Wrong Tweeting Make You 5 Years In Jail

Canadians need to be careful what they tweet about if they don't want to end up with a fine of $25,000 or five years in jail. A Canadian law that prohibits citizens from publishing election results before all the polls in the country have closed holds new meaning in today's digital age.

Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act states: "No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district." The Vancouver Sun reports that private emails and Facebook messages are allowed but anything visible to the public--like tweets and wall posts--is forbidden.

Canadian voters have reacted in anger and many plan to protest the law by organizing a mass tweeting on election night. Will the government be able to enforce a law that everyone breaks? "The sheer number of users on Twitter would make it very difficult to enforce this law in terms of resources," said Camille Labchuck, a communication strategist for Canada's Green Party told the Montreal Gazette. "Even if everyone who flouted the law was identifiable, I can't see how Elections Canada could possibly prosecute all violations."

Despite the threat of a $25,000 fine and jail time, Canadians are vowing to break a law that they see as desperately quaint in the age of Twitter.

The law is this: Don't publish election results before every polling station in the country closes. Not on the radio, not in the newspaper, and not on social media websites, Elections Canada reminded voters this week.

"It's a ridiculous measure, given today's social media landscape, yet it hasn't yet been amended to reflect modern-day realities," said Peter Raaymakers, a writer in Ottawa.

When he asked on Twitter who would like to openly flout the embargo, many quickly volunteered.

"I'm in. You in?" Montreal-based voice actor Jason Mayoff replied.

"I'll be tweeting my ass off!" wrote Jim O'Leary, a software project manager in Toronto.

The media blackout, which dates to 1938, is meant to keep early poll results from the East Coast from influencing voters in the West. But in an age of decentralized media control, where everyone is a broadcaster and social media are used to bring down governments, the law strikes many as absurd.

On Thursday, Canadian voters on Twitter discussed organizing a "tweet-in," which Raaymakers says is "a massive gathering of people on Twitter to protest against something that is seen as unjust, similar to a conventional sit-in protest, but on Twitter."

If enough Canadians tweet results before polls close, it will present a new challenge to Elections Canada.

"The sheer number of users on Twitter would make it very difficult to enforce this law in terms of resources," said Camille Labchuck, a communication strategist for the Green Party of Canada. "Even if everyone who flouted the law was identifiable, I can't see how Elections Canada could possibly prosecute all violations."

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the election agency told media it won't monitor Twitter during election night, but will investigate complaints it receives from citizens. However, anonymous Twitter accounts are nearly impossible to trace.

Still, hiding under a pseudonym defeats the purpose of civil disobedience, O'Leary said: "There's not much actual flouting being done if something's done anonymously."

Elections Canada has stung a scofflaw in the past. In 2000, a Vancouverite named Paul Bryan set up a satellite dish to receive a TV feed from the Maritimes and posted their results on his website. A month later he was raided and charged by the RCMP .

(Times, Montrealgazzette)