I thought this article to be very interesting , especially since we were talking about twitter last week.
Twitter, Canadian election law clash in latest contest
Twitter has caused a political stir in America's neighbor to the north.
Some in Canada are questioning whether Twitter updates journalists posted about early returns from Monday's special elections violated Canadian election law. According to Reuters Canada, a section of the Canada Elections Act bans the dispersal of elections results before the last polling stations officially close.
The law is designed to prevent the results from the east from affecting the votes of western voters who might still be voting because of time differences.
Some are beginning to question the applicability of the law in the age of Twitter.
Here are some excerpts from the news agency's story:
One journalist even sent a Twitter message saying "Oh dear. Have just realized I may have been violating law because of my poor understanding of Twitter". Elections Canada did nothing.
It is little wonder that critics use terms like absurd and archaic to describe a provision that, in large part, comes from an era before the Internet was born.
That said, television and radio stations can broadcast regional results as long as the signal is contained within that region. But this fails to take into account that a voter out West with the right kind of satellite dish can access an eastern station broadcasting results.
And of course, posting data on the Internet is easy.
It is no surprise therefore that the rule has failed to prevent a string of breaches, some deliberate and some accidental, in federal elections over the last decade.
"Elections Canada is still stuck in this dark age, they're trying to be Big Brother," said Peter Coleman, president of the National Citizens Coalition, a right-leaning lobby group advocating the end of the restriction.
"Technology has changed so much that they can't stop this stuff from going on anyway ... I think it's an archaic law and it should just disappear," he told Reuters on Tuesday.
An Elections Canada spokesman declined to say whether the law still made sense. The agency reports to Parliament through the office of Jay Hill, who directs the government's day to day business in the legislature.
~Lady Liberty
This is a wonderful point to bring up as to whether Twitter and other programs like it can or should be more controlled.
ReplyDeleteIn the modern day with almost 8,000,000,000 people on earth it seems a little nit-picky to target things such as an posting election information illegally. Besides the fact that the journalist did not know that it was illegal, the information was going to be told by somebody eventually. it's like people arguing over who gets to say when the earth ends. ( which will be in 2012 just to let you know)
People's need to control what is happening around them does not seem to function in our day and age, people need to get used to everyone knowing when they brush their teeth, go bathroom, watch a movie, etc, etc, light your house on fire, and do the dishes. If you can't overcome this fear then I'm sorry but you seem to be doomed!
Kalo hoyle.