prohibitions
The proper function of a government in a just republic is to protect the rights of citizens, to free them from interference by ignorant or hostile parties. But in states adopting an authoritarian model, these rights are no longer seen as a necessity for individuals in a society. Instead, the conception of rights Thomas Hobbes outlined in Leviathan is adopted – rights are granted by the state, and since a right is really just on loan from the state these privileges may be revoked arbitrarily. Slap enough prohibitions on the public, and you’ve created a ‘nanny state’ in which the public’s right to make its own choices is eroded and specific rules and regulations overgrow the whole of society. In case you think it can’t happen here, witness the fact that in recent months, your right to express dissent, use the internet anonymously, pilot a boat, own a gun, purchase local (unprocessed) food products, talk on your cellphone in a car and take pictures of police officers have all come under threat, either by outright ban or cumulative restrictions.
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
Obama Can Shut Down Internet For 4 Months Under New Emergency Powers
Federal product safety seizure bill C6 back from the dead
Official ACTA Draft Released, Only Very Slightly Less Awful Than Expected
Toronto police seize 400 guns in ’safety push’
Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives
Ban-happy Ontario accused of ‘Big Brotherism’
Turning Toronto into a nanny state
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
2010
States Must Honor Gun Rights, U.S. High Court Says | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | ACTA Leak: EU pushes for criminalizing non-commercial usages | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | Obama Can Shut Down Internet For 4 Months Under New Emergency Powers | Police stop car containing ‘weapons’ near G20 summit | Israel Vows To Tighten Gaza Blockade — Media Reports Blockade Eased | Australian Government to Force Use of State Firewall Package, Block ‘Unauthorized’ Programs | Torontanamo Bay: Life inside the G20 ‘security zone’ | Heritage Minister tars those opposing copyright bill C32 as ‘radical extremists’ | US supreme court: Human rights advice, nonviolent aid to banned groups tantamount to ‘terrorism’ | US Senator: China Can Shut Down The Internet, Why Can’t We? | G20 traffic fence can be closed at ‘a moment’s notice,’ police say | Supreme Court upholds restrictions on government documents | Israel to allow limited imports to Gaza, economic siege to remain in place | Russian police seize 100,000 anti-Vladimir Putin books | Iceland Unanimously Approves ‘Wikileaks Bill’ To Establish Free Speech Press Haven | Internet ‘kill switch’ proposed for US President | Gaza flotilla attack: activist releases new footage | Pentagon hunts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in bid to gag website | UN Security Council imposes fourth round of sanctions on Iran | Federal product safety seizure bill C6 back from the dead | Liberals aim to put a bullet in bill to scrap gun registry | Egypt says Gaza blockade has failed, border crossing opened in wake of aid flotilla assault to stay | Construction begins on Toronto G20 security barrier | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | Israel’s seizure of Gaza aid boat Rachel Corrie sparks further condemnation | US Federal Trade Commission considers taxing online speech | Police And Courts Regularly Abusing Wiretapping Laws To Arrest People For Filming Cops Misbehaving In Public Places | Anti-gun registry bill hits snag as committee votes not to proceed | Tories unveil tougher copyright bill, requires ISPs to keep user info | Israel to deport all detained aid flotilla activists by end of day | Michigan Considers Law to License Journalists for ‘Moral Character’ | California considering cannabis leglization | Israeli navy prepares for action as activists’ flotilla nears Gaza | Pot activist Marc Emery on his way to US jail | Nicolas Sarkozy’s cabinet approves bill to ban full Islamic veil | Germany bans naked short-selling | Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has passport confiscated in Australia | Random sobriety tests would breach constitutional rights: Bar association | Marc Emery, ‘Prince of Pot’ will be extradited | Canadian Journalists Barred From Gitmo | Press For Truth Arrested While Reporting On The G20 Summit | Police groups join forces in support of long gun registry | Fox News Caught Aggregating Others Copyrighted Photographs… Something Murdoch Insists Is Illegal | Tories revive mandatory sentences for drug crimes | Report: U.S. attempting global censorship of GMO food labeling at CODEX Conference | Police chief supports marijuana decriminalization | Official