Let me tell you why I am upset to learn that our government, and the U.S. government, routinely snoop on individual's telephone records.
A number of years ago, I got a plain brown envelope in the mail that revealed information the government of the day wanted to keep secret.
It was no big deal - simply research results of an analysis of the fatty-acid composition of various margarines and butter.
When the story from that research was published in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, then agriculture minister John Wise called in the RCMP to investigate the "leak".
As far as I know, he and the Tory government of the day did nothing with the research results to enhance the health of Canadians, although they surely could have.
Had the government had the technology it is employing today, I have no doubt they would have examined my telephone records.
AndI have no doubt they would do that any time any journalist publishes an exposé they find even mildly embarrassing.
This kind of snooping is just plain wrong, and it needs to stop. Now!
There are plenty of good, old-fashioned and legitimate ways to catch criminals, but today we have a lazy law-enforcement community that has come far too dependent on intrusive technologies.
