We are surely witness to the greatest orgy of corporate thievery in the history of the world, but don't expect more than a token few to be charged, let alone jailed. The police are too busy fighting the wars on (street) crime, drugs and, the new kid on the block, terror.

It’s not easy being a street criminal these days. There are more cops on the beat, surveillance cameras everywhere, searches at borders, airports and public buildings and events, gated communities, private police forces, security systems in homes and cars and on and on.

There are so many police and security agents these days, they have time to poke around looking for and even inventing crimes. They’re into entrapment, big time, of potential terrorists, drug users, prostitutes and Johns, sex offenders, protesters, whomever they choose. Here in Canada, we have the recent, ridiculous examples of the "kiddy terrorists" in Toronto and the Quebec police inciting protesters at a "Three Amigos" meeting.

They can set you up, keep secret their information and, if you are anywhere close to the “terror” word, lock you up and refuse you your day in court. For these guys, say good bye to the right of habeas corpus. That would be an 800 year old right!

Have you seen all the weapons, armour and technology the police have these days? Stun guns, Tasers and tear gas. More government agents with real guns more often. Again, here in Canada, we're arming border guards and even forest rangers without the slightest need.

Police and security agencies now have way more access to our information.... from massive data surveillance to emails, a new network of corporate snitches, the very suspect use of (paid) informants, computers in their squad cars and at airports and borders.

Automated license plate recognition systems in police cars read license plate numbers and set off alarms whenever they match with, say, a list of stolen vehicles. But this is really scary stuff because it could be any list.

How is ALPR any different from using facial recognition systems and other biometrics to identify us as we move about in public (or private) places. It's coming and, when the state is able to combine our automated personal data with our video and audio recordings, well, we've reached a whole new level, haven't we?

Our political masters have seen fit to grant police and security agents many other authorities over us - to conduct random checks, to take us aside, to frisk us and maybe take a sample of our breath and blood and seize our property. Our quite false fear of crime (and terrorism) has really paid dividends for the "law and order" folks.

It's the way we're treated once locked up, too. Did you see the orange jumpsuit and shackles they put on Mr. Schreiber when summoned by a Canadian Commons’ committee last year? What totally "cruel and unusual" treatment of an 80-year old man.

So what if border searches have been expanded to include computers, essentially your personal diary and a record of who you are? Oh, and x-rays, sniffing dogs and machines, nonsense about shoes and gells. And the lineups and delays. The opportunity costs to ordinary people and businesses alone has to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

For what? A war that started against a few hundred fanatics living in caves in Afghanistan with maybe a couple million dollars in the bank? The totally-failed “war on drugs?” The USA has a prison population of two million. Compare its crime rate to, say Europe.

Has anybody bothered to do a cost benefit analysis on this stuff? Starting with real risks and threats. Throwing more money, authority and weapons at police and security agencies isn't working. These guys don't necessarily know how to play with toys.

Was it Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results?

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Richard Sharp



About author Richard Sharp has been a privacy and human rights manager, consultant and advocate for three decades.