ACTA Draft Released, Only Very Slightly Less Awful Than Expected | George Galloway: leaked papers reveal Canada’s torment over banning MP | French government prepares total ban on full Islamic veils | Gun activists rally in U.S. capital | Vancouver bans smoking in parks | Abdelrazik’s bank assets frozen | Big Content’s dystopian wish-list for the US gov’t: spyware, censorship, physical searches and SWAT team | Ont. smoking club appeal tossed by top court | Thousands condemn secrecy of New Zealand round of internet copyright talks | Access to information risks being ‘obliterated’: report | Niqab gets 2nd Quebec student expelled | Nikkei Restricts Links to Its New Web Site | Newfoundland residents protest national park fees on ‘traditional’ land | Ottawa busker bylaw enforced | Nine charged after marijuana compassion club raided | Internet linking rights case to go before Supreme Court | Isohunt Ordered to Remove Infringing Content | CETA worse than ACTA — EU Trade Negotiators Demand Canada Completely Overhaul Its Intellectual Property Laws | ACTA Draft: No Internet for Copyright Scofflaws | New ACTA Leaks Complete Picture of Oppressive Global Copyright Treaty | Ontario street racing rules upheld | Planned random DUI checkpoints a violation of rights | Tories revive random roadside breath test | George Jonas: Mr. Bumble’s gun registry | Fingerprints Now Required to Shred (That Means Skateboard, Dude) | UK: Pupils aged five on hate register: Teachers must log playground taunts for Government database | North Korean worker executed for passing on news | UK: Open Wi-Fi ‘outlawed’ by Digital Economy Bill | Cryptome.org Leaks Microsoft Online Surveillance Guide, MS Demands Takedown Under Copyright Law | Italy Convicts Google Execs over Youtube Video of Downs Syndrome Boy | The ‘egg police’ crack down on local grey market eggs | China launches interview requirement, licensing for personal websites | UK photographer films his own ‘anti-terror’ arrest | Raw milk farmer to continue fight | Ont. appealing raw milk producer’s acquittal | G20 security could strangle downtown | EU Already Has A ‘Public/Private’ IP Observatory To Watch For Copyright Infringement Online | Clashes reported as Iranians march on 31st anniversary of revolution | Google shuts down music blogs without warning | Activists Shut Down Australian Government Websites in Internet Filter Protest | Obama threatens actions against Iran over nuclear program | Ottawa to appeal provincial safe injection site ruling | Stop selling unlicensed natural health remedies: pharmacy regulators | Gene Patents Under Legal Attack | Men at Work plagiarized Kookaburra tune, Australian court rules | Hollywood loses landmark copyright case in Australia | Winter Olympics on slippery slope after Vancouver crackdown on homeless | Time Magazine Pushes Draconian Internet Licensing Plan | Conservatives cracking down on criticism of Israel, NGOs warn | Hand-held cellphone bans not curbing crashes | Cellphone fines up to $500 for Ont. drivers start Monday | Canada files ‘continental’ Copenhagen emissions target with UN | ACTA One Step Closer To Being Done; Concerns About Transparency Ignored | Toronto Star Columnist Fiorito: The cops came and took my gun | Internet companies voice alarm over Italian copyright law | UK: Photographers protest over terror search laws | UK MPs frozen out of super-secret ACTA copyright talks | Court approves raw milk co-op | Raw milk farmer vows to fight on | The Toronto 18 Publication Ban: Silence affects the core of justice | BATF Notice Bans Private Gun Sales In Texas | Harkat challenge of security certificate goes to court | Obama Information Czar Calls For Banning Free Speech | George Galloway, on aid mission to Gaza, is deported from Egypt
2009
Ontario couple ordered to cap free gas well | Airport restrictions denounced as ’security theatre’ | No carry-on bags for flights to U.S., RCMP assisting with screening | Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo calls for rights, jailed 11 years for ’subversion’ | Iran admits jailed protesters were beaten to death | China Imposes New Internet Control | Death Of The Internet: Censorship Bills In UK, Australia, U.S. Aim To Block “Undesirable” Websites | Copenhagen: the sound of silence | UN Goons Silence Journalist Who Questions Gore On Climategat | Australia introduces web filters | If Climategate Is No Big Deal, Why Are Questions About It Met With An Armed Response? | UK: From snapshot to Special Branch: how my camera made me a terror suspect | Vancouver orders removal of anti-Olympic mural | US Environmental Protection Agency Threatens “Command-and-Control” Economy to Push Climate Change Agenda | Diane Francis: We need a global one-child policy | Google allows publishers to limit free content | New Leaks of Secret ACTA Copyright Law Reveal Oppressive ‘Global DMCA’ | Border guards are now Olympic thought police — Amy Goodman detained | ACTA Threatens Made-in-Canada Copyright Policy | UK University student fined £80 for dropping matchstick on Oxford pavement | Cuban blogger claims she was roughed up by state agents | Auditor General Wields Crown Copyright To Demand Takedown of Public Report | More ACTA Details Leak: It’s An Entertainment Industry Wishlist | UK: Sacked drugs adviser accuses Gordon Brown of meddling in cannabis decision | UK: Parents need license to play with children in public | UK Business Secretary sets date for blocking filesharers’ internet connections | The bait and switch: EU now to endorse internet disconnection for ‘piracy’ | Television — not in front of the children? | Passage of Bill C-6 Imminent, Gives Health Canada Warrantless Search and Seizure Powers | Anti-Olympic signs could net 6 months’ jail: rights group | Pulitzer winning anti-racism classic ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ faces censorship in Toronto schools | UK: G20 ‘Police’ Protest Troupe in Bras and Stockings Charged With Impersonating Police | Municipal cat police taking things a bit too fur | Marijuana activist Emery surrenders to court, awaits extradition | Honduras suspends civil liberties as ousted President calls for resistance | UK: Garbage spies alarm neighbourhood | G20 Police & Military Savagely Attack Peaceful Protesters In Pittsburgh Park | Iran to allow nuclear site inspection | Iran plays into Obama’s hands with disclosure of nuclear facility | UN approves nuclear ‘disarmament’ resolution | If passed, HST locked in through 2012 | Toronto police seize 400 guns in ’safety push’ | U.S. moves to adopt 6 net neutrality rules | As Olympics loom, B.C. wants to force homeless into shelters in extreme weather | Massachusets Says Forced Injections, Quarantines For Any “Rapidly Spreading Germ” | ‘Stunt driving’ automatic convictions ruled unconstitutional | China’s crackdown for patriotism on 60th anniversary | Now you need a boat license | Chamber of commerce draws fire for backing Bell, Telus on Net reseller speed limits | It’s a great day for freedom of speech: ‘Hate Speech’ laws found to violate Charter Rights | Cyber Bullying Case Officially Dismissed for Vagueness | Sri Lanka journalist gets 20 years in jail for exposing state abuse | MP Charlie Angus on copyright: industry lobby pulling for ‘dead business model’ | Security guards stop MPs, students from distributing fair use flyers at Toronto copyright townhall | Greece To Enforce Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations | Forced quarantines, vaccinations among pandemic powers provinces could employ | US House approves sweeping new food powers for FDA | Spanking vote underway in New Zealand | Handgun bans and the world of make-believe | Associated Press Tries To DRM The News | UK: Police given powers to enter homes and tear down anti-Olympics posters during 2012 Games | UK: Woman detained for filming police search launches high court challenge | New Ontario regulations forcing local butchers out of market | Don’t regulate traffic management, Internet providers argue | French Senate passes revamped ‘anti-piracy’ bill | Iranian doctor on protests: Regime covering up deaths, using foreign militants | 2010 Olympic security plans include ‘free speech’ zones | Urumqi Massacre: The repressive reality behind China’s modern mask | Abdelrazik vows to clear name from ‘unjust’ UN no-fly list | Murdoch CEO Labels Bloggers “Political Extremists” | Should linking be illegal? | Rwanda denies sterilisation plans | Cynthia McKinney Demands Immediate Release After Her Gaza-Bound Boat is Seized by Israeli Navy | US Congress Passes the 1,200-page Climate Bill that it was not allowed to read | Girl’s forced blood transfusion didn’t violate rights: top court | Top court to hear ‘Adscam’ media gag order challenge | Selective enforcement: Charkaoui barred from US airspace on flight from Fredericton to Montreal | Climate Cops To Fine “Wasteful” Homeowners & Businesses | Pirate Bay Retrial Denied | Pro-rights ‘Charter 08? Manifesto author could face prison in China | Illegal Victoria Transit bag searches reinstated under new policy for Canada Day | Harkat raid ruled illegal | France forbids protesters from wearing face masks | Violence on the streets of Tehran as police beat back protesters | Iran protests: Fifth day of unrest as regime cracks down on critics | The dawn of Internet censorship in Germany | HIV positive women in Africa sterilized, stigmatized | Ottawa defies court, refuses emergency travel documents to citizen trapped in Sudan | Sri Lanka has ‘nothing to hide’ yet detains, deports Bob Rae enroute to observe camps | Aspartame-laden diet pop kicked out of Toronto schools | Bullion and Bandits: The Improbable Rise and Fall of E-Gold | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | Vancouver pot activist Marc Emery to plead guilty to U.S. drug charge | Police pounce on 20th Tiananmen anniversary | UK: Call to make MMR jab compulsory | China begins internet ‘blackout’ ahead of Tiananmen anniversary | France Considers Mandatory Flu Vaccinations | Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives | Oppressive anti-terror laws stay despite end of Sri Lankan civil war, Canadian embassy defaced by govt supporters | Toronto council approves stringent green-roof rules | Government unveils new tobacco restrictions aimed at protecting kids | Don’t let media shield ‘criminals’, hearing told | Quebec woman gets ticket for refusing to hold handrail | Winnipeg police confiscate documentary filmmaker’s camera | Guardian reporter detained for taking picture of sea near Bilderberg conference | France passes ‘three strikes’ Internet surveillance law | Lunchtime lockdown to promote healthier eating: T.O. school plan | Canadian Parliament Threatens People For Posting Video Of Proceedings Online | Should schools ban starter’s pistol? | Fredericton police arrest well-known N.B. blogger on legislature grounds | Hands off: Cellphone driving ban approved | Credit companies seek to avoid regulation, create global debit system | Cops can now ‘take all your stuff’ | Serious offences declined before Tories: study | No vote scheduled on Tory bill to kill gun registry | Jail terms for Pirate Bay founders, appeal in works | Toronto: New bin regime spawns new rules, confusion for avid recyclers | David Attenborough becomes patron for population reduction | Parade of excuses continues as Ottawa denies citizen’s repatriation | Mother who smacked son, 8, with hairbrush is forced to give him up to social services | Manitoba board considers random drug tests for high school students | French legislators reject internet piracy bill | Police seizures of cameras prompts B.C. complaint | Should Obama Control the Internet? | Province of Ontario fights to keep farm workers from unionizing | Students given suspension notices for not getting booster shots | UK MP George Galloway takes Canadian speaking ban to court | Harper urges supporters to fight long gun registry | UK Anti-war MP banned from Canada | In Australia, censored hyperlinks could cost you | Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets | Supporters defy law, buy plane ticket for Montrealer stuck in Sudan | Australians refused insurance because of poor genes | US Terrorist watch list hits 1 million | Australian web censorship plan to begin trial despite house opposition | Time to regulate online content, cultural groups tell CRTC | UK: Calling the police to account for anti-photography law | UK: Why protesters are now stalkers: An object lesson in legal usage creep | Milk trial prosecution: Cow share contracts ‘a preferred customer list’ | Montreal may ban insults to police | Montreal in bid to unmask protesters | Watchdog alarmed by Harper’s information clampdown | Zero tolerance for squirrel-feeding | Woman swats children on plane, charged with Terrorism | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | UK-Irish travellers to face passport checks | Mass Protests in Sofia, Bulgaria, After Protest Ban | GM’s U.S. bailout deal bars strikes | Washington to be locked down for inauguration | Beijing strikes at Charter 08 dissidents | Missed vaccinations lead to suspension threat
2008
Ban-happy Ontario accused of ‘Big Brotherism’ | Ontario raises minimum price for beer | 1,900 Guns Traded for Cameras in Toronto | China restarts online crackdown | CRTC Internet regulation proposals take shape | State to bail out, control US auto industry | Has your child been CAFed? How the Government plans to record intimate information on every child in Britain | SWAT Teams raiding Amish, Food Co-ops in Rural US | Cyberbullying verdict turns rule-breakers into criminals | Raw milk producer fined $55,000 | Drug-sniffing dog plan for BC SkyTrain unconstitutional: legal critics | UK Big Brother police to get ‘war-time’ power to demand ID in the street | Toronto council approves plastic bag charge, bottle ban | Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons | London musicians expected to disclose ethnicity, 8 pages of personal information to perform | Canada backpedals on sharing ID database with U.S. | Sick babies denied treatment in DNA row | Former US congresswoman, presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney barred from boarding plane to human rights conference | Retired B.C. woman surprised to find herself on international no-fly list | Queen’s proposed thought-crime cadres