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Ex-pitchman's trial could set precedent - Via National Post (Canada):
The trial of a former television pitchman could be a precedent setting case in deciding the privacy rights of Internet subscribers who are the subject of a criminal investigation.
[...]
After discovering a specific Internet protocol address and learning it belonged to a Bell Canada customer, police executed a search warrant to obtain the subscriber information from the Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Mr. Smith is arguing there were not reasonable grounds for the first warrant to be issued or for a second one to be executed at his home. read more »
Geist Creates His Own Do-Not-Call List - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
average_cdn writes "Canadians looking to put a stop to pesky telemarketing calls before the federal government's do-not-call registry takes effect this summer have a new tool at their disposal. At IOptOut.ca, Canadians can enter their phone number and e-mail address and simply choose the organizations they would prefer not to hear from while the website generates a mass request that the user be added to those companies' do-not-call lists. The site, a beta version of which was launched yesterday, is the brainchild of University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist and features information on how to avoid telemarketing calls from more than 140 different companies and organizations. Mr. Geist said that iOptOut helps Canadians finish the job that the do-not-call registry failed to complete."
Global minilinks for 2008-03-22 - Via EFF: Deep Links: read more »
- Antigua Says It Will Start Ignoring US CopyrightsWTO gave Antigua the right to ignore US IP rights as part of a judgement over online gambling bans. Now the small country is threatening to begin its data haven status, starting in April.
- France's Oliviennes Law in Final Negotiations (Google Translation)Sticking point among parties to the discussion is ISP filtering; outside, users are worried about government access to IP addresses and end-user liability for others using their network.
Patriot Act haunts Google service - Via globeandmail.com:
Google Inc. is a year into its ground-shifting strategy to change the way people communicate and work.
But the initiative to reinvent the way that people use software is running headlong into another new phenomenon of the information technology age: the unprecedented powers of security officials in the United States to conduct surveillance on communications.
Eighteen months ago, Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., had an outdated computer system that was crashing daily and in desperate need of an overhaul. A new installation would have cost more than $1-million and taken months to implement. Google's service, however, took just 30 days to set up, didn't cost the university a penny and gave nearly 8,000 students and faculty leading-edge software, said Michael Pawlowski, Lakehead's vice-president of administration and finance.
U.S.-based Google spotlighted the university as one of the first to adopt its software model of the future, and today Mr. Pawlowski boasts the move was the right thing for Lakehead, saving it hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual operating costs. But he notes one trade-off: The faculty was told not to transmit any private data over the system, including student marks. read more »
How Google Earth Ate Our Town - Via TIME magazine:
When they hear the telltale sirens of a fire truck bursting out of the station in Nanaimo, the locals don't need to look out of the window or tune in to newscasts to find out where the action is. Instead, they can simply log on to Google Maps or Google Earth and track the firefighters in real time as they tear down the streets of this Vancouver Island port community. The Google-enabling of Nanaimo's fire service, launched just weeks ago, is the latest venture in a British Columbia town that has been dubbed the capital of Google Earth.
"With Nanaimo, they have mapped nearly every conceivable thing using Google Earth and Google Maps," Michael Jones, Google Earth's chief technology officer, said last August at a conference in Vancouver. "Their citizens have more information about their city than the people of San Francisco." read more »
Nanaimo, The Google Capital of the World - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
eldavojohn writes "Time.com has up a story on Nanaimo, a British Columbia coal mining town of about 78,000 that has had everything conceivable mapped into a Google database. Citizens can track fire trucks real time. The results also include Google Earth data for Nanaimo. 'The Google fire service allows people to avoid accident sites by tuning electronic devices to automatic updates from the city's RSS news feed, says fire captain Dean Ford. read more »
Australia engages allies in cyber warfare - Via Computerworld :
Cyber Storm II was today officially launched by the Attorney General in which five countries will engage in an international hacking exercise.
The wargame is a follow-up to last years' Cyber Storm and will test the national security of Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand between March 11 to 14.
AG Robert McClelland joined UK deputy high commissioner Tim Gurney, Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Mick Keelty and ambassadors from the US and Canada to launch the event in Canberra today. read more »
Cyber Storm II Set To Begin - Via Slashdot:
mr sanjeev notes that Computerworld is running a story about Cyber Storm II, set to run from March 11th until the 14th.
The exercise will test the security of the US, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and Canada. The organizers' goals are to test preparedness and responsiveness in relation to real-time threats. The previous Cyber Storm test identified "eight specific areas in need of improvement." We recently discussed the details of the tests themselves. read more »
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Orders Bar to Stop Scanning IDs - Via Threat Level:
It's taken two and a half years to get a ruling but the privacy commissioner in Alberta, Canada, has ordered a Calgary nightclub to stop scanning the driver's licenses of people who patronize the bar and to destroy all information that the club has collected on patrons through scanning.
