Flying Naked – Full Body Scanners Come to Canada

Canada’s federal Transportation Minister John Baird held a press conference yesterday, where he announced the installation of 44 clothing-penetrating, full body scanners at 11 Canadian airports within the next two-months.

These scanners create a three-dimensional image of a person’s naked body, allowing airport security officers to see you in your birthday suit.

Though not all passengers will be seen sans clothes. Considered an alternative to a physical search, Government officials say these devices will only be used on passengers 18-years-old and older, that security feels merit a secondary screening.

These full body scanners were already being tested in Kelowna, British Columbia, off Canada’s west-coast, and will now be in use at airports in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and in Vancouver.

At a cost of $250,000 CDN a pop, this is no small investment for the Canadian government, but since the Christmas Day attack aboard a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit, the Canadian government is following the lead of the American government and ramping up airport security.

Or is the Canadian government just doing what our American big brother wants us to do?

American authorities want Canada, and all other countries around the world, to do quite a bit to keep America safe.

Using clothing-penetrating full body scanners raises numerous privacy concerns – essentially it allows complete strangers to take and store digital images of you completely naked. Though Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart says she approved the scanners only on the condition that the security officer viewing these naked full body images be in a separate room, and never actually see the passenger being screened. She also demanded that the digital image would have to be deleted once the passenger leaves the airport.

However, there are no guarantees that the federal Privacy Commissioner’s conditions will always be followed. Once a digital image is created, it can be copied, moved and stored pretty much anywhere. Just because it is deleted off the originating machine which created it, doesn’t mean it is gone for good.

When these clothing-penetrating full body scanners were first announced in the U.S., one of the immediate concerns was naked images of celebrities “suddenly” being found online for sale on places such as eBay.

And you don’t have to be famous to end up naked on eBay – anyone could fall victim to this.

So far, this hasn’t happened, but then these devices are relatively new, just starting to make their way into American and Canadian airports.

One of the less discussed, but just as personally intrusive requests the American government is placing on all countries is the sharing of passenger information.
The American government has sent formal requests to countries which have airlines flying planes across American airspace, requesting personal passenger information -- even if those passengers will never land at an American airport.
This personal information includes full legal names, citizenship, birth date, and destination.

There hasn’t been any indication of what action – if any – American authorities would take having this information. They could advise or warn other countries and/or airlines of possible persons of interest. Or a more drastic action would be to ban specific planes from flying through American airspace if American authorities don’t like one or more of the passengers or crew. And American authorities have been vague with just how long they would keep this information, and for what purposes.

So far, Canadian and many European countries have refused to provide this information for their passengers – it’s been a year since the Americans made the request. But with increased security measures being taken worldwide because of the recent Christmas Day terror incident, the American government could begin demanding this information, restricting air travel through American airspace to airlines which comply.

This would create chaos at airports around the world, as flights were delayed or canceled completely because of the new American airspace restrictions.

And even with all these new security measures in place, we still will never be completely safe. As soon as a security measure is taken, you can almost guarantee someone, somewhere around the world is working on ways to bypass it.

The only real way to prevent terrorism is to stop it in its tracks. George W. Bush coined the phrase the “war on terror,” and that in a literal sense is what it is – a war.

Although former U.S. President Bush’s “war” was questionable – he and his team falsified documents to justify attacking Iraq, claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (which he didn’t) and he sent troops to Afghanistan to “get Bin Laden,” but he never did, nor has anyone else.

The only real way to prevent terrorism is to win the war. Adding security at airports only challenges the terrorists to go further, and incites them to try harder. To win the war, we have to capture and imprison those who recruit, train and motivate people to do terrorist acts, and we have to capture and imprison those who have been recruited, trained and motivated to do these acts.

Until then, clothing-penetrating full body scanners and the sharing of personal passenger information may slow the terrorists down, but it will not stop them.

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Beware of End of Year Job Numbers

Today, Canada’s federal government released the latest unemployment rates for the country – painting a rosy picture if you believe ‘em.

According to Statistics Canada, the country’s unemployment rate dropped last month by a tenth of a point since October. Canada’s official unemployment rate now stands at 8.5 percent.

The government claims this is because the number of full-time jobs increased by 39,000 in November, which is the third straight m

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

onth of an increase. Part-time jobs also increased by 40,000 – previously they had decreased in the past two months of October and September.

That means we saw 79,000 new jobs created in Canada – if you believe all the media hype. For most of us, the worst global disaster since The Great Depression of the Dirty Thirties is still rampaging its wrath. I personally know many families which continue to struggle to put food on the table, despite the constant headlines hollering that the economy is improving.

Chances are if you aren’t one of the millions looking for work, you know someone who is. So as you hear the network news anchors boast about our country’s new low unemployment rate, you may ask yourself: “so how come my friend is still out of work?”

Truth is the unemployment rate just doesn’t take into account the very basis for real value employment in this country – or any country for that matter.

The federal government’s statistics do not take into consideration the largest area of employment for the past twenty-years – self-employment.

Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr

Over the past two decades, companies have been hiring fewer and fewer on staff, favoring the more cost effective approach of bring in people on contracts.

