Civil Liberties and The Net

The police chiefs are right to wonder about Stockwell Day's refusal to let them get quick access to your personal computer information. Just as Day is right to be cautious about this issue.

Privacy and individual liberties are hard won and we need be ever vigilant in their maintenance.

But there are relatively simple practicalities involved here.

If a maniac is using the net for criminal purposes, the police should not have to struggle to trace the bad guy through his isp. And that can be done without bothering with which porno sites you cruised last night or whose spouse you chatted up.

I received the ugliest threatening e-mail a few years ago at the radio station.

The VPD traced the sender to a fool in North Vancouver. The did a little "meet and greet." The man apologized and I have never heard from him again.

Civil liberties are complex. We must hold tightly to these ideals and catch the bad guys at the same time.