In November of last year, a small act to amend the Canada Evidence Act and the Criminal Code was introduced to the Senate. The purpose of this was to help protect the confidentiality of journalistic sources.
There are two, main situations this would apply in. The first is allowing a journalist testifying in court to refuse to disclose information, except if the information cannot be obtained otherwise and if public interest in justice outweighs public interest in the source’s confidentiality. The second is that search warrants and court orders may only be issued for that information if there is no other way to obtain it or if the tradeoff for public interest in the first case applies.
There are a few other protections and contingencies, but those are the big ones. It is a decent start that has been long overdue. Gord Johns, an MP for the NDP, noted, “We need to follow the examples of countries such as Australia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in developing a shield law.”
While student newspapers across the country have largely been exempt from major controversy, there is a problem with this bill. How do you define what a journalist is?
This has changed over the months from being too broad to being too narrow. As of June 20, the definition of those protected with this bill is limited to only those whose main occupation is journalism. Freelancers and student journalists are not covered as a result.
While it is unlikely we would need to use anonymous sources in any circumstance in the near future, the inability to do so and the knowledge this is the case continues to put a barrier on what we can cover. If we cannot legally protect a source, why would a source ever come to us with a big story?
It is a rough situation caught up in semantics. My main fear is that we will be unable to be the check and balance McMaster deserves when the students most need it.
The only saving grace is that I, as Editor-in-Chief, should be allowed to take these stories on if these definitions persist. No one else on the Silhouette’s staff could be involved as this definition loophole may require them to reveal your identity.
Until these definitions change, please talk directly to me in-person or through shane.madill@thesil.ca if you have a story that warrants anonymity.
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Two weeks ago, the celebrity nude photo hacking took the internet by storm. Now the filth has settled and the masses have been taught for the umpteenth time that people shouldn’t be shamed for bearing their body. (That so many people still don’t get that message does not bode well for the future.) As we begin to forget, perhaps too quickly, about this invasion of privacy, consider what this means for your nude snap practices.
To repeat what many others have said, you’re free to do whatever you want with your own body. Do not let this well-publicized incident deter you from taking pictures but it’s important to make sure it is what you really want. There are many good reasons for taking a nude photo – as a means for maintaining a long distance relationship comes to mind, but your significant other asking for one is not one of them. Never feel pressured to take a naked picture. While these are tough waters to navigate as it may involve rejecting someone you love, these pictures are too intimate and powerful for them to be given out due to pressure.
So you’ve decided that you want to send this nude pic. The next thing to keep in mind is extra precautions you should take. While it shouldn’t be something you should be concerned about, these photo leaks have repeatedly proven that the world is filled with turds disguised as normal human beings. I’m hopeful that one day these people come to their senses, but for the time being, encrypt your files and set up strong unique passwords. Apple also has a nifty feature that requires a two-step security check for another device to access your account.
While I’m sure your nudes, in which your lips are pursed and your body is contorted for optimal sexiness, are so smoking hot that they should always be followed by flame emojis, the truth is that you’re no Jennifer Lawrence. There won’t be millions of perverts searching for your picture if it ever got leaked into the public and they are less likely to be leaked to begin with. There’s less risk associated with your naughty pictures, so there’s no real need to change your nude policy due to this event.
That being said, less people caring about your nude pictures also mean there are less people who care about you if they were ever leaked. You are sorely deluded if you think the FBI will open up an investigation for you if your pictures got out. This is not to say that you are responsible for what happens in the event that your picture makes its rounds in your social circle, but simply that what follows will likely take a big toll on you – and there’ll be less help than you expect.
Ultimately, nudies are such a strange and vulnerable form of self-expression in modern courtship that it would be a shame if anyone stopped because of this recent leak. Take these tips into consideration and continue to snap away in front of your washroom mirror. Just stop using that awful flash, it’s distracting from your good-good.
Emily Scott
Video Editor
It is easier to be anonymous than it is to be a highly involved student on campus.
Sure, there are hundreds of clubs shaking flyers at you as you walk with your head down through the hallway of MUSC (and if you are in residence the sometimes painfully awkward floor gatherings). If you are lucky enough to be in a small program that you enjoy, you might look forward to seeing recognizable faces in your regular sized lecture rooms, and feel accountable for attendance because you know that your professor actually knows your name.
But for others, after the business of frosh week dies down, after you discover you do not and never will possess the skills to be a varsity athlete, after you don’t need to ask anyone how to get to TSH 120, it is a lot easier to become anonymous.
