It bothers me that if an FBI agent reads this and doesn’t like what I’ve written, he or she can do a search for any of my communications the government might have “incidentally” grabbed under Section 702. Literally. Right now. Without a warrant.
Sarah St.Vincent in The Hill: Why US surveillance bothers me — and should bother you »
Within living memory, our loved ones were persecuted, hounded to suicide, imprisoned for activities that we recognize today as normal and right: being gay, smoking pot, demanding that settler governments honor their treaties with First Nations. The legitimization of these activities only took place because we had a private sphere in which to agitate for them.
Police fire pepper spray on protestors during a demonstration after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Jan. 20, 2017, in Washington. (AP/John Minchillo)
WASHINGTON — Blasting District of Columbia police for abuse, including rectal probing, four people swept up in mass arrests during Inauguration Day protests sued the District and its Metropolitan Police force Wednesday on civil rights charges.
The Russian police have arrested Tor node operator Dmitry Bogatov. They charged him with terrorism offense and the reason for this, as they claim, is the connection between his IP address and a series of posts allegedly inciting dissent and disorder.
Hackread: Russian Tor Relay Operator Facing Terrorism Charges »
Participants in National General Strike Day rally held at Washington Square Park in New York, New York on February 17, 2017. (Photo: Rainmaker/MediaPunch/IPX)
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla addresses the media during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, June 19, 2017. (AP/Ronald Zak)
Cuba defended its sovereign right to grant protection and asylum to U.S. dissidents, civil rights fighters and persecuted persons, rebuffing the demand of U.S. President Donald Trump that the Caribbean nation returns so-called U.S. “criminals” to the country as a precondition for the resumption of neighborly relations between the long-time foes.
This spring surveys suggested that young people are ambivalent towards freedom of speech. Especially so when it comes to statements that might be offensive towards religions and minorities. (Link»)
Now, similar signals are reaching us when it comes to democracy as such.
World Economic Forum:
Canada’s Senate passed the Justin Trudeau Liberals’ transgender rights bill unamended this afternoon by a vote of 67 to 11, with three abstentions.
The bill adds “gender expression” and “gender identity” to Canada’s Human Rights Code and to the Criminal Code’s hate crime section. With the Senate clearing the bill with no amendments, it requires only royal assent in the House of Commons to become law.
Critics warn that under Bill C-16, Canadians who deny gender theory could be charged with hate crimes, fined, jailed, and compelled to undergo anti-bias training.
1. Digital access and net neutrality needed
2. Censorship and surveillance: No excuse for states and private actors to breach human rights
3. Freedom of expression must be preserved by states and private sector
EDRi: UN Rapporteur demands respect for freedom of expression online »
The greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one could argue, to whom one could present grievances, on whom the pressures of power could be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless we have a tyranny without a tyrant.
