rights
In a free society, the political and moral principle of a human right exists to subordinate the laws of society to the fundamental requirements of human life. Thus, rights inhere in the people that constitute a state – they are not granted to a people by the government. In fact, for a government to be of any use to those living under its terms, its first order of business must be to forbid the initiation of force against one’s fellow citizens; meaning others must not use or threaten to use force to take away your life, your freedom to act, or your means of sustaining your life. In other words, live and let live. Any state that initiates force against its own citizens suffers from a terminal corruption – like a cancer or an immune system gone rogue, such a state attacks the very living cells it is supposed to protect. What are we to make, then, of the new-found enthusiasm of governments in the west to surveil us, detain and beat those expressing dissent, subject travellers to increasingly invasive and indiscriminate searches, all the while hiking taxes and handing the proceeds to political cronies? To protect our freedom from ‘terror’, it seems, we must submit to an authoritarian gradualism and accept our new status as prison inmates while we watch our liberties drain away. Such a disease can only metastatize until it eventually kills its host. Such a state has come to serve its rulers rather than its citizens.
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain
72% of Guantanamo detainees given hearings found to be wrongfully detained
Tories reintroduce anti-terror act provisions that cross line, former CSIS chief warns
CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens’ rights
Supreme Court rules tainted evidence admissible in ‘minor’ Charter violations
Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners
Former MI5 chief: UK Ministers ‘using fear of terror’ to restrict civil rights
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
2010
Civilian body, SIU to probe G20 role of police | Release G20 ‘political prisoners’: rights groups |  Canada Day: 2,000 protest G20 summit arrests | Civil liberties association to sue police on behalf of G20 arrestees | Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | 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 | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | Judge Greenlights Sonic Cannons for Use on Civilian Protest, Further Court Tests Slated for Fall | Canada flunks on indigenous rights: G20 native protesters | 48% See Government Today As A Threat to Individual Rights | Australian Government to Force Use of State Firewall Package, Block ‘Unauthorized’ Programs | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Torontanamo Bay: Life inside the G20 ‘security zone’ | US supreme court: Human rights advice, nonviolent aid to banned groups tantamount to ‘terrorism’ | How will democracy fare under the G20’s new world order? | UK: Birmingham stops Muslim CCTV, license plate surveillance scheme | Supreme Court upholds restrictions on government documents | Iceland Unanimously Approves ‘Wikileaks Bill’ To Establish Free Speech Press Haven | Ontario’s First Nations to be HST exempt | UK doctors agree to waive privacy of mentally ill gun owners | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | Maher Arar loses ‘last hope’ for judicial review of rendition case in U.S. court ruling | Israeli cabinet approves internal inquiry into Gaza flotilla raid | Pentagon hunts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in bid to gag website | London G20: Jury acquits protester accused of being ringleader in clashes | Tribunals can rule on Charter claims: Supreme Court | Liberals aim to put a bullet in bill to scrap gun registry | Canada can’t deny suspected terrorists of rights on basis of UN blacklist, lawsuit claims | Accused in Toronto bomb plot not aware: lawyer | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | 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 | CIA drone killings trouble UN rights expert | Israel to deport all detained aid flotilla activists by end of day | Canada’s inhumane prison plan | 72% of Guantanamo detainees given hearings found to be wrongfully detained | UK Torture claims investigation ordered by Foreign Secretary | Pot activist Marc Emery on his way to US jail | Nicolas Sarkozy’s cabinet approves bill to ban full Islamic veil | Obama Czar Wants Mandatory Government Propaganda On Political Websites | Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has passport confiscated in Australia | Abuses at US ‘Black Jail’ in Afghanistan confirmed | Young Quebec student strip-searched, stranded in U.S. border ordeal | Storage of newborns’ blood samples raises privacy concerns | Random sobriety tests would breach constitutional