Also, as the economy shrank in the recessions of the 1990’s and today, many people were let go, at times when there were no jobs. Many simply gave up looking for work, and went into contracting as they were unable to find anything else.

Last month’s self-employment numbers fell sharply by 32,000 self-employment jobs according to Statistics Canada. These numbers are not considered in the unemployment rate calculations, the government thinks of them as more of a wild card which indicates the volatility of the job market.

Not only do the unemployment rates not consider one of the largest sectors of jobs in the country, they also fail to take into account the real money maker for most people – hours worked. The Canadian government only compares full and part-time positions – they don’t take into account the actual number of hours people work, and that’s what really affects most pay cheques.

The total hours worked actually declined last month by 0.3 percent according to Statistics Canada. This means although more people were being hired, they were working fewer hours, so in the end, were being paid less.

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When people don’t make as much as they once did, they cut back on spending, and that means less money being distributed into the economy, which fuels economic downturns such as a recession or depression. Statistics already are indicating that most Canadians plan to spend 40 percent less on holiday gift purchases this year than last year – and last year at this time we were well into the worst economic decline since The Great Depression.

And to add some vinegar to a widening wound, most of the increases in employment were in the education and service sectors.

In the education sector, this increase could be due to budgets needing to be spent before year-end, otherwise the money is gone for good. Meaning next year at this time, we could see a sudden loss of jobs in this sector, as everything eventually balances out.

The December holiday shopping season always boosts employment in the service sector at this time of year, as those in this sector make most of their profits during this time. Many companies in the service sector hire part-time temporary workers to fill the holiday rush, only to be let go either at the end of the year or early in the New Year. So again, these numbers are not a good sign of more jobs and a better economy.

So, how will you know when the economy really is booming again? You’ll know from your own experiences, and the experiences of the people in your life, long before the Canadian government’s statistics confirm what you and your family and friends experience.

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Canada’s Solution to Unemployment – Go to the Third-World

The problem: how to keep big multinational companies from shutting down, putting thousands of people out of work and creating a massive public relations disaster for the company and the government?

The Canadian government’s solution is truly mind boggling.

Import workers from poorer third-world countries on short-term visas. Once here, force them to work for multinational companies at substantially lower wages than any one local to Canada would be willing to work that job. Then deny them the fundamental benefits companies provide to their employees and deny them access to the government services immigrants and citizens enjoy -- all while forbidden them from bringing their family so that they can’t make any reas

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onable demands for these benefits. When the gig is over, stuff them on a plane and send them back to their life of poverty and despair.

Sign me up – I want that job!

Apparently there is high demand for these low-paying, family stealing jobs. Recently, the Canadian government announced that there were 251,235 temporary short-term work visa holders last year.

Originally the temporary short-term work visa program was created because of a severe shortage of labor to work the Alberta Oil Sands. These jobs were anything but glamorous – it was dangerous as workers were constantly working with heavy machinery, surrounded by highly flammable, combustible, and toxic petro-chemicals. And the jobs were low paying, and very physically demanding.

Then the Canadian government expanded the program to temporary low-skilled workers, which provided contractual work to third-world citizens in the first world for a maximum of four-years. These jobs typically went to nannies and farm hands, but in recent years, strippers (sorry – exotic dancers for the politically correct), telemarketers, and other practical, highly respectable careers were funded through this government program.

As the definition of “low-skilled” worker is very loose, the Canadian government has been allowing mega large companies in the financial services, pharmaceutical, information technology, and other big business sectors to bring people in from the third-world that aren’t low in skill, but are cheaper than hiring a Canadian-born person to do the same job.

The Canadian government even admits it allows more of these temporary short-term workers into the country, than landed immigrants, although landed immigrants usually become Canadian citizens.

The Canadian government program designed to create jobs actually robs Canadians of good paying jobs.

That’s why if you one of the 43, 200 Canadians looking for work in October, you are probably still unemployed. The jobs are here, but not for us Canadians. You have to be a citizen of India, China, Mexico, the Philippians, or some other country where these big companies recruit.

And recruit they do. Often it starts out harmless enough -- a big company contracts out a handful of projects to a small company in one of these poorer countries. If they don’t mess up, within a year many of the company’s employees are offered four-year contracts based in Canada. They will be given what they consider a good wage – though it is substantially lower than what a Canadian would be paid to do the exact same job – as well as travel and start-up expenses. The only catch is they have to leave their friends and family behind.

But that doesn’t matter, their eyes gloss over, as they think they’ve hit the big time. Instead of living in a crammed one-room house with a mud roof, they get to live in a multi-room one-bedroom high-rise apartment made of bricks and mortar. The fact that their bathroom isn’t in the same room as the kitchen – or that they even have a kitchen – is a selling point in itself.

Although they may be away from their friends and family for up to four-years, they still feel the connection by sending money home. Often this helps them bring their family here – often illegally.

Image by Sweet One via Flickr

Reports of some of these short-term temporary workers paying over $25,000 to sneak their loved ones into the country abound. And despite that huge amount of money, there never are any guarantees. If the family gets caught sneaking into the country, they get sent back, but the sly person who arranged the whole thing keeps the money. There are no refunds.

