4 million cams, crime still rises
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: June 25, 2009 4:13 PM
Editor:
Two bills that would seriously impinge on the privacy of Canadians have recently been introduced.
The bills – entitled the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century act and the Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement act – would allow the government to collect information from Internet users without their knowledge, and would force Internet service providers to install monitoring equipment on their servers.
Any legislation that would give the government sweeping powers such as this is a gross violation of our civil liberties and our privacy, and should never be allowed to pass.
Needless to say, things are already bad enough. We have tracker chips in our ‘enhanced’ drivers licences – and soon to be in our passports.
We have surveillance CCTV cameras on our street corners, and transponder boxes in our cars.
It’s difficult these days to do anything without someone, somewhere knowing.
Proponents of a surveyed society claim it’s all for our safety, and these measures help reduce crime. To that I say: show me the data that supports this argument.
A British government study tells a different story. There are more than four million CCTV cameras in Britain and, what may come to a surprise to most, they had little effect on reducing crime, and in some regions crime rates actually increased.
Before we venture too far down this path, we need to remember the immortal words of Benjamin Franklin – those willing to give up essential liberty for security deserve neither and will lose both.
David Metvedt, Surrey
v2
