The Rise of Facial Scanning Surveillance

Read this today: Facial scanning surveillance becoming a reality in the U.S., new documents reveal

So, readers, having read that, are any of you even remotely concerned?  I know I am.

What scares me is that the definition of "bad guy" could get very slippery. In a way it already is.

I think the following from Skyfall is a very accurate quote:

"I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map. They're not nations, they're individuals. And look around you. Who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No! Our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque! It's in the shadows."

You could get detained because you "look like" someone. And if its false, will the authorities apologize, and what if such a detention affects your life/career?  What then? 

Yet we are almost blindly accepting these things.  That's even scarier. All this is being done in the name of "security", but ask yourself, what are we potentially giving up? I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

Why DePape Did it.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1005119--why-i-did-it-senate-page-explains-her-throne-speech-protest?bn=1#article

I can't believe the Star actually wasted ink and bandwidth printing this crap.

It just goes to show that she is rather ignorant of how the political system works.  She claims that 60% didn't vote for Harper.  Well by that rationale, more people voted against having the NDP or the Liberals as our government.  It also bears mentioning that we have three main political parties, plus many other smaller ones, which fragments the vote.  On top of that, not all registered voters voted.  It is highly unlikely in such a scenario that any one party could manage more than 40%, maybe 45% of the vote.  And just remember, when we last had majority governments under Shawinigan Handshake Chretien, he never topped out much above 40% either.  Lefties and Liberals get very upset when their side doesn't win and suddenly the system is "broken", "unfair" or whatever.  Funny, I don't remember the Conservatives making a fuss back when they got kicked to the curb in the early 90s.  They accepted the loss, and worked hard to bring their side of the fence together under one banner and making a comeback. 

Not to mention her ignorance as well of government programs.  Health care is primarily a provincial matter, and in actual fact, health transfers from the federal government have gone up since the time of Paul Martin.  And the spending of such money falls in the provincial sphere, an area that Harper has no control over.  So she's misleading on this point. But why? Because she doesn't know or she's been mislead by others or deliberately providing misinformation?

And she showed her ignorance again using the "Arab Spring" as some kind rallying cry... these are countries that have NEVER had a democratic government and have had to fight for their right.  Not to mention the fact that their protests became quite violent as well.

And yes, our system isn't perfect, yet Ms. DePape seems to think it is... but I remember what Churchill said... "Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Big Election Night!

"Ignatieff and Duceppe are a couple of mindless jerks who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!"

- from my FB status today

The revolution did come and those two men were casualties of that revolution.  The NDP swept across Quebec decimating the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois,  and Mr. Duceppe has stepped down has party leader.  Ignatieff's future is unclear, but it is doubtful he will be Liberal leader for long.  The Blue Tide swept into Toronto an many other parts of Canada as well, giving us our first majority in many years.  And thanks to Douglas Adams for the inspiration for that quote... ;)

Yesterday saw yet another Canadian election (we have had several in the last few years due to minority governments), but this one had a twist.  A mandate was finally delivered, and we had a major shift in political fortunes.  Stephen Harper and his Conservatives received their long sought after majority, and in a more shocking turn, the Liberal Party was decimated to third place, being overtaken by the NDP, who now hold almost three times the seats that the Liberals have, and the Bloc Quebecois are a shadow of their former selves, having lost official party status.

I am amazed this morning by the amount of sour grapes I have seen among friends on Facebook.  Many are acting like the world is ending, which is prompting me to write this blog entry.  

Lets face facts, those who voted yesterday gave a mandate to Harper and rejected the Liberals in a big way.  I've seen a lot of posts today that lament the fact that Harper has issues with democracy.  Perhaps he has played fast and loose with it, but he certainly isn't the first.  Jean Chretien prorogued parliament more than Harper, and had MAJORITIES at the same time.  Even Trudeau The-Not-So-Great played fast and loose - three words WAR MEASURES ACT!  Not to mention to scandals that still resonate with voters (especially in Quebec, which many pundits feel helped fuel the NDP's Orange Tide) today.  An in my opinion, Ignatieff did not connect with voters.  When I see him, I always get the distinct feeling he is talking down to me, that I am somehow inferior.  The fact that he has been absent from Canada and got parachuted into the Liberal leadership via backroom deals also says a lot.  And people are saying Harper has problems with democracy?  Give me a break!

And if people are so concerned about democracy, then why did they vote for the seemingly devilish Harper?  We did only get about 60% of voters turning out, so that still says something about voter apathy.  Talk to people who didn't vote and find out why they didn't.  Talk to those who voted and find out why they did.  In my case, I voted Conservative.  Ignatieff didn't do it for me, and I'm not a left of center of guy, and I've been pretty happy with Harper since he came to power.

Other concerns raised were about the public sector and possible cuts, even to the CBC.  To be honest, it might be something we have to look at.  Canada's population is rapidly aging and the costs for pensions, health care and other services related to that are only going to increase in time.  Where are we going to find the money?  Taxation is a problem as Canadians are already taxed to the hilt, paying 40% on average.  Some say "Tax the rich and corporations!!!"  That is all well and good, but you can only tax higher income earners only so much.  The fact is that those people and companies have the resources with which to relocate somewhere else, and will if pushed to it.  Lets be honest, companies exist to make money, and if they can make more somewhere else, they will go there.

I for one am happy we will have a stable government for the next 4-5 years, without the threat of another election. Since the year 2000, we have had five general elections and three in the last 5 years.  It pleases me that we won't be spending another $300 million on an election until around 2015 or 2016.  Mr. Ignattieff showed immense hubris in pushing for this election and both he and Mr. Duceppe have paid for their lack of vision.

It will be interesting to see how the new dynamic in Canadian politics will play out over the next few years...

To those who are lamenting the results, I say:

Build a bridge and get over it!