In August 2005, a bar patron named Nyall Engfield filed a complaint with the privacy commissioner against the Tantra Nightclub in Calgary, after employees at the club scanned his ID. The club owners claimed that the scanning discouraged potential troublemakers from entering the bar or acting out once inside, since they knew they could be easily identified.
But Engfield objected to the bar collecting his personal information without his permission. read more »
Delays to Canadian DMCA Could Doom Act - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Jabbrwokk writes "Michael Geist reports legislation to create a Canadian version of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been delayed again, possibly because of massive public outcry, and possibly even because of opposition from the industry itself. Canada's biggest ISPs have banded together to oppose the proposed new legislation and suggest their own solution, which include allowances for expanded fair dealing, private copying, no liability for ISPs and legislation that concentrates its wrath on commercial pirates instead of penny-ante downloaders and seeders.'"
Open Source Advocate, Canadian Copyfighter, and AT&T Whistleblower Win Pioneer Awards | Electronic Frontier Foundation - Via The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) :
Mitchell Baker and the Mozilla Foundation, Michael Geist, and Mark Klein to be Honored at San Diego Award Ceremony
San Diego - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2008 Pioneer Awards: the Mozilla Foundation and its Chairman Mitchell Baker, University of Ottawa Professor Michael Geist, and AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein.
The award ceremony will be held at 7pm, March 4th at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina in conjunction with the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (ETech). Michael Robertson -- founder and CEO of MP3.com, Linspire, MP3Tunes and Gizmo5 -- will give the awards' keynote address: "What to Expect When You're Expecting...To Be Sued." read more »
International hacking network busted, Quebec police say - Via CBC News :
Computers in Manitoba, the United States, Poland and Brazil targeted in scam
Quebec provincial police say they've dismantled a computer hacking network that targeted unprotected personal computers around the world.
Police raided several homes across Quebec on Wednesday and arrested 16 people in their investigation, which they say uncovered the largest hacking scam in Canadian history.
The hackers collaborated online to attack and take control of as many as one million computers around the world that were not equipped with anti-virus software or firewalls, said provincial police captain Frederick Gaudreau. read more »
Largest Hacking Scam in Canadian History - Via Slashdot:
vieux schnock writes "Police raided several homes across Quebec on Wednesday and arrested 16 people in their investigation, which they say uncovered the largest hacking scam in Canadian history. (...) The hackers collaborated online to attack and take control of as many as one million computers around the world that were not equipped with anti-virus software or firewalls."
(Read Original Article - Via Slashdot.)
Michael Geist - Microsoft Misleads on Copyright Reform - Via Michael Geist:
The Hill Times this week includes an astonishingly misleading and factually incorrect article on Canadian copyright written by Microsoft. The most egregious error comes in the following paragraph which attempts to demonstrate why Microsoft thinks reform is needed: read more »
Privacy Commissioner Criticizes Canadian DMCA - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, has criticized the proposed Canadian DMCA in a public letter to Jim Prentice, the Canadian Minister of Industry. read more »
ACLU: DHS Border Crossing Plans Show Mix of Arrogance and Incompetence - Via ACLU - Privacy:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON – Plans by the Department of Homeland Security to impose new identity-document requirements at the Canadian border in defiance of Congress are the latest example of the department’s characteristic combination of arrogance and incompetence, the American Civil Liberties Union said today.
“It’s bad enough that DHS is so arrogant and high-handed,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program. “But worse, they have no cause to be arrogant because they are so incompetent.”
The policy, which will require all travelers entering the United States from Canada to present either a passport or both a driver’s license and a birth certificate beginning January 31, was affirmed by DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in remarks to the Associated Press over the weekend. read more »
Copyright in Canada: No Longer Business As Usual - Via EFF: Deep Links:
It's been a roller-coaster few weeks for digital rights activists in Canada. A few weeks ago, rumors began circulating that the current minority Conservative government was going to present a copyright reform act before the New Year.
Unlike previous reform attempts, this new law was preceded by no public consultation. It's long been known that the US government and media companies are pressuring Canada to "normalize" its IP law with its southern neighbour.
But both the Canadian public and its creative industries are far more sceptical of the benefits of over-restrictive IP regulation along the lines of many current United States laws. The major leading independent labels in Canada resigned from the CRIA (Canada's RIAA), and artist's groups like the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (which includes Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, and Barenaked Ladies) oppose lawsuits against fans. The Songwriters Association of Canada recently proposed a voluntary collective license, similar to EFF's own proposals, to solve the problems of artist remuneration for digital distribution without increasing the strictures of copyright. read more »
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