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In what might be the cheekiest protest in history, angry citizens showed that they were not going to take a perceived invasion of privacy and violation of national sovereignty sitting down. A crowd of an angry Canadians took to Sarnia, Ontario's Centennial Park to moon a surveillance camera floating in a balloon over Michigan.
The protest was the idea of Eli Martin, a musician and former teacher who was upset that a U.S. security system company was testing its latest camera at its Michigan headquarters by pointing it across the U.S.-Canada border and at Sarnia, Ontario. The camera is held aloft in a massive balloon and is capable of reading the name of a ship up to nine miles away.
Since the idea of the protest hit the press a few weeks ago, popular support grew to the point where Sarnia police turned their backs while the crowd of protesters turned their backsides. However, the full moon hoped for turned out to be more of a waning crescent. Protest organizers started a Moon the Balloon Facebook group, which soon attracted 1,400 members. Unfortunately, the protest was a bit of a letdown, as only about 500 people showed up and only about 200 of those actually mooned in the direction of the balloon, which, ironically, was not there. It had been damaged in a recent storm and is off for repairs. However, no one seemed bummed out, as the protesters considered the principle of privacy, not the action of dropping one's drawers, as the main idea. While turnout may have been disappointing, the attention the protest received in the media was more pleasing.
As I predicted, the situation has become something of a diplomatic issue between the U.S. and Canada. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (the camera's targeted buyer) Janet Napolitano and Peter Van Loan, Canada's Minister of Public Safety, met to discuss the issue after concerns were raised by both the media and Sarnia's mayor, who personally wrote to Canada's prime minister to voice his concerns.
While the whole situation may be the butt of jokes to many not personally involved, top officials in two national governments are obviously not laughing, neither are privacy rights advocates who see the ever increasing number of surveillance cameras as an invasion of privacy.
For more info:
The Sarnia Observer with video report (tastefully done, no moons visible)
Sarnia Observer, mention of Napolitano-Van Loan meeting
Comments
The Naked True
If you think that Canadians are interested in Americans security, more than 100 of them demonstrated Sunday in Sarnia how much they care. A group of demonstrators descended, dropped their pants and moon the sky to protest a U.S. surveillance balloon hovering over the border city.
This protest shows what American has to expect from Canada when their security is concern. The border between Canada and the U.S. never worked and what append this weekend show why. The only real defendable border north of the United States is the sea.
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