Liberties group condemns Olympics ‘jail’ law
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- The IOC Almighty is stomping, or wants to stomp, people who dare to publish Olympics news or images without its permission.
Now, further news reveals British Columbia, p2pnet’s home province an the location of the forthcoming Winter Olympics, has also decided censorship is the way to go.
“A proposed B.C. law would allow municipal officials to enter homes to seize unauthorized and possibly anti-Olympic signs on short notice,” according to the CBC.
Raids on people’s home in search of ‘anti-Olympic signs’?
It looks like a very sick joke, but it isn’t
“Violators could be fined up to $10,000 a day and jailed up to six months, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Friday,” says the story, going on »»»
The proposed law was introduced Thursday as a bill to amend the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act.
The government said in a statement that the changes will “provide the municipalities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler with temporary enforcement powers to enable them to swiftly remove illegal signs and graffiti during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
“The legislation does not change the existing scope of authority to regulate signs and graffiti. Rather, it provides, on a temporary basis, a faster way of removing signs and graffiti that violate municipal bylaws during the short period the Games are underway.”
Bill Bennett, the minister of community and rural development, said that given the short duration of the Olympics, the cities of Richmond, Whistler, and Vancouver must be able to enforce their own bylaws quickly.
“That to me seems like a reasonable thing to do when you’ve got the Olympic games lasting 20-odd days,” Bennett said.
People, “will be risking $10,000-a-day fines and six months in jail just to criticize the Olympics,” the CBC has the BCCLA’s Robert Holmes stating.
Moreover,”legal experts” warn the definition of an unapproved sign is open to interpretation and The BC Civil Liberties Association says the vague wording might be used against anti-Olympic signs or promotions for anti-Olympic events or material, the story says.
In a statement, the association condemns BC government Bill 13 proposals to allow Richmond, Whistler and Vancouver to, “enter residences and other private property with only 24 hours notice to remove or cover up signs during the Olympic period,” continuing »»»
The amendments to the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (No. 3) introduced in the legislature apply only to the three Olympic cities over February and March 2010. Another amendment changes the Vancouver Charter to permit fines for sign and bylaw violations of up to $10,000 per day and imprisonment for up to 6 months. Previously, people had 14 days to comply with the bylaw, and fines were $2,000 per day.
“It used to be that a person’s home was his castle, but now the local governments want to storm the citadel of every castle to take down signs they regard as offensive to their Olympic plans,” said Robert Holmes, President of the BCCLA. “Telling people who exercise free speech that local authorities may barge in, rip down signs inside your property, fine you or throw you in jail will underscore the growing impression that our governments care more about their own camera appearances at Olympic events than about people’s rights.”
The provincial law is at first reading and has not yet passed. If the law passes, municipalities would need to enact their own bylaws to take advantage of the new powers granted.
“If Vancouver acts on this provision, people will be risking $10,000 a day fines and 6 months in jail just to criticize the Olympics,” said Holmes, says, declaring, “6 months in jail is usually reserved for criminals who have a record of several convictions for breaking and entering, but now it’s government that wants to break in.”
Stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
stomping – Olympics bosses: No pix, no words, unless we say, October 12, 2009
CBC – Anti-Olympic signs could mean jail: rights group, October 9, 2009
statement – BCCLA condemns unlucky B.C. Government Bill 13, October 9, 2009
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TheLapr 12Oct09
A couple weeks ago I started working at a computer factory making silicon chips. It’s kind of a cool job because I work in a lab in a bio level three suit. The reason for this is to keep contaminants down to a minimum. Because my head is totally enclosed I’m able to listen to music while working without anyone knowing. I recently got together with one of my co-workers and we shared some free music downloads. One of the things I really like about my job is I start at five in the morning and I get off at one in the afternoon Monday through Friday.