rights: Bar association | Marc Emery, ‘Prince of Pot’ will be extradited | MPs divided on Canada-Colombia trade agreement | Keeping America Safe: SWAT Team Storms Family Home, Shoots Pet Dogs, Over Small Bag Of Marijuana | Media can’t shield sources all the time, court rules | Bill would strip terror suspects of U.S. citizenship | Police groups join forces in support of long gun registry | Treat Khadr as child soldier: UN envoy | UK Government cannot use secret evidence in Guantánamo torture case, court rules | Wildlife documentaries infringe animals’ privacy, says report | Tories reintroduce anti-terror act provisions that cross line, former CSIS chief warns | French government prepares total ban on full Islamic veils | Gun activists rally in U.S. capital | Abdelrazik’s bank assets frozen | School laptops took thousands of images of students: Lawyer | Ont. smoking club appeal tossed by top court | Access to information risks being ‘obliterated’: report | Niqab gets 2nd Quebec student expelled | Government Lied: Naked Body Scanners CAN Transmit Images | Internet linking rights case to go before Supreme Court | Recent mass grave of the ‘disappeared’ uncovered in Columbia | UK: Pupils forced to submit to fingerprint scans for lunch, parents not consulted | Isohunt Ordered to Remove Infringing Content | CETA worse than ACTA — EU Trade Negotiators Demand Canada Completely Overhaul Its Intellectual Property Laws | UK: Met Police launch net café spy operation | ACTA Draft: No Internet for Copyright Scofflaws | Google reroutes uncensored search to Hong Kong, raises stakes in row with China | New ACTA Leaks Complete Picture of Oppressive Global Copyright Treaty | Net produces new generation of human rights activists in China | Canadian sci-fi author, assaulted at border, convicted of ‘non-compliance’ | Ontario street racing rules upheld | Copyright conviction raises privacy concerns | Body scans eventually mandatory, TSA official says | NDP tables torture-prevention bill | Government Internet Censorship Begins In Stealth In New Zealand | ‘Security Certificate’ victim Charkaoui to sue Ottawa for $24 million | Canada ‘regrets’ Israeli settlements | George Jonas: Mr. Bumble’s gun registry | An American Detention Bill You Ought to Read More Carefully | Military trials possible for Sept. 11 terror suspects | United States weighs massive expansion of Internet monitoring | Rights & Democracy dissidents fired | Ontario closer to handing over Ipperwash park to Chippewas | Obama gives Patriot Act another year with no privacy protections | UK: Government fury as judges attack MI5, security services | CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens’ rights | CSIS Agents likely contributed to Toronto man’s torture: Inquiry | Australia to fingerprint, face-scan visitors from Muslim nations | More Details Emerging About School Laptop Spying, And It Doesn’t Look Good | School Spycams Case Explodes As Feds Initiate Probe | Poland releases details on CIA ‘black sites’ | Inuit group blasts Cannon over summit | ACTA Internet Chapter Leaks: Renegotiates WIPO, Sets 3 Strikes as Model | For many aboriginals, the truth of residential schools is irreconcilable: commissioner | Former terror suspect Hassan Almrei wants apology | Ivory Coast protesters killed | Pennsylvania schools spying on students using laptop Webcams, claims lawsuit | Google Books Fosters Intellectual, Legal Crossroads | Khadr’s lawyers dispute government decision | Ottawa reluctantly asks U.S. for assurances Khadr trial will not use evidence CSIS obtained in violation of rights | Google Bans Sale of DVD Critical Of Obama Administration | Bruce Anderson: We not only have a right to use torture. We have a duty | Feds push for tracking cell phones | ACTA Is Called An ‘Executive Agreement’ To Implement Restrictive Copyright With Less Hassle Than A Treaty | Exposed: Naked Body Scanner Images Of Film Star Printed, Circulated By Airport Staff | Elite Toronto police squad stops and questions thousands | The government has your baby’s DNA | US Interrogation Squad Doing ‘Scientific Research’ | Winter Olympics on slippery slope after Vancouver crackdown on homeless | Police want backdoor to Web users’ private data | Time Magazine Pushes Draconian Internet Licensing Plan | Winnipeg police caught on video beating man | CBC’s new licencing plan: Pay to Print, Email, and Blog, and outsource enforcement to American Copyright Digital Rights Bounty Hunters | ACTA One Step Closer To Being Done; Concerns About Transparency Ignored | Crotch bomber bill before Congress: Treat all ‘terrorism suspects’ as enemy combatants. Domestically. | Toronto Star Columnist Fiorito: The cops came and took my gun | Obama’s War for Oil in Colombia | Pie tossing is terrorism, MP says. Seriously. | UK: Airline passengers have ‘no