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By Eva Prkachin, on July 30, 2014, at 5:15 pm
Glenn Greenwald Speaks 2014, Ottawa
Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Glenn Greenwald is coming to Canada. He will speak about privacy, state surveillance, and its impact on Canadians at an event in downtown Ottawa sponsored by your OpenMedia.ca team.
WHO: Glenn Greenwald, American journalist, lawyer, and author, who is best known for his extensive reporting on the Edward Snowden NSA documents. WHAT: Canada, America – Together into the Storm – A talk by Glenn Greenwald followed by a discussion moderated by journalist Jesse Brown, the host of the popular Canadaland podcast. WHERE: 440 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada WHEN: Saturday October (Read more…)
By TCP, on July 12, 2014, at 10:21 pm If you downloaded the privacy software Tor in 2011, the NSA may have scouped up your computer IP address and spied on you, says ProPublica.
The post Here’s One Way to Land on the NSA’s Watch List appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By TCP, on July 8, 2014, at 6:09 am “Most Canadians would be surprised to learn that Canada is hosting the latest round of TPP negotiations this week in Ottawa,” says University of Ottawa Prof Michael Geist
The post Secret TPP talks in Ottawa: Harper has “something to hide” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on June 28, 2014, at 3:07 am Note how this looks a bit like the Death Star?
Hello!
Welcome to the post-Facebook Politics, Re-Spun website!
You will not find a Like/Recommend button at all anymore. Anywhere. We’ve even stripped it from the ShareThis ribbon. We’re so nasty!
Why?
Because Facebook is the devil. And Big Brother. And a menace to social networking.
They spent most of the last decade encouraging people and groups to network for free in Facebook. Bait.
Then the switch? They have essentially crippled organic sharing without us paying to boost content to all our likers/followers.
We were so stupid to assume (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 17, 2014, at 8:57 pm by: by: MICHAEL GEIST | June 17, 2014
Having had the benefit of a few days to consider the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Spencer, the Senate last night proceeded to ignore the court and pass Bill S-4, the Digital Privacy Act, unchanged. The bill extends the ability to disclose subscriber information without a warrant from law enforcement to any private sector organizations by including a provision that allows organizations to disclose personal information without consent (and without a court order) to any organization that is investigating a contractual breach or possible violation of any (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on June 9, 2014, at 11:28 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Buttonwood weighs in on the disproportionate influence of the ultra-rich when it comes to making policy choices which affect all of us: But the analysis backs up earlier work by Larry Bartels of Princeton, author of a book called “Unequal Democracy”, and the general thesis of the late political scientist, Mancur Olson, that government can be in hock to special interests. This may be truer in America than elsewhere since its campaign-finance laws are so liberal: $6 billion was spent on the 2012 elections. This system forces candidates to spend much of their (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on June 8, 2014, at 9:39 pm by: Obert Madondo | June 8, 2014
Canada’s privacy experts are gravely concerned about Bill C-13, the Conservatives’ Orwellian cybercrime bill, deceptively named “Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act“.
Last week, over 30 of them expressed their concern in a scathing letter addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The signatories also told Harper that, Daniel Therrien, the newly-appointed Privacy Commissioner of Canada, lacks the “perspective and experience necessary to immediately tackle Canada’s many privacy problems.”
In a previous blog post, I quoted outgoing privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, who said Bill C-13 lacks “accountability and reporting mechanisms to shed light on new investigative powers.” I added:
Stoddardts statement (Read more…)
By Paralegal Student, on June 5, 2014, at 1:28 pm The non-profit organization Law School Admission Council (LSAC) based in the United States was penalized $7.7 million USD to compensate over 6000 students from the past 5 years for application to accommodate. Prior practice included Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores being “flagged” on law school applications if accommodation for extra time was applied during examination. The decision impacted domestic United States schools and many other schools abroad where they accepted LSAT scores with law school applications. The United States Department of Justice claimed of “widespread and systemic discrimination” by the LSAC where they intervened with the Americans with (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on June 5, 2014, at 10:51 am Here, on how Justin Trudeau seems to have taken up the cause of unaccountable executive power even from his third-party place in the House of Commons.
