Government keeping track of Citizens' Sexuality?

[tenni]

Many of the people who received the email about gay Iranians, sent from Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's office, are asking how Kenney and his government know their sexual orientation.
"I just thought, my god, this is complete propaganda, how did he get my email? What the heck is going on here?" said Datejie Green, from Toronto………

"This is scary. This is actually really scary," Green said. "I wasn't just disturbed, I was frightened, because they're clearly stockpiling lists of particular constituencies of Canadians, for their propaganda."

Green, who is a health researcher, is also upset that the government is trying to "pinkwash" its activities — making them sound more gay and lesbian friendly than they really are.
She points to Kenney's recent cuts to refugee health programs, which she says have taken a direct toll on LGBT refugees who often need trauma counselling and basic medical care.
Several other Canadians also expressed anger about Kenney's missive yesterday on social media sites like Facebook. Randall Garrison is the NDP critic for LGBT issues.

"Well I think there's a serious privacy question here when the minister is obviously touching on a subject that's very sensitive to many people and connecting up sexual orientation with individual names and addresses," Garrison said. "I think we need a full explanation of how he put together that list."


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/09/24/iran-refugee-gay-lesbian-email.html


Hmm Sneaky nasty Canadian Conservatives? This may show how delicate and easy it is to lose freedoms and privacy?

[darkeyes]

It surprises u tenni? It shouldn't.. I have no doubt governments in just about every country know more about us than we care to think.. more about us as individuals I mean.. a downside I suppose of same sex marriage and civil unions is the fact that governments will have on file the orientation (or what is presumed to be the orientation) of many of us.. they will have that info on many more from other sources in the government machine..

Does it scare me? Not really, at least not presently.. does it concern me? In a sense.. but it does depend on what use the information is to be put.. they have had info on heterosexuals for centuries.. or at least those who are presumed to be.. census forms are another resource they will use, our heath records and Christ knows what else.. to get uptight about something we should know is a waste of breath if u ask me.. forearmed is forewarned... just know that it happens and if we need to then when the time comes we can combat it..

We have less and less privacy in our lives and more is taken from us by the big brother state every day of the week...should we try and stop minimise and reverse the trend? Of course we should. and where such information exists make sure their are strict legal safeguards as to what it can be used for.. but even that isn't infallible... we have to realise that governments have tools we haven't even dreamed of and are a sneaky bunch of sods and do override law pretty often far more often than we like to think...... so it wont be an easy task especially when on issues like same sex marriage we fight for equal rights with heterosexuals and so hand the government info on us on a plate......

The surprise isn't that it is happening it is that so many seem to be so naive as to not know that it has been occurring...

[Long Duck Dong]

if people want privacy, they should unplug their computers, stop using their credit cards, quit their jobs. go live in caves and learn to stop having a opinion..... but its human nature to want toys and have opinions and that is why the government doesn't take away peoples rights to privacy, cos most people have already given up their privacy cos they want people to know all about them

stupidity is fucking in a glass house in broad day light and expecting everybody not to notice anything and post it online....

[darkeyes]

if people want privacy, they should unplug their computers, stop using their credit cards, quit their jobs. go live in caves and learn to stop having a opinion..... but its human nature to want toys and have opinions and that is why the government doesn't take away peoples rights to privacy, cos most people have already given up their privacy cos they want people to know all about them

stupidity is fucking in a glass house in broad day light and expecting everybody not to notice anything and post it online....I go along with most of that Duckie.. but government does eat and is eating away at our privacy every day.. what we don't give them they take just to rush it long a bit.. the computer age has allowed them to do it more speedily and more effectively and not just by what we say and do on line.. I wouldn't quite say it's stupidity but it is certainly naivety. Far too many still don't think government is quite a sinister as it is.. their talk of freedom and liberty and protection of privacy still cons too many people.. they even tell us that they are taking away our rights to privacy so they can better defend it.. and of course as they do it they tell us wtf do we have to be frightened of if we are good little boys and girls? Many people in many countries have paid the price of believing that bull... and I don't mean bad little boys and girls either..

People still want privacy.. we may well blast our innermost selves on line and elsewhere and in other ways but we still want modicum of ourselves to ourselves... how much we can retain is questionable.. how much people truly understand what privacy is or in the 21st century can be is open to debate..