But that doesn’t matter either, after four-years once the contract ends, these temporary short-term contractors go home.

Just imagine returning to the one-room shack with the mud roof, and sleeping on the ground with a dozen or so close relatives.

Guess that image isn’t too appealing, as many stay, illegally, and continue to work here under the table. They usually have to get lower paying jobs at less than scrupulous workplaces. But don’t worry, the mega large multinationals have already recruited more from the third-world to replace the ones leaving.

It’s a constant river of poor people being brought to Canada, to work at cut-rate wages for multinational corporations, only to end up as illegal immigrants, working under the table for abusive employers. But anything beats sleeping on the floor of that hut with the mud roof.

As for those 43, 200 unemployed Canadian citizens (as of October), maybe you could land a job in India, China, Mexico or the Philippians – I here there are some openings.

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Who’s Providing You Access to The Net?

Many of us use major big-name Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for everything from sending emails, poking someone on facebook, tweeting on Twitter, or shopping for the latest gizmos on eBay.

Here in Canada, the big ISPs are cable television giant Rogers Cable, telephone giants Bell Canada and Telus, and American network giant America Online.

These large corporate ISPs provide dedicated, high-speed broadband Internet access on their own proprietary networks.

However, many more subscribe to smaller third-party ISPs that offer disco

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unted rates, when compared to the primary ISPs. These third-party ISPs lease network access from the big ISPs, and then re-sell it in bulk to cost conscious consumers.

This provides competition in the ISP market, as the smaller ISPs compete against the very same larger companies providing them with network access, driving down prices while providing more options for consumers.

Image via Wikipedia

That was until last year, when the Canadian government wiped clean from the rule books the law requiring the big ISPs to provide access to their networks (for a fee) to the smaller third-party carriers. This came in the form of a ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that said that Bell and Telus no longer had to provide access to their broadband Ethernet network to the smaller competitors.

Winnipeg-based Manitoba Telecom Systems (MTS) has appealed the CRTC ruling, and a decision will be made by the Canadian government by the end of the year.
MTS was bought out by Allstream, a larger telecom company, but still a dwarf when compared to the large ISPs in Canada.

Since then, the smaller carriers and their customers have

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been worried about the Internet being pulled out from under them at any time. Imagine, going to your computer, loading up your favorite web browser, only to have the screen scream back at you error messages because your Internet connection doesn’t exist?

Although the third party carriers may be smaller than the ‘big boys,’ they pack a big punch. A campaign by MTS last month has generated over 85,000 angry letters to Members of Parliament (MPs), backing them and their cause.

What is that cause?

The Coalition for Competitive Broadband – led in part by MTS and over 50 other third-party ISPs – says the CRTC has failed to ensure a competitive marketplace for Internet services, and has failed to look out for the interests of Canadians.

"This cabinet recognizes that government has a role to play in ensuring healthy competitive conditions," said Chris Peirce, chief corporate officer for MTS Allstream, in a statement. "There's a wealth of evidence that the CRTC has no idea how to ensure competition, and that is why the government must continue to direct the CRTC."

It’s all about competition in a fair and level playing field for the coalition.
The coalition says that without proper access to the primary ISP’s networks, Internet rates will increase, reducing access to the Internet for the poor, and severely limiting small and medium businesses access to the Internet. The coalition references numerous global studies, backing their claims.

Meanwhile, Bell and Telus poo-poo these studies, simply saying they are wrong. They point out that Canada is world leader when it comes to broadband technologies. Bell and Telus say the smaller third-party ISPs don’t care about competition; they just want access to their big broadband networks for below market prices.

Competition in the telecom industry continues to flop. Back in the 1990’s, the CRTC paved the way for deregulation in the telephone sector, allowing consumers to choose which company they wanted to do business with for their telephone needs.

At first BCE, the parent company of Bell Canada, and all the other su

Image via Wikipedia

bsidiary telephone companies in the country complained, saying deregulation was bad, as it would drive up prices and reduce technological improvements. They even tried to scare us by saying if you plugged in a phone that wasn’t one specifically designed for their network, it wouldn’t work.

Smaller mom and pop phone companies popped up briefly, re-selling phone services to consumers. Most of these got gobbled up by Bell, and the other big telecoms. The ones which remain, tend to be Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) based companies, which don’t need to lease telephone lines for their services.

In fact, the only competition that really exists in the telephone sector in Canada is between a select few big companies. A handful of American companies have entered the mobile phone market – Virgin for one – but for the most part, Canadians don’t enjoy a free and open market in telecom.

The prices are driven by an elite group of suits and ties ruling the industry through their supersized companies.

There is just as little competition in the high-speed broadband Internet market.
It’s all the same companies – unless you go with one of the smaller third-party resellers, who – if the CRTC ruling stands – may one day pull the plug on your Internet service.

Canada is one of the most wired countries on the planet – studies constantly tell us that. But that doesn’t mean we have a competitive market, full of choice. On the contrary – our Internet – just as our telecom network – is one of the most monopolistic in the world.

So much for a free market.

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