For further reading…- For some of the background on of the Libs’ entitlement hangover following the Cons’ taking power, see here (insisting that Parliament has no place in approving of military engagement) and here (criticizing the Accountability Act as a response to their actions while in power).- Josh Wingrove reports on the attempt by privacy experts to challenge the Cons’ appointment of Daniel Therrien. And Lisa Austin highlights some of the (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on June 4, 2014, at 7:02 pm by: MICHAEL GEIST | June 4, 2014
In recent years, it has become fashionable to argue that Canadians no longer care about their privacy. Supporters of this position note that millions of people voluntarily post personal information and photos about themselves on social media sites, are knowingly tracked by Internet advertising giants and do not opt-out of “targeted” advertising from telecom companies. Yet if the past few months are any indication, it is not Canadians that have given up on privacy. It is the Canadian government.
My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the public (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on June 4, 2014, at 9:57 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- Neil Irwin highlights the reality that top-heavy economic growth has done nothing to reduce poverty in the U.S. over the past 40 years: In Kennedy’s era, [the "rising tide lifts all boats" theory] had the benefit of being true. From 1959 to 1973, the nation’s economy per person grew 82 percent, and that was enough to drive the proportion of the poor population from 22 percent to 11 percent. But over the last generation in the United States, that simply hasn’t happened. Growth has been pretty good, up 147 percent per capita. (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on June 2, 2014, at 11:06 am Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.
- David Graeber writes that unfettered capitalism will never tame itself, but will instead need to be countered by a sufficiently strong counter-movement to seriously question its underpinnings. And Thomas Frank follows up with Graeber about the warped incentives facing workers as matters stand now: I think the spotlight on the financial sector did make apparent just how bizarrely skewed our economy is in terms of who gets rewarded and for what. There was this pall of mystification cast over everything pertaining to that sector—we were told, this is all so very complicated, you (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on May 26, 2014, at 8:47 pm by: Obert Madondo | May 20, 2014
Call it the Harper Conservatives’ resurrection the Orwellian ghost of Vic Toews.
Back in 2012, Canadians nuked the then public safety minister’s Bill C-30. The bill, deceptively christened Preventing Children from Internet Predators Act, had sought to give law enforcement agencies unlimited power to spy on Canadians.
A new cybercrime bill currently being rammed through parliament by Justice Minister Peter MacKay, is the reincarnation of Bill C-30.
Bill C-13, also deceptively named “Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act”, has nothing to do with curbing cyberbullying. Instead, it gives government law enforcement authorities, particularly secretive agencies (Read more…)
By Josh Tabish, on May 5, 2014, at 8:13 pm Highlight Image:
Highlight Link: https://openmedia.ca/defendprivacy
By Greg Fingas, on May 1, 2014, at 11:42 am Here, on how Canada’s telecommunication providers and government agencies are each showing next to no regard for the privacy of consumers – and how the Cons want to make matters worse by allowing for far more sharing within the corporate sector.
For further reading…- Again, reporting on the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s investigation can be found here and here, with the response from the telecoms available in PDF here. – Bruce Schneier discusses the U.S.’ plan to privatize the surveillance state here. – Finally, the Cons’ amendments to the federal private-sector privacy legislation is here. (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on April 30, 2014, at 10:20 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- Andrew Jackson reviews Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century, while Paul Mason offers a useful summary. And David Atkins applies its most important lesson in response to some typical right-wing spin prioritizing assets over incomes: (I)nstead of doing something about radical inequality, the new neoliberal answer is to give the 44% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck more savings vehicles and incentives to stash away money to pay for those increasingly impossibly high mortgage and tuition costs.
As the inequality problem becomes more and more severe and as Piketty’s arguments gain (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on April 14, 2014, at 10:32 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Michael Harris observes that the Cons’ vote suppression tactics match the worst abuses we’d expect from the Tea Party: Stephen Harper would make a good governor of Arizona.
