Surveillance

Feminist author Margaret Atwood compares Bill C-63 to George Orwell’s 1984

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

Canadian author Margaret Atwood said she believes Bill C-63 is so concerning that she even compared it to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

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House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill to Ban TikTok in U.S.

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would ban TikTok if they do not sell the company from its Chinese parent company.

The House voted 352-61-1 H.R. 7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The bill featured 15 Republicans against the bill, 50 Democrats against it, showing that there is strong bipartisan interest in curbing TikTok’s apparent national security threat.

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Exclusive — Rep. Pfluger: TikTok Legislation Not a ‘Ban’ on the App Per Se; Forces ‘Divestment’ from CCP

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

H.R. 7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — which passed in the Republican-controlled House on Wednesday — is not a blanket ban on TikTok per se, Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) said during an interview on Breitbart News Daily, explaining that the legislation actually offers an ultimatum, forcing TikTok to divest from China or face expulsion from the United States.

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‘Orwellian’: Margaret Atwood, Elon Musk sound alarm over Trudeau Liberals’ Online Harms Act Justin Trudeau has finally managed to unite people from across the political spectrum – against his Liberal government’s Online Harms Act.

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

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Justin Trudeau has finally managed to unite people from across the political spectrum – against his Liberal government’s Online Harms Act. Upon its release, the proposed legislation garnered criticism from conservatives, however, it has now come under attack by lifelong liberals, and those who fall somewhere in between.

Among those warning of the potential consequences of Bill C-63, which Justice Minister Arif Virani claimed would make the internet a safer place for all, especially children, are legendary Canadian author Margaret Atwood and Tesla CEO Elon Musk

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It’s time for Trudeau to stand up to TikTok: Peter Menzies in the Hub

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

Here’s a tip for web giants wanting to make sure public policymakers don’t shut them down because they fear they will abuse the power of their platform to exert political influence: don’t use the power of your platform to try to exert political influence.

Such is the lesson learned by TikTok (and, hopefully, others) over the past few days when it encouraged users to call U.S. congressional offices to express their alarm that the popular global social media platform could be evicted from the lucrative American market.

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ArriveCan Contractor Testifying Under Arrest Threat Now Faces Contempt of Parliament

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

A key contractor for the ArriveCan application who testified in committee under threat of arrest now faces being found in contempt of Parliament for not being forthcoming with MPs.

Kristian Firth, co-owner of GC Strategies, appeared for three hours before the House of Commons government operations committee on March 13.

Mr. Firth spoke of receiving threats due to his association with the ArriveCan scandal and said that “virtually everything” said in the media about him and his company has been “false.”

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Foreign Interference Inquiry to Allow Opposition Parties to Cross-Examine Witnesses

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

Major opposition parties and former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole will be given the powers to cross-examine witnesses in the next phase of the public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s federal elections.

The Conservatives, NDP, Bloc Québécois, and Mr. O’Toole will receive these rights during the next phase of the public hearings, slated to run from March 27 to April 10, according to the commission’s spokesperson Michael Tansey. The four were previously given “intervener” status, which denied them the right to question witnesses.

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Digital surveillance is omnipresent in China. Here’s how citizens are coping

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

Do you ever think about the digital footprint you leave when you are browsing the web, shopping online, commenting on social networks or going by a facial recognition camera?

State surveillance of citizens is growing all over the world, but it is a fact of everyday life in China, where it has deep historical roots.

In China, almost nothing is paid for in cash anymore. Super apps make life easy: people use Alipay or WeChat Pay to pay for subway or bus tickets, rent a bike, hail a taxi, shop online, book trains and shows, split the bill at restaurants and even pay their taxes and utility bills.

The Chinese also use these platforms to check the news, entertain themselves and exchange countless text, audio and video messages, both personal and professional. Everything is linked to the user’s mobile phone number, which is itself registered under their identity. The government may access the data collected by Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi and other operators.

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Theresa Tam’s Public Health Agency seeks to monitor Canadians’ confidential medical records

By Iron Will / March 13, 2024 /

The Public Health Agency of Canada is looking to hire someone to monitor the confidential medical records of Canadians, despite the agency’s history of disregarding personal data and privacy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government of Canada has put out a call to hire someone to track and trace the medical records of all Canadians.

In a publication released on March 6, Health Canada put out a call for a supplier to help strengthen public health surveillance through primary care insights.

The description states that Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems are widely used in Canadian primary care settings and offer significant potential for disease surveillance. The “Pan-Canadian primary care EMR data is recognized as valuable for federal public health surveillance programs,” it reads. “The recently released Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy emphasizes the importance of primary care research moving towards real-time data sharing and person-centric data.”

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Airbnb bans creepy surveillance cameras inside rentals starting April 30

By Iron Will / March 12, 2024 /

Indoor cameras had been permitted in “common areas.”

Airbnb, like hotels and rival vacation rental site Vrbo, will no longer allow hosts to record guests while they’re inside the property. Airbnb previously allowed hosts to have disclosed cameras outside the property and in “common areas” inside, but Airbnb’s enforcement of the policy and the rules’ lack of specificity made camera use troubling for renters.

Airbnb announced today that as of April 30, it’s “banning the use of indoor security cameras in listings globally as part of efforts to simplify our policy on security cameras and other devices” and to prioritize privacy.

Cameras that are turned off but inside the property will also be banned, as are indoor recording devices. Airbnb’s updated policy defines cameras and recording devices as “any device that records or transmits video, images, or audio, such as a baby monitor, doorbell camera, or other camera.”

Also starting April 30, Airbnb will require hosts to disclose the presence of noise decibel monitors. Airbnb said it will only allow noise-monitoring devices that “do not record or transmit sounds or conversations” and that these are also “only allowed in common spaces of listings.”

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