Which should frighten us more — the federal government or unknown persons with a taste for the slaughter of thousands of Canadians? We admit, the question is rather loaded but it encapsulates the concerns about the federal spy agency monitoring all kinds of file-sharing sites on the Internet to try to catch the latter group of people. In this well-done CBC piece we have the left-wing writer Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian worrying that scientists and writers will have their privacy breached. They might, but have they? Or is it at all likely? And if there is a “breach” would it materially effect anyone’s legal pursuit of his business? Will freedom be compromised? Will our loosely held notion of privacy cause us real loss? Or merely trouble our minds? It is the essential question. Mr. Greenwald would surely have struck a more sinister note if he had said the government might be gathering information to advance the interests of a political party or to learn the addresses of all those following Buddhism. But he didn’t. And it isn’t. Nor could any such thing happen in Canada. Still, it is good to keep watch of the watchers
