How to keep writing as democracy crumbles
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re strong enough to keep going… the answer is a resounding yes.
Freedom of Expression
Some Toronto police still don’t get it
Back in October of 2015, a man named Mike Miller was harassed, threatened, and suffered an abrogation of his Charter rights at the hands of two thuggish Toronto police officers when he tried to make a video recording of the arrest of another man. I blogged about that incident, which was covered at the time …
Abduljalil al-Singace shortlisted for Freedom of Expression 2016 Awards
By Georgia Hussey, 21 March 2016 Blogger and human rights activist Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace has been in prison in Bahrain since 2010. He was arrested at Bahrain International Airport after returning from London, where he had been testifying to the House of Lords about Bahrain’s human rights practices. A security official stated that Al-Singace had …
Abduljalil al-Singace shortlisted for Freedom of Expression 2016 Awards Read More »
How to protect your privacy now that CISA is law
The government can know everything about you that it is possible to know, before you choose to have that information known. And because knowledge is power, that means they have significant power over you… far more than was ever given to them by any democratic means. It’s power they simply took, and that should piss you off.
Canada needs stronger data protection laws now
The recent revelation by the CBC that the personal online browsing habits of holders of the ironically-named TD Canada Trust Visa could be recorded by the bank, including Google searches, videos watched, social media activity, and nearly everything else, demonstrates that the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which is supposed to be …
Has the chill on free speech begun to lift in Canada?
Under Stephen Harper, left-leaning charities were often intimidated into silence by the CRA, harming all Canadians. Justin Trudeau seems to want to reverse that trend. In his mandate letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a laundry list of things he wants his new cabinet to accomplish. It’s worth a read, …
Has the chill on free speech begun to lift in Canada? Read More »
‘Some culprits identified’ in Bangladesh murders
From the Times of India we learn that some ‘culprits’ have been identified in the murder of five writers and free thinkers this year. This is progress, I suppose, except that it does not say the culprits have actually been arrested. I don’t claim to know anything about the situation in Bangladesh whatsoever, but I …
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The murders in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has been the scene of some horrific attacks upon free speech lately. Specifically, several bloggers and writers have been hacked to death by religious fundamentalists. In this excellent piece, newspaper publisher and fiction author K. Anis Ahmed explains how Bangladesh’s liberal values are slowly being eroded. The rest of the world cannot sit idly …
Privacy and freedom of expression
What does privacy have to do with freedom of expression? Everything, as it turns out. You can’t have one without the other.