One price of freedom of speech and of expression will always be a loss of privacy.. whether it be on line, in the media, at a meeting or demonstration or even in a private conversation or a party those who use their rights to freedom of speech and expression will reveal to the world a part of themselves and so surrender some privacy.. in the end we can't be entirely private and if we believe in freedoms of speech and expression neither should we be.... the argument is about just how much we allow government as well as the world to know about us and what can we do to curtail their most sinister designs?

[BiJoe696]

Keep in mind this is Canada. Not that it cannot happen in the USA.

Here is the copy of the email sent:

From: <jason.kenney@parl.gc.ca>
Date: Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 2:23 PM
Subject: LGBT Refugees from Iran
Friends,
Last Friday, my colleague John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke in great detail about Canada's principled foreign policy, including our efforts to promote basic freedoms around the world, and to take a stand against the persecution of gays and lesbians, and against the marginalization of women in many societies. I made similar remarks in my speech last November to the global conference of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where I raised the particular plight of gay and lesbian refugees.
As Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, I believe that Canada should always be a place of refuge for those who truly need our protection. That is why we continue to welcome those fleeing persecution, which oftentimes includes certain death, including on the basis of sexual orientation.
We are proud of the emphasis our Conservative Government has placed on gay and lesbian refugee protection, which is without precedent in Canada's immigration history. We have increased the resettlement of gay refugees living abroad as part of our refugee programs. In particular, we have taken the lead in helping gay refugees who have fled often violent persecution in Iran to begin new, safe lives in Canada. We are also helping community groups like the Rainbow Refugee Committee to sponsor gay refugees for resettlement to Canada.
Please click on the web-links below for more information. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP
Calgary Southeast
www.JasonKenney.ca (http://www.jasonkenney.ca/)
(a half-dozen links for suggested further reading were added to the bottom of the message: government press releases, a speech, and newspaper articles)

[12voltman59]

Well--I think that our governments know more about us than we really think they do--or certainly feel comfortable that they do.

This is something non-sexual in nature---but I think it illustrates just how much info they do have-----about a month or so ago----one of my boating neighbors had taken his boat out and since he had gotten it on the Great Lakes---it was equipped with a device called an "EPIRB" which is a device that can be activated in several ways if you have an emergency out on the water---the device sends a signal up to some satellites and it lets rescue officials know where you are at via GPS--well----my neighbor had never tested the unit----there are set times that you can do that without setting off a major search and rescue operation----but for whatever reason---he had some guests on board and they asked about it---so he turned the thing on thinking the batteries were dead-----WRONG.

He said the thing beeped twice before he shut it off--but that was enough to set off Coast Guard and other government agencies in response ranging from Cincinnati, Louisville, KY and on down to New Orleans---basically an entire chain reaction.

When you register one of those things--you provide some basic info--but it had been like five or six years since he had done that and much of the contact info was out of date---but--the Coast Guard and Homeland Security starting calling all kinds of people that my neighbor knew--including his son---who is now living in Nashville---just having graduated from college and moving there a few months ago, getting a cell phone down there----the government had his son's cell phone and called him seeking info about where is dad was, or if he had heard from him.

They called people who are the current leaders of the yacht club we are members of---and even though its not something hidden---its something not widely known either beyond the members of the club!!!! Those people had been called either at home or on their cells!!

So---in all of their data bases and such----and no doubt thanks to our use of computers and cell phones----they have so much info on us!!!

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING (at least keeping track of our digital footprints)

Who knows---maybe they are even actually watching or at least keeping some tabs on our "private lives" as well.

[tenni]

It seems that people signed an on line petition to support the refugee status of a gay activist. The campaign started in gay organizations. People signed their email address and hidden in the petition was a provision that their names would be shared.

"As a little-reported study for Canada's Privacy Commissioner noted recently, "Canadian federal privacy protection law does not cover federal political parties."

In this case, it seems that Kenney's parliamentary office had saved the names and email addresses of the petition signatories and included them on the mailing list for the message that Kenney sent out on Friday.

They could also choose whether or not their signature will be displayed publicly, and they could read the site's privacy policy.

If someone read down far enough, they would learn that when they sign a petition their "personal information may be delivered to the intended recipient of such campaign and/or the creator of such campaign."



http://ca.news.yahoo.com/political-parties-operate-outside-canadas-privacy-laws-114905616.html


Kenny is a nasty extremist who is the Minister of Immigration in the Harper regime.