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Yes, Vic, I’m with the child pornographers

Bill C-30 poses a greater risk to our privacy

By Caitlin Van Den Brink
Contributor

pparently, I support child
A pesoeptsa maybe
you do, too.

It’s okay if you weren’t actually
aware of this fact, because I wasn’t
either until just a few days ago,
when Public Safety Minister Vic
Toews proclaimed that Canadians
“can either stand with [the House
of Commons] or with the child
pornographers” if they oppose Bill
C-30, the Protecting Children From
Internet Predators Act.

Personally, I think that’s a bit
ridiculous, to say the least. After all,
last time I checked, I don’t support
child pornographers in any way,
shape, or form.

I would, however, like to be
able to use the Internet freely
without the thought that the police
can obtain a plethora of information
about my identity without my
knowledge, and without any need
to explain why they’re interested
in it. If a police officer thinks that
your online information might help
an investigation, or if it’s suspected
that you might have some sort of
affiliation with a suspect, then bam!
Internet Service Providers have to
give up the requested information.

Not only that, but these
companies, by law, will have
to store massive amounts of
information about their clients if at
any point, an officer decides that

the information could be useful.

The Tories claim that they’re
just making a 21st century version
of the White Pages—information
that police would obtain through
this act are things that they once
had easy access to via phonebooks
20 years ago.

While the White Pages might
list my mailing address and my
name, they don’t list every screen
name | have ever had, my IP
address, my email address and
my cell phone number. Nor do the
White Pages allow readers to check

= i

who I’m texting and emailing,
and, via GPS, see everywhere my
car and my cell phone go (and me
along with them).

The fact of the matter is that
this kind of power—to be able
to look into people’s personal
information without any need for
an explanation and without any
need for consent—is just asking for
abuse. It’s like giving a 10-year-old
a thousand dollars and telling him
to only use it responsibly. Even if
nothing happens (or if we don’t
hear about it happening), there will

 

always be that doubt.

I’m not sure about you, but I
don’t really want to have to worry
every night about whether or not
my personal information is secure.
There’s a reason I don’t have my
phone number on Facebook, and
there’s a reason why people on the
Internet have screen names.

If that means that I have to
say that I—in the government’s
eyes, at least—support child
pornographers, then I guess I do.

 

Leave the j jerseys to the players

 

By David Hollinshead, Staff Writer

that men don’t face the same
challenges that women do when
it comes to fashion. When I wake
up in the morning, it feels like a
bit of a struggle to figure out what
I’m going to wear. The “just woke

| t’s acommon misconception

than one occasion to just throw

on one of my jerseys over an ugly
shirt. But know this: jerseys, like
wedding dresses, should only be
worn on special occasions. The
purpose of a jersey is to show your
support for a team and to alert
other sports fans whose house
they’re in.

“,..jerseys, like wedding dresses, should only be worn on special occasions.’

up” look is pretty popular among
males, but it can’t look like you’re
trying too hard. It’s a difficult
and delicate process. So you'll
understand why I hate it when I see
guys out in public wearing only a
jersey and jeans—even though the
season ended two months ago.
After being a male for 20 years,
and an avid sports fan for equally
as long, I’ve been tempted on more

The most acceptable time to
wear a jersey is to an actual game
or when you’re going somewhere
to watch it. Other occasions where
it’s okay to wear your jersey are:
if there’s a game later that day,
the day after your team had a
memorable victory, the league’s
entry draft, or during the week
after your team has won the league
championship. What these all have

in common is that they all take
place during the league’s actual
season.

No one should be wearing
a hockey jersey in the summer
when it’s football season, and no
one should be wearing a football
jersey in mid-March. Once your
team’s season ends, so ends your
window of opportunity to wear a
jersey to support them. Anything
beyond that just seems ignorant, as
any actual fan of the sport should
know when the time has passed for
support. You don’t need to support
their offseason.

Wearing jerseys every day is
tacky, lazy, and it also makes you
look like a try hard—pretending
that it makes you look more athletic
than you clearly are. If you can
afford seven jerseys for each day of
the week, then you can afford some
new clothes to make yourself look
presentable.

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