A typical day consists of snagging a bagel and a coffee from home, or maybe a ready-made Centro breakfast for you residence folk, showing up to an 8:30 a.m. lecture with 300 other people, and sitting in the back so you don’t bother anyone with the sounds of your snacking. An hour in between class means find a spot in the busy student centre (try the third floor) to check each social feed a couple of times before glancing at the essay outline and taking a quick nap. Another coffee sometimes helps too.
After the day of class is done, you could go check out whatever is happening in the atrium, but nah, your bed and an episode of New Girl seems a lot more appetizing. Come Friday, and the world is a better place. Gather the others, drink, go out, come home (or at least to a house), sleep it off, and repeat until Monday.
It’s not a surprise to me that university is where people find themselves in crisis mode for the first time. Not because you haven’t had to study before, because the culture of university, while busy and exciting to the outside observer, easily fosters a lifestyle of anonymity. If that doesn’t bother you, props to you my friend.
But being anonymous makes it easier to struggle, and not think you need to reach out. It makes it easier to drown in your schoolwork and never bother to ask for help. It is an easy life to get used to, but it is in no way the most appealing.
Let’s not hide in our achievement of being a stranger, or forget that we’re surrounded by thousands of others like us. If you are feeling alone, chances are other people are too. Think about what you loved back in high school, and find the university equivalent. Or find something new to love.
Go out to an event, a club, a meeting. Tell someone if you hate the idea of being alone. If you are an introvert like me, the idea of it can be quite exasperating. It’s a big place, but being anonymous is no way to fill your spot.
Steve Clare / The Silhouette
When viewing any controversial Opinion piece on the Silhouette website (or any online news source), make sure to scroll down to the comments section for your daily dose of disheartening viciousness. Ideally the comments are a place to continue the conversation and expose different viewpoints. Too often though, they prove just another platform for ad hominem hatred.
The problem is the anonymous nature of the internet. Commenting on a Sil article requires one to enter a name and email address, but the name can be fake, and there’s no verification process for the email. So, there’s really no need to attach any part of your identity to your post. There are no personal repercussions for launching hurtful personal attacks.
This lack of consequence is why online comments so often devolve into vengeful pot-shots directed by anonymous assailants. If all comments had to have a real name and verified email attached to them, would we see so much casual sexism, racism, bigotry and homophobia?
Of course, the purpose of a comment can (and perhaps should) be to challenge the author of an article and act as a fact-checking or opposing viewpoint. But so often on the internet we see these accusations made in a manner that is hurtful and offensive, which only serves to build up the walls between opposing sides and actually hamper the flow of discourse between them. When did you last win an argument by resorting to shouting and name-calling?
It’s only possible to change someone’s mind by shaping your argument to their predispositions. Appeal creates impact, and it’s impossible to do that when your point is saddled with harsh accusations of inadequacy.
People work hard on their opinion pieces. You don’t spend hours crafting a history of Israel, a defense of Israeli Apartheid Week, a critique of the Catholic Church, or an examination of the media’s coverage of the Steubenville case, as many Silhouette contributors have in recent weeks, unless it’s an issue you care deeply and think often about.
In each of these cases the authors have been subject to all manner of damning accusations in the comments section beneath their piece.
Perhaps justified criticism, perhaps not. But in every case, many comments that went against the sentiment of the article were delivered in a heavy-handed manner, and often the criticizer chose to hide behind an anonymous online username.
I’d like to think that there is more keeping us from hurting each other than just fear of retribution.
I truly would like to think that we recognize, on some deeper level, that we’re all just trying to make our way through a thoroughly confusing existence as best we can, and that there’s really no need to make that journey any more difficult for someone than it needs to be.
But then I see what happens when people adopt anonymity and discover that any personal consequences resulting from their actions evaporate.
What happens is that the filters collapse, and empathy goes with them. That lends strong support for the depressing Epicurean view of morality; that the only thing keeping the streets from dissolving into anarchical hellholes of rape, murder and theft is the omnipresent fear of being caught and punished, in this life or the next.
There’s simply no need to poison one’s comments with hurtful barbs and, indeed, doing so is only counterproductive if your goal is to sway someone to your side of an argument. It’s really easy to be mean when only your computer screen is there to see it. But the next time you’re typing out a sarcastic, rude, insulting or petty response to an article you disagree with, just remember that there’s a person on the receiving end, and that they’re as likely to swap sides on this debate as you are (which is to say, not very likely at all).
If you instead shape your response to appeal to their sensibilities, you’ll create impact. That’s what changes the world - people realizing that their opponent is thinking and growing as much as they are.
Besides, if you’re not trying to change something, then why the hell are you typing anyway? Recognize that the transformation you desire will only materialize when you accept that the person you’re talking to is as infinitely layered and complex and confused and scared as you are.
