Law reminds tech founder of ‘totalitarian regime’
Tech founder Frederick Ghahramani is giving $1-million to groups fighting Canada’s controversial electronic surveillance law. The Vancouver-based tech founder says the law is bad for business and reminds him of the totalitarian regime of Iran he fled as a child.
Unprecedented powers to police and security agencies
The law passed in June gives unprecedented powers to police and intelligence agencies to gather information about any person or groups deemed a threat to national security. They in turn could share the information with government departments. It also makes it a criminal offence to communicate support for terrorism “in general.” And it gives greater powers to police to make arrests without a warrant.
‘Feels like…North Korea’
“It just feels like I’ve woken up in North Korea and our dear leader has eliminated our rights to think and speak and write and do business in private without government oversight,” said Ghahramani to Canadian Press. He said a law is extremely damaging for Canadian business because their confidential information can be easily accessed.
Prime ministers, Supreme Court Justices urge oversight
Law C-51 has been called unconstitutional and is being challenged in the courts. It is opposed by groups representing journalists, human rights advocates, and other prominent Canadians. Four former prime ministers, five former justices of the Supreme Court, two former privacy commissioners and others have warned of potential human rights abuses and have called for stronger oversight of security forces implementing the law.
‘Oh no, no one’s talking about this’
The current federal election campaign is partly what prompted Ghahramani to act. “Two weeks ago I woke up and I realized, ‘Oh no, no one’s talking about this.’ It’s a very abstract concept. And if everybody knew that their cell phone, their laptop, their iPad was being bugged, there’d be a lot more outrage,” he told the public broadcaster, CBC.
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