This week, experts at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) – the body that oversees Canada’s .ca domain – released their 2014 Factbook, which chronicles Canada’s advancement on Internet issues over the past year. The Factbook investigates how well-positioned Canadians are in the areas of access, cost, and usage. read
Continue readingTag: internet
OpenMedia.ca: Rogers hits senior with an $800 bill for Internet she never used
Rogers hit this B.C. senior with a whopping $800 bill for Internet she never even used. It seems not a week goes by without another story of Big Telecom price-gouging. Tell us yours in the comments below. Article from CBC News A senior citizen in Chilliwack, B.C., is angry about
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Should Rogers be allowed to block us from watching Hockey Night online?
Big Telecom is running scared of cord-cutters – and is doing what it takes to block them from watching their favourite shows online. It looks like Rogers is even planning to block Canadians from watching Hockey Night online. They want to trap Canadians in expensive and outdated service plans –
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: 100,000 thank yous
Last week, I passed 100,000 unique views on this blog – in slightly over two years since it was started. Not large by any means, given that some sites easily get that in a month. But a personal milestone for me.* Thank you, gentle readers, for coming here, for spending
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: From Antarctica to Vietnam, global Internet users are creating a vision for our digital future
Our small team at OpenMedia would like to take a moment to thank you – all of you – who have used the Internet to help create a roadmap forward for a fair digital future. It was in October 2013 that we asked our community – Internet users who are
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: DWR PSA – Filter Bubbles – Google is doing you a Disservice.
Break out of your browser bubble. I suggest you use duckduckgo as your web browser as they claim it is more private and bubble free. Filed under: Internet, Media Tagged: DWR PSA Saturday, Echo Chamber, Filter Bubble, Internet, Search Engines
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Mac celebrates 30 years
A recent article on Gizmodo shows off some previously unseen (or perhaps just forgotten) footage of a young Steve Jobs unveiling the Macintosh computer, back on January 30, 1984. Thirty years ago, this week. Seems like forever ago. But I remember it, and reasonably well. I remember where I was
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Huffington Post: Rogers accused of charging for internal Internet traffic
“Outright theft.” That’s what Canadians are calling this latest alleged attempt by Big Telecom to price-gouge us. Speak out against Big Telecom price-gouging at https://openmedia.ca/deadweight Article by Daniel Tencer for the Huffington Post Canada Rogers Communications is denying online accusations that it charges its internet customers for internal traffic on
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Australians to Canadians: Beware TPP economic fallout
Over 125,000 people – including tens of thousands of Canadians – have now spoken out about the damaging Internet censorship proposals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). We know from leaked drafts all about how the TPP would make your Internet more expensive, censored, and policed. Now, our friends in Australia
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Six Rules for Politicians Using Social Media
This is an updated version of the talk I presented at the the eighth annual Municipal Communication Conference in Toronto, November 2013. I use social media regularly and frequently. As a politician, that makes me either very brave or very stupid. But I’ve been doing this for the last
Continue readingCanadian Political Viewpoints: With Freedom and Liberty for Some, Sometimes.
I know, I know, the senate scandal had some interesting things happen this afternoon. But, as I started this post prior to those revelations, we’ll talk about this first and senate tomorrow or so. Somehow, I have ended up on the mailing list for Conservative MP Joy Smith; I would
Continue readingCanadian Political Viewpoints: With Freedom and Liberty for Some, Sometimes.
I know, I know, the senate scandal had some interesting things happen this afternoon. But, as I started this post prior to those revelations, we’ll talk about this first and senate tomorrow or so. Somehow, I have ended up on the mailing list for C…
Continue readingCanadian Political Viewpoints: With Freedom and Liberty for Some, Sometimes.
I know, I know, the senate scandal had some interesting things happen this afternoon. But, as I started this post prior to those revelations, we’ll talk about this first and senate tomorrow or so. Somehow, I have ended up on the mailing list for Conservative MP Joy Smith; I would
Continue readingwmtc: the sad tale of an oil stain, or how i was misled by the internet
Last week, while enjoying a lovely lunch at a restaurant with my mom and my partner, an oily sauce jumped out of a bowl and splattered on my shirt. All right, it didn’t actually jump out, truth is I can be a clumsy eater. But the sauce went on my
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: We have heading up for your net
I have to admit that I frequently read the spam comments WordPress traps for my moderation, and I often do so with a smile. The clumsy, crazy constructs, the awkward English, butchered punctuation and the twisted word use just make me laugh. Yes, like everyone else, I detest spam, and
Continue readingWe really should pay attention to these guys
I know precious little about the World Wide Web other than that it serves me royally. Tim Berners-Lee, on the other hand, knows a lot about it. And he should—he invented it. He is a leading authority on the power and the vulnerabilities of the Internet, uniquely qualified to comment
Continue readingwmtc: in which i survive three days without internet, or how rogers (maybe) punishes former customers
Sometime late on Thursday night into Friday morning, our internet went down. This is the worst possible time for such an event, as internet is our lifeline to baseball, and the Boston Red Sox are on their way (I hope) (I believe) to winning the World Series. From the sound
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Words, words, words
Writing before the arrival of the internet*, Bob Blackburn commented on the nature of exchange on then-prevalent BBS (Bulletin Board Systems), words that could as easily be written today about the internet: “…the BBS medium reveals not only a widespread inability to use English as a means of communication but
Continue readingwmtc: on the internet, everybody knows you’re a dog (the story behind the iconic cartoon)
We all know the iconic cartoon the title of this post refers to. Boing Boing has republished a story about it, originally run in The Magazine, an ad-free, reader-supported magazine that looks really interesting. It’s a wonderful little piece: the story behind the story, a glimpse into the life of
Continue readingwmtc: in praise of freecycle
It’s been a while since I wrote about Freecycle – once as we were getting ready to move to Canada in 2005, then again when we moved from our first place in Port Credit to the Cooksville section of Mississauga. On this last move (Cooksville to Square One), I had
Continue reading