Surveillance
Liberal-appointed Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) in remarks published more than a week after the expulsion of a Chinese spy complained of “extreme anti-China sentiment” in Canada. Woo urged Canadians to sign a Commons petition against a registry of foreign agents.
“Our better instincts have been compromised by the extreme anti-China sentiment that has spilled over into the toxic stigmatization of Canadians who are associated with the People’s Republic of China because of their ancestry, business ties or professional interests,” Woo wrote in an Ottawa periodical Policy Options magazine.
The article was published May 16, eight days after cabinet ordered the expulsion of Chinese spy Zhao Wei for targeting the family of a Member of Parliament. It was the first expulsion of a diplomat from Canada in five years.
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Read MoreHuge Delegation In Montréal
China has more “diplomats” assigned to Montréal than any other country including France, according to new figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs. The House affairs committee has been told the number of Chinese envoys in Canada is suspiciously high.
The department in an updated report Diplomatic, Consular & Other Representatives In Canada said it accredited 138 Chinese diplomats nationwide including 18 in Montréal. China had no agents in Montréal until it opened its consulate there in 2011.
The House affairs committee at a February 7 hearing was told the number of Chinese diplomats in Canada was high compared to other countries. “I counted up the number of diplomats accredited to Canada by various countries,” testified Charles Burton, a former Canadian envoy to China. “It does make me wonder,” he said.
New figures updated to this past March 31 show the list of 138 Chinese diplomats compares to 161 Americans, 60 Japanese, 48 Mexicans, 38 Germans, 35 Indians, 33 French, 33 Saudis, 31 Russians, 30 South Koreans, 28 Filipinos, 27 Britons, 24 Italians, 18 Australians, 15 Cubans, 24 Ukrainians, 12 Vietnamese and five New Zealanders.
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Read MoreAttorney General David Lametti says he will review changes in federal law to allow postal inspectors to open suspicious letters. The Canada Post Corporation Act states inspectors may only open larger packages suspected of carrying contraband.
“It is important not only to law enforcement but also important to the protection of human rights and rights to privacy under the Charter,” said Lametti. “It is a little trickier than a package so it needs more time.”
Testifying at the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee, Lametti said current regulations that prohibit inspection of letters up to 30 grams would have to be rewritten. “I am open to looking at it,” he said.
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Read MoreA security firm that sells AI weapons scanners to schools is facing fresh questions about its technology after a student was attacked with a knife that the $3.7m system failed to detect.
On Halloween last year, student Ehni Ler Htoo was walking in the corridor of his school in Utica, New York, when another student walked up behind him and stabbed him with a knife.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, the victim’s lawyer said the 18-year-old suffered multiple stab wounds to his head, neck, face, shoulder, back and hand.
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Read MoreBy Chris Burt
Facewatch’s live facial recognition for retail theft prevention has been declared compliant with the UK’s Surveillance Camera Code of Practice (SCCP), the company has announced.
The compliance certification was awarded by the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, Professor Fraser Sampson. The recognition is valid until March of 2024, and reflects adherence to the SCCP, as judged by the Security Systems and Alarms Inspections Board (SSAIB).
The company says it takes privacy protections, compliance with the law and the Code very seriously.
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Read MoreSpecial rapporteur David Johnston stopped short of calling for a public inquiry on Chinese election interference because of classified material would make it impossible.
But Johnston gave five other recommendations Tuesday morning.
First, Johnston said foreign government interference is a “real and growing threat.”
Second, the media “misconstrued” their reporting of the relevant intelligence reports.
Third, there are “serious shortcomings” in transferring intelligence from the security agencies to the federal government.
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Read MoreThree years ago, in the depths of lockdowns, it became obvious that we desperately needed a new citizen movement with a different focus. Prevailing ideological forms were simply not adapted to the enormous exogenous shock to the system that lockdowns implied. It was unexpected, especially under the guise of public health.
Every essential freedom was under attack. Authoritarian/totalitarian government sweep over the country and world, and nearly the entire intellectual class said: this is fine. And so I suggested a response:
1. Tech Surveillance and Censorship
2. Money and Banking
3. Business Enterprise
4. Regulatory Capture
5. Public Health
6. Educational Institutions
7. The Deep State
8. Crime and War
9. Immigration
10. Shattered Lives
11. The History
12. Force as a Policy Tool
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Read MoreDUBLIN, May 22 (Reuters) – Meta (META.O) was hit with a record 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) fine by its lead European Union privacy regulator over its handling of user information and given five months to stop transferring users’ data to the United States.
The fine, imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), came after Meta continued to transfer data beyond a 2020 EU court ruling that invalidated an EU-U.S. data transfer pact. It tops the previous record EU privacy fine of 746 million
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Read MoreInvestments in China by Canada’s largest public pension funds are facing increased scrutiny amid worsening relations between the two countries and allegations that some of those investments are funding the oppression of China’s Uyghur minority.
Recently, representatives of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, which manages the pensions of B.C. public sector workers, told a parliamentary committee studying Canada-China relations that they had paused new direct investment in China because of the increasing risks associated with that country.
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