Guest Speaker - Michael Vonn

Speaker of the day, Micheal Vonn, Policy Director of the BC Civil Liberties Assoc., was introduced by Muriel G. Topic, "Why Do I Need Privacy When I Have Nothing To Hide," was on the erosion of our privacy with ubiquitous technology & increased Gov't concern about "National Security." Canada is being tied too closely to US interests - to the detriment of our constitutional rights to personal security & civil liberty. We claim the rights to dignity, choice & autonomy, but are increasing vulnerable to loss of these because the personal information we allow various corporate & gov't entities to collect may be & is being misused. This data is collected by our services: medical, insurance, banking, credit, taxation, driving, electoral, criminal; travel, Internet connections & purchases, cell phone use, video rentals, credit card purchases, etc. This data is often sold by our commercial vendors to other companies & brokers, aggregated & re-sold! To protect our rights, we need to understand what happens to the data that is collected & stand up for privacy. We cannot rely on our gov'ts to protect us as their agendas tend to restrict rights in favour of civil security. Examples are "no fly" lists - especially Canadian airlines' use of the US list!; extraditing innocent travelers to the mercy of other countries security agencies; racial, minority & political profiling, etc. Ms. Vonn was warmly thanked by Glen Miller. Notes this week by Harreson Lovick