prove controversial | Tribunal shouldn’t police online hate, report says | Jim Flaherty Urging Greater Federal, International Control over Canadian economy | Bad news bearers warned to zip it by Kremlin | UK Pilots threaten strike over ID card plan | Beijing peasants bullied, beaten off of family farms by state-developer blocs | UK MPs seek to censor the media | Harper ready to harmonize with U.S. on climate change | Toronto Mayor David Miller hails new taxes on water, trash | Toronto finds more new ways to make itself look ridiculous, launches propaganda zine | The GM genocide: Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops | Copyright treaty consultation process snubs public | Ottawa to revive bill restricting natural health products | Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship | Ontario limits car phone use | Court rejects Ottawa’s bid to uphold federal medical marijuana monopoly | Microsoft patents web moderator robots, forbidden phrases to be memory-holed | UN announces green ‘New Deal’ plan to rescue world economies | Ontario farmer found guilty of contempt in raw-milk trial | CRTC to consider Internet regulation, invites public comment | Secret RCMP studies of Insite ideologically biased, advocates say | Toronto councillor seeks to establish landlord licensing body | Toronto Police offer gun owners shiny new camera, home visit to disarm themselves | Ont. premier calls for Canada-wide ban on handguns | Society in the microcosm: Junk food ban leads to black market in schools | Comedian begins asking Harper question, cuffed by RCMP | Montreal man changing name to escape U.S. no-fly list | Council threatens families with a £1,000 fine… for parking on their own driveways | Raw milk fans rally at court for dairy farmer | Digital issues deserve spot in election campaign | Do Swiss parents need a childrearing licence? | Shun meat, says UN climate chief | ‘Environmental volunteers’ will be encouraged to spy on their neighbours | Greyhound bus passengers now subject to arbitrary luggage searches | Critics waging a cyber offensive to fight copyright changes | Ezra Levant: How I beat the fatwa, and lost my freedom | Law Professor tells tech conference: plans to shut down Internet already on deck | Chinese citizens dutifully file protest applications in Beijing, suffer detention | Public left out of anti-counterfeiting trade talks | Turning Toronto into a nanny state | Ontario joins continental WCI cap-and-trade scheme | Chicago, awash in gun violence, gives Toronto advice: You need a gun ban like ours | For Toronto, road tolls, fees ‘on the menu’ | Fisherman, 78, faces eviction to make room for container terminal | Financial ’super cop’ role for Fed | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | Papers Please: UK cops stopping millions in streets | B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day | Police to demand blood, urine at roadside stops | Electronic devices to self-censor, shut down at word from authorities with proposed ‘Digital Manners’ technology | UK Parents Need Government Permission to Kiss Children | In the new Canada, we are all wards of the state | All speech is free in Canada except speech we happen to hate | Senators approve anti-spanking bill | Human rights body to consider Internet speech regulation | Road tolls, a bitter pill that works | The Canadian DMCA: Check the Fine Print | Terror Bill Passes Narrowly in Britain’s House of Commons | Justice Critic Brands Street Racing Vehicle Seizure Law as “Police State-ism” | Transparency needed on ACTA | Freedom isn’t failing us – we’re unhappy because we’re no longer free | Hats banned from Yorkshire pubs over CCTV fears | MPs vote to give asylum to U.S. deserters, Tories say no | Net neutrality bill hits House of Commons | McGuinty considers banning use of cellphones while driving | Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry ‘carbon ration cards’, say MPs | Revamped copyright law targets electronic devices | Ottawa warns on gold-backed Web trades | Naturopaths Fear Proposed Bill C-51 | Farmer Surveilled, Raided for Natural Milk Operation has Trial Delayed | Big Pharma Pushing to Criminalize Supplements | Canada’s C-51 Law May Outlaw 60% Of Natural Health Products | Copyright Scholar Kicked Out Of Canadian Copyright Panel | Ontarians [now] free to hang clothes in yards | Is it time for toll roads? | Census Boycotter Willingly Faces $500 Fine, Jail Time to Protest Lockheed-Martin Stake in Census | The Post editorial board: Emery should be a free man | Canada “Prince of Pot” reaches deal on U.S. charges
2007
CEOs call for ‘aggressive’ action on climate change | Canada to launch no-fly list in June
2005
Codex Alimentarius – An Emerging Threat
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