Loss of Privacy

With new regulations and longer lines to wait in, celebrities can still get that special treatment. Halle Berry and her boyfriend were whisked to the front of the security line after they asked to move ahead because they had a baby with them.

“The (boyfriend) of Ms. Berry asked if they could go faster through the line because they were late and they had the baby,” said Insp. Jimmy Cacchione, who heads the 36-member unit that patrols the Montreal airport.

So what? Lots of people were probably just as late, even later than Ms. Berry, yet you didn’t see them being put at the front of the line.

An embarrassed Montreal police force issued a directive to its officers Friday, urging them to avoid a repeat of the episode.

The officer involved will not be reprimanded and the police airport unit will institute stricter rules for the future, Cacchione added.

Of course he won’t be reprimanded. The police at the airport will simply tell its officers to be more discreet when dealing with celebrities.

This story was only made known because a journalist witnessed it. The journalist also states that she was in line as well, had to wait like everyone else and barely made her flight. While it is common for airlines to pull people to the front of the line who may miss their flights, they certainly didn’t do it this time. If they had, then the journalist would have noted it.

The majority of commentator on this story claim that it’s not a big deal because Halle Berry isn’t a terrorist. How do they know? Is it because she’s a movie star? Movie stars can’t be terrorists? I also have a zero chance of being a terrorist. Does that mean that I can go to the front of the line? No, I’m no better than anyone else. Halle Berry is no better than you or I.

She should have waited like everyone else. If the airline called her flight and said that people from that flight can go to the front, then that’s fine. If the airline did not do this, and there is no indication that they were going to, then she should wait with everyone else. If she misses her flight, then she needs to prepare by arriving at the airport earlier, just like everyone else, or she has to actually deal with what happens when you miss your flight.

If we didn’t have two Americas, then the rich would see what life is really like and we might actually get real reforms and real security. Until that happens, look forward to spending a lot of time in lines while famous and/or rich people walk by and ignore you.

Some of the people speaking in this video by Michael Geist are science fiction author Karl Schroeder, Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, Wide Mouth Mason drummer Safwan Javed, Lulu.com’s Bob Young, and Nettwerk music exec Terry McBride. Canadians have only three more weeks to speak up on the issue of copyright.

Security plans for the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver now include free speech zones similar to those used in Beijing, the DNC and the RNC.

The head of security for the 2010 Games, RCMP assistant commissioner Bud Mercer, told Vancouver city council on Tuesday, however, that protesters will not be required to limit their activities to the areas.

“You’re free to use them, if you like, but anywhere you participate in lawful protest is legal and lawful in Canada. It doesn’t have to be in a free speech area,” said Mercer.

Why have a free speech zone if you can have free speech anywhere?  Oh that’s right, they’re scared of possible violent protests happening.  If you let people know about the free speech zones, most people will go there so they can be corralled easier.

Students have also been banned [pdf] from hanging any kind of poster from their dorm or residence windows, particularly during the torch run, and the police have the ability to enter any residence to remove posters, leaflets, etc. at any time to do so.

So far, the olympics have brought Vancouver additional police power to target homeless for forced relocation because we can’t have homeless people wandering around during an olympic festival.  It has allowed the introduction of CCTV cameras as a temporary measure to protect the public at large.  Don’t worry though, they will become permanent and will be used by law enforcement to continue to spy upon and intimidate Canadians and further erode what civil rights Canadians have remaining.

The Olympics are just an excuse to justify the further encroachment of the government into the homes of individual citizens.

If you’re entering the United States from Canada, you begin to be inspected roughly 45 feet before you stop and begin talking to the border guard.  Your license plate is photographed and, as you pass by those pretty yellow posts, they are scanning your car for any RFID equipped ID cards inside your car.  If you have an enhanced driver’s license, your information is being scanned without you giving permission for it.

The Customs and Border Protection computer connects with your province’s database and in less than a second – .56 to be exact – your personal information is uploaded to a screen in the booth. A second camera snaps the driver’s face.

Welcome to America, Canadians.  I hope you like it.  I suspect that, when the new laws go into effect July 1st and all Canadians need a passport to come to America, we’re going to see less of our northern friends visiting the once-friendly United States.

A post-mounted scanner screens your vehicle for radioactive material that could be used to build a “dirty bomb” – a probe so sensitive it will detect if you’ve recently had a medical test that used isotopes.

As you pull up to the booth, a computer monitor may be filling with information about you, even before the guard asks, “Where are you coming from? What’s your citizenship? Where are you headed? Why?”

If a border lookout, arrest warrant or criminal record pops up on the guard’s screen, or if something doesn’t quite add up – maybe you’re sweating bullets on a cold day – expect to get hauled over for a secondary inspection.

The port of entry at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit – the busiest commercial land crossing in North America, through which a quarter of all Canada-U.S. trade passes – has strict controls, as does the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.

And this is just the beginning of your border check.

Border agents, packing pepper spray, collapsible batons and 9-mm automatic pistols, are the first point of contact for people and cargo alike. Sometimes their supervisors order vehicle sweeps at random. Then for 30 minutes, agents will pop every trunk, just for a look-see.

Down below the 80-year-old bridge, dozens of long-haul transport trailers are queued up to go through the same checks, and possibly pass through a giant gamma-ray screening facility that peers inside suspicious 18-wheelers.

If you happen to cross the border at North Dakota, you’ll be happy to know that unmanned drones are scanning the area for up to 15 miles.  Though the drone is not permitted in Canada, it can still see well into the country.  There will be another drone stationed near Detroit next year.

My advice to my friendly neighbors up north: stay home.  While most of us Americans are friendly, it’s not worth the hassle to be spied upon just so you can visit a foreign land.