In addition to the lies and sleaziness his government has been serving up during its majority, its sickening reliance on marketing over truth, its dishonest use of technology in political matters, and its shameful abuse of language, the prime minister is blighting democracy in the name of political advantage.
When Stephen Harper gave Canada fixed elections dates, no one expected a whole lot more “fixing” (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on April 7, 2014, at 11:31 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Laura Ryckewaert looks in more detail at the continued lack of any privacy protection in the Unfair Elections Act. And Murray Dobbin is hopeful that the Cons’ blatant attempt to suppress voting rights will instead lead to a backlash among those who are intended to be excluded: (W)hatever the outcome, perhaps the best possible response of democracy activists would be to treat this loathsome piece of legislation as a useful crisis. This is exactly what leaders of the African-American and Latino communities have done in their fight against the blatant voter suppression efforts (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on April 1, 2014, at 10:08 am This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- Sarah Ayres discusses the value of the social safety net as a matter of both social and economic policy: A significant body of evidence supports the view that, far from creating a so-called poverty trap, the safety net actually reduces poverty, increases economic mobility, and strengthens our national economy. Moreover, studies have shown that many antipoverty programs, especially those that target children, offer an excellent return on investment to taxpayers.…An analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers shows that when safety net programs are taken into account, the poverty rate actually fell from 26 percent in 1967 (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on March 24, 2014, at 10:36 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Yves Smith notes that a short-sighted focus on returns for shareholders generally represents a poor allocation of resources even on the level of a single corporation – while also pointing out what that mindset does when shared across the business sector: As the Occupy Wall Street movement correctly recognized, the concentration of income and wealth of the economic top “one percent” of society has left the rest of us largely high and dry. Corporate profits are increasingly going to share buybacks or dividend distribution, but very little is going back into research and (Read more…)
By Danielle Gannon, on March 18, 2014, at 9:03 pm
We all know that the metadata spy agencies collect on us can be hugely revealing. Now this Stanford study underlines just how much of our private lives can be exposed through this government spying.
Article by Ian Macleod for the Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — The kind of “metadata” that can be gleaned from smartphone records — the same type of data targeted by Canadian and American intelligence agencies — can reveal highly sensitive personal information, a new study at Stanford University has revealed.
“We were able to infer medical conditions and more, using solely phone metadata,” report Jonathan Mayer and (Read more…)
By David Christopher, on March 17, 2014, at 8:28 pm Highlight Image:
Highlight Link: https://openmedia.org/privacy/letter
By Danielle Gannon, on March 6, 2014, at 8:29 pm
It looks like the video we created with your support about the online spying bill C-13 has really been turning heads. Check out this piece about how Peter MacKay’s bill would grant immunity to telecoms who hand over your private information without a warrant.
read more
By Danielle Gannon, on March 4, 2014, at 11:21 am
How did CSEC officials describe their two-hour long conversation with the Globe and Mail? “Uncomfortable.” Colin Freeze takes a look into Canada’s ultra-secretive spy agency CSEC.
Article by Colin Freeze for the Globe and Mail
No cellphones, no recording devices, no computers.
No names.
The seven officials at the boardroom table insist that their identities cannot be published – the risk, one explains, is that they would become targets of a “hostile foreign intelligence service.”
read more
By Danielle Gannon, on February 27, 2014, at 1:27 pm
Canadian Internet Service Providers are eerily silent when it comes to information about whether or not they have assisted ultra-secretive spy agency CSEC with their surveillance of law-abiding Canadians. Jon Penney discusses what Canadian companies can do to help fight surveillance.
Article by Jon Penney for The Citizen Lab
The Communications Security Establishment’s surveillance practices raise significant privacy concerns but full answers, transparency, or substantive reforms ensuring democratic oversight from either CSEC, or the Canadian Government, are not likely forthcoming. Canadians should also care about what to do in the meantime. Professor Michael Geist has recently posted about what average (Read more…)
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