Rick Mercer says it all on the Canadian Government’s SOPA/PIPA-style lawmaking move, Bill C-30. While it’s true that “online privacy” is kind of a big farce, the question is whether it’s right and lawful for governments to demand access to that information without a citizen’s permission. The National Post summarizes here, and also discusses our government’s ability to be responsible with large-scale data security.

In my opinion, the government’s problem (the various governments who are trying these laws) is not crime or privacy or even fear of change. It’s competition. The internet is a competitor to nationalism and regional government. Facebook is now being described as a “nation,” with its size among the largest countries on earth.

Government as we have known it is passing away. It has two choices: Borrow, rent or commandeer the digital nation’s core strengths, or become a mere figurehead as we move into a global paradigm where technocracy is the form of rule and private business is the administrative body.

Oversimplified as that is, I sometimes think the human instinct for survival, control and power is that simple–whether it’s business or government in question. Or whether it’s the driving force of each of us as individual users, all mashed together in a giant collective of demand. It all sums up in one word: More.

And that’s always good for trouble.