A message from OpenMedia executive director, Steve Anderson: I, like many Canadians, am deeply upset right now. The Conservative government just forced Bill C-51 through a final Senate vote despite opposition from hundreds of thousands of Canadians.1 The Conservatives are hoping that we will all give up now. I’m frustrated,
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OpenMedia.ca: Conservative MP Laurie Hawn attacks Canadian Businesses that raised concerns about Bill C-51
Wow — this is how Conservative MP Laurie Hawn responded to the now 140+ businesses who have raised concerns in a letter published by the National Post about reckless spying Bill C-51:”[They] should seriously reconsider their business model and their lack of commitment to the values that bind us as
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: New Wireless auction results point to improved wireless service choice for Canadians
Screen Shot 2015-03-06 at 6.16.42 AM.png Industry Minister James Moore has announced the outcome of the AWS-3 wireless spectrum auction. Proactive spectrum rules appear to have ensured independent providers have the infrastructure they need to expand services For Immediate Release read more
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: What will it take to address Canada’s privacy deficit?
This piece was originally posted in the CCPA monitor. Six months ago, we argued that Canadians face a stark privacy deficit. A perfect storm of spy agency surveillance, privacy-undermining legislation, and lax privacy safeguards at government departments sparked concern from citizens right across the political spectrum. Since then, sadly, the situation has further deteriorated. The government’s
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: CCPA Monitor: The CRTC and the future of high-speed Internet access
This piece originally appeared in the December 2014 edition of the CCPA Monitor Last December, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) began a year-long public consultation on the future of Canada’s Internet services. At the core of the consultation, known formally as CRTC 2013-551 Review of Wholesale Services and
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: This is getting ridiculous
This is getting ridiculous. First, government spy agency CSEC assured us they didn’t spy on Canadians.1 Then, they finally admitted to ‘incidentally’ collecting our private data.2 Now, it’s finally been officially revealed that CSEC retained the private communications of Canadians, which were intercepted without a warrant.3 But they still aren’t
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: BREAKING: I’m taking your voice to the White House
We just got some huge news. The White House has invited me to a meeting with key Obama administration officials after feeling the heat from all of you speaking out against the Internet slow lane. Truthfully, we hadn’t expected or budgeted for this happening, and now we need to book
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: How Canadians can join the day of action to Stop The Internet Slowdown
As you may have heard, Big Telecom conglomerates want to slow down your Internet and make online services more expensive. But so far, “Net Neutrality” rules in several countries have banned their interference.The U.S., Canada, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, and the Netherlands are among those countries that have passed rules to
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: The TPP Internet Censorship Circus is in town and it’s more secretive than ever
The bureaucrats and industry lobbyists negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership have gone to great lengths to keep their plans a secret before, but this takes the cake. After scheduling the next round of bargaining for Vancouver, negotiators quietly made a last minute switch to Ottawa with only a week to go
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: We need a new approach to tackle Canada’s growing privacy deficit
Canadians everywhere have a new reason to thank the Supreme Court after a historic judgment on June 13 threw government spying plans into chaos. The justices ruled unanimously, in line with privacy officials and watchdogs, that warrantless government and police requests for disclosure of private online information are unconstitutional. read
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: New privacy legislation fails to tackle Canadians’ central privacy concern: reckless and expensive government surveillance
New privacy legislation does nothing to protect Canadians from out-of-control government spying. That’s according to our own Steve Anderson, writing in today’s edition of the @Epoch Times. Please SHARE this piece and speak out for real privacy protections at http://OurPrivacy.ca This week, Industry Minister James Moore quietly tabled a new
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Why we had to create a users guide for the CRTC’s flawed online consultation
The CRTC, the body that makes the rules for the media and telecom industry, is asking Canadians about the future of digital services in Canada. As part of their ‘TalkTV’ initiative, they’ve launched an interactive questionnaire called ‘Choicebook’ about government rules that have the potential to either help fix our
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Why is Bell Blocking Canadians from Watching the Daily Show Online?
One night not long ago I was about to take in my daily dose of the Daily Show with John Stewart after work, when I was forced to deal with a new popup window on the CTV website — CTV and other Bell Media websites are the only legal websites
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Canada’s spy watchdogs are lobbyists and that’s a problem
Many are expressing outrage now that the public has become aware that Chuck Strahl is acting as a lobbyist for Enbridge, the company hoping to build a controversial oil pipeline across B.C. The problem is that Strahl is also chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), which is basically
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Will Harper and James Moore keep their promise to lower cell phone prices?
It’s no wonder that so many Canadians are speaking out about the state of our broken wireless market. We pay some of the highest prices in the industrialized world for often terrible cell phone service. Thankfully it looks like decision-makers are finally starting to take notice. Stephen Harper highlighted the
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: See what Industry Minister Moore has to say about your sky-high cell phone bills
Last fall, a group of over 35 leading innovators and entrepreneurs joined OpenMedia.ca in sending a letter to Industry Minister James Moore. The letter decried that we pay some of the highest prices in the industrialized world for mobile services and emphasized the need for affordable independent cell phone options
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Let’s talk about solutions – for Canada’s broken telecom market
I have a lot of respect and admiration for independent telecom analyst and tech writer Peter Nowak. Peter regularly calls bull on Big Telecom’s misleading talking points, and backs it up with hard data and solid analysis. I consider his blog a public service and I read it regularly myself.
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: What you need to know about Canada’s Spy Agency and Your Privacy
Colin Freeze has published an excellent expose in The Globe and Mail about the government’s expensive and out-of-control spy bureaucracy CSEC over the weekend. The lengthy piece, entitled How CSEC became an electronic spying giant is well worth a read but if you want the Coles Notes version, we’ve pulled
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Canada, together we won these cell phone customer protection rules that kick in today
Co-authored by David Christopher Today, our hard-won new cell phone customer protection rules go into effect for all new cell phone contracts/sales. The new rules, which were announced by the CRTC (Canada’s telecom policy-maker) in June, apply right across Canada, so cell phone users from coast to coast to coast
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: A heartfelt thank you to Shea Sinnott from OpenMedia.ca
All of us here at OpenMedia want to thank Shea Sinnott, our tireless Operations Manager who is now moving on to other opportunities. Shea has been with OpenMedia since nearly the beginning – one of just four core staff who worked to grow OpenMedia from an unknown Vancouver-based group to
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