"You're either with the government, or with the child pornographers."

-- Public Safety Minister Vic Toews

Don't be an idiot.

There is a huge difference, Minister, between demonizing child pornographers and those of us who believe in the democratic right to privacy and free speech.

The legislation, Bill C-30, tabled this week as the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, had virtually no safeguards to protect law-abiding Canadians, including the media, from being spied upon by police, bureaucrats, CSIS -- even the competition bureau.

Until Prime Minister Stephen Harper punted the bill straight to committee for a badly-needed overhaul, his government appeared unconcerned about its own inconsistency.

Earlier this week, for example, the long-gun registry was finally put down, killed by the Harper majority for one reason and one reason alone.

It was rightly deemed to be an intrusion into the privacy of law-abiding Canadians.

This leaves Bill C-30 indefensible in its present form.

Requiring telecommunications providers to hand over personal information -- without a warrant -- to law-enforcement agencies opens the door to incredible abuses, and not just by Big Brother.

"This is going to be like the Fort Knox of information that the hackers and the real bad guys will want to go after," said Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's privacy commissioner.

"The government will say they can protect the data, and they can encrypt it. Are you kidding me?" she asked. "The bad guys are always one step ahead."

Anyone who follows Sun Media and the Sun News Network knows we loathe child pornographers and those who prey on children, and would like nothing better than to see each and every one of them jailed for life.

Their evil knows no bounds.

But also boundless is the right of law-abiding Canadians to have their privacy protected when it comes to their Internet and cell usage. The risk here is far worse than the long-gun registry ever threatened.

Two weeks ago, more than 200 charges were laid in a massive central-Canada kiddie-porn bust that came as a result of police using solid investigative techniques to locate 8,940 IP addresses suspected of being involved in child pornography.

They didn't need Bill C-30 then, and they don't need it now.

And neither does Canada.