The Wire Report reports (sub req) that documents obtained under Access to Information reveal that Canadian Heritage department officials questioned CRTC data on the fee-for-carriage issue last year. The report indicates “the CRTC does not always present the data in a complete manner” and that it appears to exaggerate the […]
Archive for January, 2011
Ontario Privacy Commish Sides With Opt-Out on Behavioural Online Tracking
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the leading privacy groups in the U.S., makes the case for an opt-in approach, noting that it would better protect consumer privacy and is consistent with many other U.S. privacy statutes. It adds that:
Opt-in is more effective than opt-out because it encourages companies to explain the benefits of information sharing, and to eliminate barriers to exercising choice. Experience with opt-out has shown that companies tend to obfuscate the process of exercising choice, or that exemptions are created to make opt-outimpossible.
How Facebook Responded to Tunisian Hacks
The Atlantic runs a fascinating story on how Facebook responded to a country-wide effort to capture login information for all users by installing keylogger programs at the ISP level.
Rogers’ Scare Tactics and “Unsafe Public Wifi”
As I tweeted yesterday, I had a surprising experience with Rogers customer service yesterday. I was calling to add a text plan to my wife’s cellphone account (the fact that her current plan – which includes hundreds of voice minutes, 1 GB of data, and an assortment of additional services – still charges 15 cents (soon 20 cents) per text is fodder for different post). After I agreed to pay a few more dollars each month to cover texts, the agent asked if used my laptop to access public wifi networks. When I said that I did, he asked if I knew the dangers of using public wifi, which I was told included the possibility of hackers accessing my data or inserting viruses onto my computer. Given the risks, the agent continued, might I be interested in the Rogers’ Rocket Stick?
In my view, these scare tactics are shameful. Mobile internet services are good products that can and should be sold on the basis of the convenience they provide, not by scaring consumers into thinking that alternative access services are unsafe. Yet the Rogers agent went for the FUD approach despite the facts that:
2011finalexam
2011finalexam.pdf
Recent Posts
Debating the Online Harms Act: Insights from Two Recent Panels on Bill C-63 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 199: Boris Bytensky on the Criminal Code Reforms in the Online Harms Act 
AI Spending is Not an AI Strategy: Why the Government’s Artificial Intelligence Plan Avoids the Hard Governance Questions 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 198: Richard Moon on the Return of the Section 13 Hate Speech Provision in the Online Harms Act 
Tweets Are Not Enough: Why Combatting Relentless Antisemitism in Canada Requires Real Leadership and Action