right’ to refuse naked body scanners | UK: Photographers protest over terror search laws | Court approves raw milk co-op | Raw milk farmer vows to fight on | BATF Notice Bans Private Gun Sales In Texas | China tells web companies to obey controls | RCMP ends search — and Wiebo Ludwig opens his door | Google Considers Leaving China If China Will Not Allow Uncensored Search | UK: Anti-terror stop and search policy ruled illegal by European human rights court | Body scanners capable of storing, sending images, group says | Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder | North Korea calls for peace treaty with US | ‘Unclear’ Whether US Air Security Profiling Violates Canadian Charter: Baird | US implements travel profiling: Tougher air screening for ’security-risk’ countries
2009
Underwear Bomber Renews Calls for ‘Naked Scanners’ | Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo calls for rights, jailed 11 years for ’subversion’ | Prominent Chinese reformer on trial for subversion | Ottawa seeks secrecy in Tamil migrant case | Iran admits jailed protesters were beaten to death | Copenhagen: the sound of silence | US Buying Illinois Prison for Guantanamo Detainees | UN Goons Silence Journalist Who Questions Gore On Climategate | If Climategate Is No Big Deal, Why Are Questions About It Met With An Armed Response? | Almrei security certificate struck down | We’re no thieves — despite what Rupert Murdoch claims, says Google | Canadian crime and American punishment | Omar Khadr to face Military Commission trial in US | BC Native tribe will petition Ottawa to remove its Indian status | UK Internet surveillance plan to go ahead | Cuban blogger claims she was roughed up by state agents | Teacher rejects fingerprinting for work on religious grounds | Parliament votes ‘in principle’ to scrap gun registry, bill moves to second reading | Court upholds aboriginal fishing rights on Vancouver Island | China launches ’strike hard’ crackdown in Xinjiang | Tories move closer to killing gun registry | How we’re creating an illegal workforce | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | The Columbia Coverup | More police security cameras approved for Toronto | UBC students tutored on Olympic security rights | China executes Tibetan protesters | UK anti-terrorism strategy ’spies’ on innocent | UN body debates Gaza war crimes report | Hutterite driver’s licence photo appeal rejected | Passage of Bill C-6 Imminent, Gives Health Canada Warrantless Search and Seizure Powers | Anti-Olympic signs could net 6 months’ jail: rights group | Spy agencies now free to eavesdrop on Canadians abroad | Crown attorneys told to stop illegal juror checks | Writers call for probe into human rights commission | Military Police Kidnap G20 Protester, Shove Him Into Unmarked Car | Tory plans for U.S.-style prisons slammed in report | Report: Massive FBI database set to quadruple in size | EU Plans Massive Surveillance Panopticon That Would Monitor “Abnormal Behavior” | Merced police used TASER on unarmed, legless man in a wheelchair | Business as usual: SWAT team breaks down mayor’s door, shoots dogs, ransacks home, refuses to apologize | ‘Stunt driving’ automatic convictions ruled unconstitutional | French Government To Use Swine Flu Threat In Crack Down On Liberties | China’s crackdown for patriotism on 60th anniversary | It’s a great day for freedom of speech: ‘Hate Speech’ laws found to violate Charter Rights | CIA doctors face human experimentation claims | UK Government plans to link criminal records to ID cards | Facebook to make privacy changes, keep user data indefinitely if not deleted | Rendition still happening on Obama’s watch | Obama approves new interrogation unit | Charkaoui asks court to toss security certificate case | Greece To Enforce Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations | UK ISPs condemn Internet surveillance plans | UK: New evidence in Binyam Mohamed torture case | Social workers erred in removing child from poor parents: report | UK: Secrets of CIA ‘ghost flights’ to be revealed | Chinese dissident saved by Canada details horror | Alberta Hutterites need enhanced driver’s licence photos: top court | UK: Police given powers to enter homes and tear down anti-Olympics posters during 2012 Games | Supreme Court rules tainted evidence admissible in ‘minor’ Charter violations | CSIS ignored Khadr’s human rights: Parliamentary report | Yahoo! protects user privacy – and gets fined by Belgium | B.C. ‘public guardian’ accused of abusing senior’s rights, property seizure | Selective enforcement: Charkaoui barred from US airspace on flight from Fredericton to Montreal | Pro-rights ‘Charter 08′ Manifesto author could face prison in China | Ottawa appeals court order to repatriate Omar Khadr | Supreme Court to rule on ‘tidal-wave’ of press freedom cases | Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear Afghan detainee torture case | Top court to examine if minimum sentences apply despite charter violations | Khawaja appeals terrorism conviction | Manitoba board considers random drug tests for high school students | UK: Big Brother row as police start using camera cars to fine wayward drivers | Province of Ontario fights to keep farm workers from unionizing | Who counts as ‘human’? | UK MP George Galloway takes Canadian speaking ban to court | Rights groups press for better security oversight | Judge finds no entrapment of suspects in Toronto ‘terror’ case | Security certificate detainee requests prison over intrusions on family | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | UK: Civil servants attacked for using anti-terror laws to spy on public | UK: Government plans to keep DNA samples of innocent | Australian web censorship plan to begin trial despite house opposition | Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners | Activists ’shocked’ at Clinton stance on China rights | Canadians tortured overseas sue government | Former MI5 chief: UK Ministers ‘using fear of terror’ to restrict civil rights | UK: Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub | New law to give police access to online exchanges | Controversial US measure would require DNA sampling at arrest | After Obama praises torture ruling, civil liberties group appalled | Milk trial defence: Raw milk is safe and food choice a right | Missed vaccinations lead to suspension threat
2008
Ban-happy Ontario accused of ‘Big Brotherism’ | Australian Citizen Journalist Charged for Filming Police under Anti-Terror Law | UK: Bailiffs get power to use force on debtors | Psychiatric treatment used to ’silence’ Chinese critics | UK Big Brother police to get ‘war-time’ power to demand ID in the street | UK launches high-visibility community punishment | 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 | Tribunal shouldn’t police online hate, report says | Social services set up CCTV camera in couple’s bedroom | Bad news bearers warned to zip it by Kremlin | Beijing peasants bullied, beaten off of family farms by state-developer blocs | Canada’s free speech enemies to lay Remembrance Day wreath | Halifax thinks again about subjecting applicants to lie-detector tests | Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship | Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street, vendors say face scanning next | UK Shortly to Become Worse Surveillance Society than Stasi East Germany | Torture Tactics Endorsed in Secret White House Memos | UK Security services want personal data from sites like Facebook | Security expert: Weak accusations against Almrei, held 7 years on security certificate | National Post Editorial Board: Britain mulls a society in which privacy is banned | Big brother to track all emails, internet history and telephone calls under UK plan | Lawyers say UK Guantánamo suspect has no hope of fair trial | Italian Judge: Blogs are Illegal | India’s use of brain scans in courts dismays critics | Protesters: Police pepper-sprayed peaceful gathering | Greyhound bus passengers now subject to arbitrary luggage searches | Google Street View could care less about your privacy | Texas truant students to be tracked by GPS anklets | NYC Residents Furious over Invasive Surveillance Grid | Rounded up into torture camps: the ‘undesirables’ China doesn’t want you to see | Ezra Levant: How I beat the fatwa, and lost my freedom | Mounties pinned me down in cell and tasered me, Manitoba girl says | Mass Arrests as Beijing Prepares for Olympics | Chicago, awash in gun violence, gives Toronto advice: You need a gun ban like ours | Protestors added to database of terror suspects | Edmonton police rounded up women for ‘talent nights,’ hearing told | Fisherman, 78, faces eviction to make room for container terminal | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | Papers Please: UK cops stopping millions in streets | UK Parents Need Government Permission to Kiss Children | U.K. Develops Plan to Begin Microchipping Prisoners | Human rights body to consider Internet speech regulation | Blogger arrests hit record high | Terror Bill Passes Narrowly in Britain’s House of Commons | Canada hears of native abuse pain | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | Human rights reforms could trigger unfair proceedings | Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed for the First Time; Independent Tribunal Established | The Ontario Human Rights Commission: Hey, we want to be in the censorship business, too!
2007
Court puts security certificates in limbo
1997
Alberta Barren: The Mannings and forced sterilization in Canada
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