit a hate crime in the future – even if they have not yet done so already.

The person could be made to wear an electronic tag, if the attorney-general requests it, or ordered by a judge to remain at home, the bill says.

The Libranos: ArriveScam

Basic Dictatorship Let Them Eat Taser Surveillance State The Libranos 6 Comments

Follow the science.

It seems the reason ArriveCan ended on Sep 30, 2022 had nothing to do with science, nor safety. It had to do with a time-limited *privacy impact exemption* that the Treasury Board/ Privacy Commissioner granted to Public Health Agency of Canada back on May 4, 2021.

Why would an App that collects data about folks’ names, addresses, cell, email, jab status, etc.- developed by a mysterious group of expensive consultants- need an exemption to a Privacy Impact Assessment? Why didn’t it want typical oversight? How & with whom was it sharing info?

Here is a link to the full ATIP, where the Treasury Board/Information Commissioner granted PHAC a time-limited Privacy Impact Assessment waiver… ending on, yup, *Sep 30, 2022*.

Once PHAC would have to account for privacy issues, it abandoned the app.

And more: Corruption, Cover-Ups, and the Battle for Accountability

He Admires Their Basic Dictatorship

Basic Dictatorship Surveillance State 17 Comments

CBC;

Spyware normally associated with the intelligence world is being used by 13 federal departments and agencies, according to contracts obtained under access to information legislation and shared with Radio-Canada.

Radio-Canada has also learned those departments’ use of the spyware did not undergo a privacy impact assessment as required by federal government directive.

The tools in question can be used to recover and analyze data found on computers, tablets and mobile phones, including information that has been encrypted and password-protected. This can include text messages, contacts, photos and travel history.

Certain software can also be used to access a user’s cloud-based data, reveal their internet search history, deleted content and social media activity.

Prosecution for nothing

Great Healing Forward Let Them Eat Taser Surveillance State 23 Comments

Canadian taxpayers ought to be livid that crown attorneys have wasted this much time on a trial that is clearly going nowhere.

An Ottawa police liaison officer testifying in the trial of Chris Barber and Tamara Lich agreed on Wednesday that none of the protesters he communicated with indicated they were participating in the “Freedom Convoy” because they were influenced by the high-profile organizers.

…he told the court there were multiple groups and factions attending the demonstrations.

Blonde said he believes that not all protesters had the same “wishes or desires,” but that they had the same “general reasoning” for demonstrating.

The Crown is seeking to prove that Lich and Barber exerted influence over protesters’ actions.

 

Cashing out

DigitalCurrency Surveillance State 38 Comments

With all the talk of a cashless society afoot, it’s worth exploring what the consequences might be. In short, nothing good can come of this.

Now, let’s say that cash has been eliminated by some legal means and that you have angered the powers that be for some reason—probably for opposing them and asking others to oppose them too. All the banks must do is to freeze your bank account or eliminate it entirely. There are two examples of this very thing happening in the recent past.

First, the government of Canada froze the bank accounts of all those participating in the Canadian truckers’ general strike plus those who helped them. Second, British politician Nigel Farage had his accounts closed for political reasons and found that no other British bank would serve him. Without the means to use money, Farage came very close to emigrating. Just think about that for a moment. You could not fuel your car, buy groceries, pay your rent, or do a hundred other things without access to a bank account.

 

Nothingburger trials

Cronies Mischief Is Important More Money Than Brains Surveillance State 44 Comments

It’s not actually the case that bail violation charges against Tamara Lich were dropped, but rather that they were stayed, so that the prosecution could “focus” on the current trial. For a charge of mischief, it’s seems that Lich and Barber were charged based on the hope that enough evidence to convict them would magically appear afterward. So far, the fishing expedition seems to be reeling in very little.

The trial was originally scheduled to be finished on Oct. 13 but it has been stalled by delays related to the disclosure of evidence and legal arguments about the admissibility of testimony and social media posts.

The Crown is expected to call more witnesses before it completes its case. Justice Heather Perkins-McVey has said she expects the legal arguments in the case will be lengthy and complex.

The lawyers have struggled to set time to continue the trial because of conflicting schedules and scarce court time.

Prosecutorial mischief

Media Surveillance State There Goes The Narrative Vast Right Wing Conspiracy 27 Comments

Generally speaking, a witness is called in a trial when they actually saw a defendant committing a particular crime. If Tamara Lich and Chris Barber had painted graffiti on a water tower, what’s going on in an Ottawa courtroom right now is more like a parade of testimony from people who saw the graffiti and were upset by it but did not see who actually painted it.

One would expect that if a charge of mischief was going to stick, the trial should have been over and done with by now. Who knew that “overwhelming” someone is now a crime…

Vivian Leir, an employee at St. Andrew’s Presybyterian Church near the intersection of Wellington and Kent streets, told court she was “overwhelmed with trucks parked all around our church”

She testified demonstrators urinated and defecated on church property, dressed up a statue of Jesus and left “garbage everywhere.”

During her cross-examination, defence lawyers clarified she never saw anyone defecating on the property herself, but that the church’s groundskeeper told her about locating human feces. They also showed video recorded during the convoy showing the street adjacent to the church being relatively quiet, with hardly any horns heard in the background.

 

Whatsisname’s Britain

Climate Cult Mischief Is Important Surveillance State 17 Comments

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and Big Brother gets a few pokes in the eye;

At least 510 Ulez cameras were stolen or vandalised between 1 April and the end of August this year, figures from the Metropolitan Police show.

The force is dedicating a “significant amount” of resources to tackling Ulez camera-related crime, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said.

Two arrests have been made so far, with one person charged and released on bail and the other case discontinued. Sir Mark told LBC there were “other investigations ongoing”.

The ultra-low emission charging zone was expanded on 29 August to include outer London, with cameras installed to enforce it.

Drivers must pay a charge of £12.50 per day to drive a non-compliant vehicle anywhere in the zone under the controversial clean-air plan.

The Met commissioner said of the figures: “Clearly this is quite serious damage it adds up to in terms of property and that is the basis [on which] we judge it.

“So it is getting, I guess, a significant amount of policing resources.”

Athletes for Totalitarianism!

CFL nannystate Surveillance State 48 Comments

It’s hard to say. Maybe he missed the football once or twice and kicked himself in the head. Even if he didn’t, he ought to be aware that one of the few things putting a barrier between this country and a dictatorship is the free exchange of ideas over the internet. Take down that barrier and we’re essentially done like dinner.

Let That Sink In

CreepyJoeBiden Freespeechers Social Disease Surveillance State 13 Comments

National Review;

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Biden administration likely violated the First Amendment by pressuring social-media platforms to censor posts about Covid-19 and elections.

The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling says that the White House likely “coerced the platforms to make their moderation decisions by way of intimidating messages and threats of adverse consequences.” The panel of three judges found that the administration “significantly encouraged the platforms’ decisions by commandeering their decision-making processes, both in violation of the First Amendment.”

A lower court previously placed restrictions on the Biden administration’s communications with social-media platforms; those restrictions applied to a number of government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, Homeland Security, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

After temporarily blocking the order, the Fifth Circuit judges have now modified the order to apply only to the White House, the surgeon general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the FBI.

More here.

Plus, a blow by blow from Tracy Beanz: I want to stop for a second (again) and go over how monumental this actually is. This is the first time ever that a normal “user” or American has submitted evidence of social media censorship and had their concerns ADDRESSED at all by a COURT OF LAW.

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