[sthompson]

<strong>Written By:</strong> sthompson
<strong>Date:</strong> 2006-04-27 18:52:16
<a href="/article/185216803-census-security-task-force-report">Article Link</a>

Read for yourself to judge whether this addresses privacy concerns. I am at least very glad to know that Statistics Canada took concerns about privacy seriously and looked into them. <P> However, note that this doesn't address the rest of the issue, ie that Lockheed is a huge military contractor, and that the census contracts were contracted out in the first place and Canadian companies probably outcompeted for those contracts. <P> 2006 Census<br> Information Technology Security Verification Task Force<br> Final Report<br> April, 2006 <P> <a href="http://www22.statcan.ca/ccr07/ccr07_007_e.htm">http://www22.statcan.ca/ccr07/ccr07_007_e.htm</a>

[Milton]

They may talk the talk but they sure as hell don't walk the walk. I see no reason to suggest that they have any credibility considering that they are doing business with a known repeat offender who would be called a habitual offender if our corrupt political system hadn't forbade it. This repeat offender also disclosed information on US citizens that it had sworn to keep confidential and yet we are to believe that they will keep Canadian information confidential even though it goes into a black box where auditors can't tread. Did the much vaunted auditors mention the prime contractors criminal record?

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"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
(Albert Einstein)

[Stoutlimb]

If Harper really wanted to give the US our census information, would he need to involve Lockheed Martin?

If the US really wanted to get ahold of our census information against our wishes, would they really need to go through Lockheed Martin to get it?

To me, the answer to both is "I don't think so". Harper has enough power to do what he wants, one way or another. And the US is good enough at spying that they can get what they want from us, one way or another. They don't need to involve such a public company such as Lockheed Martin.

So why the uproar?

[Milton]

If what you say is valid, then why are "they" planning to take a census?

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"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
(Albert Einstein)

[sthompson]

Nowhere has Vive said anybody in Canada "wants" to "give" census information to the U.S. The issue was and MAY still be that as a company with an American parent, Lockheed Martin could potentially be asked to give information to the US government under the US PATRIOT Act, and would have to do so. The issue also was and continues to be if Lockheed might misuse any data it obtained. Statistics Canada says that these issues have been dealt with and I certainly hope so, but the problem is WE'LL never know unless it happens and then gets discovered and publicized.<br />
<br />
As to whether the U.S. government or any U.S. body within it has to go through private companies to get information on people, whether their own citizens or others, I'm sure they have several different methods of obtaining information-- but that IS obviously one of them or they wouldn't have written, and since used and kept, the PATRIOT Act. <br />
<br />
This has happened with other types of records already, remember, and even with census records in the U.S.<br />
<br />
As to WHY the US government might want that information, why do they want so much information on their own citizens as well as people around the world? The easy answer is that it's due to a general increase in security concerns since Sept. 11; but the controversy is whether they're going too far and invading too much privacy. There was a flap over wiretapping without notice in the U.S. recently for example, which was authorized by the Oval Office but has since been strongly questioned.<br />
<br />
However, as we continue to note, privacy is the only part of the issue that Statistics Canada has been at all willing to address but this issue goes beyond privacy. See the census issue info provided at: <a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/staticpages/index.php/20060423184107361">http://www.vivelecanada.ca/staticpages/index.php/20060423184107361</a><br />
<p>---<br>"When I told him about class warfare, he asked if we did it in JellO."--translation/paraphrase, The Candidate, CBC<br />