Montreal Mafia Arrests - a lose / lose situation

Newview01 · #1 03-20-2017, 10:23 AM

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/lo...456/story.html

Quote:

Federal prosecutors will ask on Tuesday that criminal charges be stayed against several*accused arrested in connection with Project Clemenza, a series of police operations spanning two years and targeting*the Montreal mafia.
The number of those who will see charges essentially dropped by the Crown varied with different news reports on Monday. Their lawyers had been advised on the Crown’s decision on Friday.
However reports say the stay of proceedings will effect those who had been charged with drug production, trafficking and importation, weapons possession, arson and kidnapping. They were arrested during Projet Clemenza, one of the biggest anti-Mafia operations ever launched by the RCMP.
Reports say the decision to ask for a stay of proceedings is based on the manner in which some of the evidence was gathered against the accused. Much of that evidence was based on millions of text messages exchanged between the accused and intercepted by police, a technique that had been vigorously challenged by defence lawyers.
According to La Presse, the decision to seek a stay may also have been due in part to the Supreme Court’s Jordan ruling, which limits the amount of time a case can take to get to trial.

Federal prosecutors would have a year to re-file charges.

Do you support the unwarranted interception of personal communication to take down an extensive crime ring, for the greater good?

Or do you support the charges being stayed because of unwarranted evidence collection, for the greater good?

heresrod · #2 03-20-2017, 10:32 AM

what has happened to us

CaberTosser · #3 03-20-2017, 10:32 AM

I'm OK with it being used against the gangsters, and unless we were saddled with an NDP majority federal government and they initiated cold-war era Soviet style secret police I'd not have a thing to worry about. Lets face it, your Smart TV and Google already know everything there is to know about you. Even Mark Zuckerberg puts electrical tape over the camera on his laptop.

If someone had me under surveillance, they'd be mighty bored.

coreya3212 · #4 03-20-2017, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I'm OK with it being used against the gangsters, and unless we were saddled with an NDP majority federal government and they initiated cold-war era Soviet style secret police I'd not have a thing to worry about. Lets face it, your Smart TV and Google already know everything there is to know about you. Even Mark Zuckerberg puts electrical tape over the camera on his laptop.

If someone had me under surveillance, they'd be mighty bored.

Yep

silverdoctor · #5 03-20-2017, 10:52 AM

Depends on how they are collecting.

I can't see the mafia calling up telus to get their cell phones, fully trackable. Telus, Bell, Rogers etc have to store text messages for up to a month - and yeah, the police can access it. Disposable phones would be likely.

Stingray technology is more like it, and probably employed heavily in order to catch that many texts. That means everyones messages are intercepted, collect the haystack to find a few needles.

It's the way of the future people, privacy is done and it's going to get worse. Get used to it.

ren008 · #6 03-20-2017, 11:27 AM

The rules are in place for everyone and I expect our law enforcement to know better. If they are allowed to do whatever they want to secure convictions with no judicial oversight we might as well be a police state.

This doesn't sound like a small technicality, millions of messages collected yet the charges are getting thrown out. Someone screwed up. Badly.

silverdoctor · #7 03-20-2017, 11:32 AM

And before people suggest I take off my tin foil hat...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/rc...fted-1.3629222

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/st...edia-1.3533417

Newview01 · #8 03-20-2017, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ren008

The rules are in place for everyone and I expect our law enforcement to know better. If they are allowed to do whatever they want to secure convictions with no judicial oversight we might as well be a police state.

This doesn't sound like a small technicality, millions of messages collected yet the charges are getting thrown out. Someone screwed up. Badly.

I know for a fact that the ********** Police can access cell phone towers and see what is coming through them in terms of data, calls, and texts. Without a lot of difficulty. My understanding is that they would need a warrant to act on the information received.

midgetwaiter · #9 03-20-2017, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Stingray technology is more like it, and probably employed heavily in order to catch that many texts. That means everyones messages are intercepted, collect the haystack to find a few needles.

Definitely sounds like a Stingray kind of situation.

The problem I have with this kind of surveillance isn't really about the data that is collected on me per se, the interpretation and action taken on that information is the concern. You don't have to look very had for examples of people who have had their lives turned upside down due to a casual acquaintance with someone who came to the attention of the authorities for some reason.