Canadians appear to be striving to make up for lost time in realizing the dream of George Orwell’s “1984.” The most oppressive aspect of the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, Airship One was the televisions that allowed Big Brother to watch you 24/7. Ottawa airport is now wired with hidden microphones to allow the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to continually eavesdrop on travellers’ conversations.
CBSA spokesman Chris Kealey offered a curious reassurance to passengers: “It is important to note that even though audio technology is installed, no audio is recorded at this time. It will become functional at a later date.” However, when that occurs, the technology, “will record conversations.” Officials insist that the constant monitoring will help them deal with gangs and crime. It will also produce a zone of continual monitoring and recording for citizens. In both the United States and Canada, citizens are gradually becoming desensitized to surveillance. The danger is that this will become the new normal.
The officials have committed to putting up a “privacy notice” for passengers. Please let it say “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.”
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Woody V, Back in 1987, I began to go through my own Circuit Court (County of Fairfax, VA) file and read every page. Then I began to get interested in certain other files, and began to call them up with the clerk’s office (all public files) and read them. Then I began to ask for copies, and back then it was 10 cents/page. Then for a reason and at a time, I had lunch with a lawyer I had “hired” (I put that in quotes because I paid him and thought I had hired him) and he began to rail against me. I said, “What have I done to get this kind of a tongue-lashing?” He said, “You’re going through the files! You are reading everything. Files on every lawyer, files on every case, your OWN FILE. Don’t you know that five minutes after you show up in the file room Judge Bach knows you’re there and knows what file you’re reading? Are you crazy? I’m trying to do something in this case and you’re meddling in the court house files?”
Shortly after that, I found something really shocking, a “smoking gun” in one of the files. A post-it note had been left on it from that same Judge. It said, “See me about this.” Whatever he had said when he was “seen” about “this,” no information was in the file about that. But the post-it note was there, from Judge to Clerk. The particular paper that the post-it note was attached to had already been entered in the order book, and could not be changed retroactively.
it’s not just that information on US (much of it utterly inaccurate) is all over the place; it is that when we seek information on what is being done TO US, our investigation of that question is “anything that can be used against” us.
This is the country I have lived in since 1980. I often laugh bitterly that only since September 2001 have other people begun to realize they co-inhabit this country with me. I knew I was here 20 years sooner. Didn’t do me a damn bit of good.
Thanks Lottakatz….
you are right …the average amerikan just does not know the
extent of this surveillance and orwellian methods….
lottakatz,
I think you are right on target. For being prescient, you’re going to win the prize of the week….”Be the Next POI”! By winning this coveted prize you will receive a free flight to gorgeous tropical Gitmo with your own special room!!!
What I find significant is the military/police state is moving world wide. Same actions, different country. It isn’t just the US, it’s even Canada! Who would think Canada? But look at their crackdown on the Montreal and Toronto protesters.
It does appear that a rather small group of people, likely from the military, have decided to have the military run things in many nations. They seem to be fixing elections, making the selections, using both propaganda and brutal force to put people in line.
As for local spying on US civilians check out the ACLU’s very nice graphic on the NSA’s overreach. Further, the US has at least one giant infrared space based telescope trained on earth. The two spy satellites the military just declassified and gave to NASA are light years ahead of the capability of the Hubble. I shudder to think what is trained on all of us now. The US has been wanting that “full spectrum dominance” for years and the govt. likely has it.
These are governments who clearly see their own population as the enemy to be controlled, dominated, and if they get out of line; severely punished.
These are not good societies. Human beings are capable of much better. People don’t live well in fear, suspicion and repression. We should want so much better for ourselves and each other.
Thanks Malisha…
You are right these things are common in an Orwellian Society
Geraldo on his old progam had a show proving the FBI has
bugged the Supreme Court for over 40 years….Alexander Charns
has written a book on this subject…Cloak and Gavel…and i filed
a lawsuit which i took all the way to the Supreme Court…but it seems
they were “afraid”??? to hear the case…we need a Senatorial and Congressional investigation
of this corruption…No???
Mr. Turley…can you advise me on this??
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington(CREW) and National Security Archive(NSA) filed a suit against the EOP for email and records…and the judge ordered a settlement…. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20091214/index.htm …
my case against the EOP was for emails and documents during the same time period as CREWS and NSAs suit, but the judge ruled against me….is the judiciary subject to political manipulation…see my suit on FBI wiretapping the Supreme Court… w.voinche v. FBI, 940 F.Supp. 323(DDC 1996)….no this is Amerika….
Canada is smarter than the United States. I knew a guy who had dual citizenship, Canada and the United States. He had a Canadian passport.
Mandelstams’s book? Where.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jun/10/reading-mandelstam-stalin/?pagination=false
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1213627–harper-government-backs-down-on-plans-to-eavesdrop-on-travellers-conversations?bn=1
Wonder if Canada missed the memo about looking for
“terraist” before they got on the aircraft????
Why would Canada go to that expense when they can just
buy it from us??? Probably yesterday’s action already
on WalMart shelves…
You always get down, sooner or later, to the “kiss och bajs” level. Which is where I begin laughing. I’ll let you figure out which is which.
Think what the USSR accomplished with their lack of tech.
Mandelstams’s book shows how a population can be held in terror.
Hey Malisha,
What kind of treat? Butch was one smart cat. The neighbor lady kept trying to pound him on the ass with a broom because he was peeing and pooping in her flower garden, but Butch was constantly on the lookout. He could run a lot faster than she could.
I don’t need to run for cover. I never stand near terrorists.
A sexy guy once told me how to seduce a man: “Stand near him.”
Here Butch, Here Butch, I have something for you!
Well at least the DEA got scolded for pointing weapons at 11 year old girls.
Assange is in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Attack Butch, attack. Butch is one dead cat, but he just came back to life and you’re all in big trouble.
Butch is a Predator Drone cat. You all better run for cover.
AY,
They’re not looking for anything. They’re just doing what they’re told to do.
LK,
The scammers are looking for your information so they can use it as their own…..its not what you’re doing with it….. Call it a security flaw… Or breach….