Freedom of expression?
I’ve been reading, with interest, about Mark Steyn’s case that’s before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. For anyone who doesn’t know, Mark Steyn wrote an article entitled “The Future Belongs to Islam” that was published in Macleans magazine. Some muslims apparently took exception to what he wrote, and two members of the Canadian Islamic Congress complained to the human rights tribunal that the article “portrayed Muslims in a contemptuous fashion, without offering an alternative point of view.” They filed a complaint when Macleans refused to publish their response. They want the tribunal to order Macleans to print their response to the original article.
Now, I haven’t read the article in question so I don’t know if I agree with what Mr. Steyn said, but the whole complaint seems ridiculous to me. Mr. Steyn was obviously giving his opinion. He and Maclean’s are not obligated to give any alternate opinions on the subject. If the Islamic Congress, or any of their members, want their point of view published then they should start their own magazine. In Canada we have what is called freedom of expression. The Charter says we are guaranteed “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;”. Nowhere does it say we have to give alternate opinions.
Mr. Steyn has said he hopes the tribunal rules against him so he can challenge it in a “real court.” (He apparently doesn’t think too highly of the tribunal, and from what I’ve read I’m not a big fan of it either.) I’d like to see the whole case thrown out and the complainants told that their demands are stupid. This makes me wonder if there are any kind of standards for a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal or do they just listen to whatever crazy thing some crackpot says.
Cell Phone Surcharges
I read a news article last night about how the Liberal Party is proposing to shut down what they say are misleading cell phone surcharges. While I agree that the system access fee, the 911 fee, roaming fees, and other such nonsense should be removed, I have to wonder why the Liberals are just jumping on this bandwagon now. The article made it sound like this was a new idea that the Liberals just came up with on their own. I remember reading about this exact same proposal on the New Democrats’ website as early as January. It’s great that two parties agree with this idea, and it therefore stands a better chance of passing, but I wish the Liberals would come up with their own ideas instead of parroting the NDP’s ideas and claiming them as their own.
Tags: cell phones, Liberals, NDP, surcharges
Privacy on Facebook
Canada’s privacy commissioner is going to investigate Facebook after complaints were made about what Facebook does with people’s personal information. As someone who uses Facebook quite a bit I feel that this is a waste of the privacy commissioner’s time, resources, and money. When I signed up for an account on Facebook I knew that my information was going to be visible to people other than my friends. Complete strangers may view my profile, and I don’t care. If I was concerned about it I wouldn’t have created an account in the first place. And that’s what I feel those who are complaining should do. If you don’t want someone to make your information visible to strangers then don’t give them that information. No one is being forced to use the service that Facebook provides and no one is being forced to add personal information to their profile once it’s created. That is to say, if you don’t want someone to know something about you then don’t add it to your profile, and if it’s a required field then make something up! Facebook isn’t checking to see if you entered the correct birth date or anything… Facebook is offering a free service. If you don’t like it, don’t use it.
Tags: Facebook, privacy, privacy commissioner
