Wise Law Blog: terrorism

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Monday, January 18, 2010

Learning the "Power of the Internet" (the Hard Way III)

Another hapless Tweetor learns an important life lesson:

Some things, you just don't say online:

When heavy snowfall threatened to scupper Paul Chambers's travel plans, he decided to vent his frustrations on Twitter by tapping out a comment to amuse his friends. "Robin Hood airport is closed," he wrote. "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

Unfortunately for Mr Chambers, the police didn't see the funny side. A week after posting the message on the social networking site, he was arrested under the Terrorism Act and questioned for almost seven hours by detectives who interpreted his post as a security threat. After he was released on bail, he was suspended from work pending an internal investigation, and has, he says, been banned from the Doncaster airport for life. "I would never have thought, in a thousand years, that any of this would have happened because of a Twitter post," said Mr Chambers, 26. "I'm the most mild-mannered guy you could imagine."

More Learning the Power of the Internet (The Hard Way): Part I and Part 2.

And a similar, but perhaps more sinister, episode on Facebook leads to charges in Malaysia.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Air Canada Travel Advisory: Delays at Airports

An Air Canada security advisory cautions travellers to be prepared for delays:

MONTREAL December 26, 2009 -- Air Canada advises passengers travelling to the U.S. that due to enhanced government security measures air travellers should arrive early at airports to allow extra time to clear security screening. Passengers should also expect flight delays, cancellations and missed connections, and limit themselves to a single piece of carry-on baggage.
Air Canada recommends passengers travelling to the U.S. to arrive early at the airport for their flight in order to allow adequate time for additional personal searches. Under new rules enacted by Transport Canada and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, passengers and their carry-on baggage will be subject to full searches both at airport screening points and prior to boarding at the aircraft gate area.
As a result of the added security precautions, passengers should also expect delayed and cancelled flights as well as missed connections. Air Canada will endeavour to transport passengers to their destination as quickly as possible and rebook passengers who miss their connections at no charge.
While these measures directly affect only flights from Canada to the United States, domestic and international flights may also experience delays due to airport congestion and delayed aircraft. For information on a flight's status please consult www.aircanada.com.
In addition, new rules imposed by Transport Canada will limit the amount of carry-on baggage to one item per person travelling on flights from Canada to the United States. Existing checked baggage rules remain in effect. For details on checked baggage allowances, please consult http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/baggage/index.html.
...New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace that may adversely impact on-board service. Among other things, during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.

According to CBC, the anticipated delays have been significant:

U.S.-bound passengers at Toronto's Pearson International Airport were experiencing significant delays Sunday as a result of new security measures implemented following an attempted attack Friday on a flight into Detroit.
Sunday morning's first volley of flights to Washington, Atlanta and Houston departed nearly two hours late, on average. An early-morning flight to Chicago left four hours late, and one to New York was six hours behind. By noon, some flights originally slated to depart at 8 a.m. still hadn't taken off.
...Upward of 10 per cent of depatures had been nixed as of mid-afternoon, well above the usual rate of one to two per cent. The vast majority of the cancellations were of flights to the U.S.

Jonathan Adler at Volokh gets to the heart of the matter - Enhanced Security or Just Increased Annoyance?

Airport security is already more show than substance. It’s an exercise of political theater that is supposed to make travelers feel more secure. I am unconvinced it even does that very well anymore, and from what I’ve heard thus far, the new measures are only going to make things worse.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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The Criminal Complaint Against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Video: Interview With A Suicide Bomber

Andrew Sullivan calls it interviewing evil.
Perhaps it has something to do with this individual's sociopathic, unyeilding cling to an irrational, murderous ideology that basks in its own delusions of godliness.

Via You Tube:

An interview with a Taliban trained Suicide Bomber With English Subtitles. What are the intentions and what are the motive forces behind the Suicide Bombing & other acts of terrorism? Watch from the mouth of a Taliban suicide bomber himself.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Canada's Chief Justice: Government, Courts Must Respect Civil Liberties in War on Terror

Canada.com reports on comments by the Supreme Court of Canada's Chief Justice, Beverley MacLachlin at an Ottawa event yesterday:

OTTAWA — Canada's most senior judge cautioned Tuesday against going overboard in the fight against terrorism by putting too much emphasis on the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. at the expense of sacrificing civil rights and charter protections.
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin's warning that lawmakers, judges and citizens must heed the big picture comes as the federal government's war on terror is taking a beating in the nation's courts.
"The fear and anger that terrorism produces may cause leaders to make war on targets that may or may not be connected with the terrorist incident," McLachlin told the Ottawa Women's Canadian Club in a luncheon speech Tuesday.
"Or perhaps it may lead governments to curtail civil liberties and seek recourse in tactics they might otherwise deplore . . . that may not, in the clearer light of retrospect, be necessary or defensible."
...The challenge in putting civil liberties on equal footing is that terrorist acts themselves breed fear that "there is a terrorist around every corner" who must be caught at all costs, she said.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Punitive Damages in Ontario Employment Law - Pate Estate v. Galway-Cavendish and Harvey (Township)

American courtroom dramas and John Grisham novels tend to skew Canadian views on what punitive damages are and how they are awarded.

The Ontario Court of Appeal’s November 2013 decision in

Pate Estate v. Galway-Cavendish and Harvey (Township) provides some clarity on the awarding of punitive damages in the employment law context.
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Money Mart Ordered to Pay $30K for Harassment

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has ordered National Money Mart Company to pay $30,000 in compensation to a former, one-year employee of the company who had been subjected to ongoing, serious sexual harassment by her workplace supervisor.