The following op-ed was written for The Globe And Mail by Lisa Austin, an advisor to the Stop Online Spying Coalition. The Coalition is a group of organizations that have come together to encourage the government to reconsider its pending online spying (“Lawful Access”) legislation. The Coalition supports the Canadians
Continue readingTag: Media News Post
OpenMedia.ca: Stop The Cap: Rogers’ wireless rhetoric contradicts itself
By Phillip Dampier for Stop The Cap Wireless operator (and cable company) Rogers Communications likes to spend big dollars pushing the message Canada is in the midst of a wireless spectrum crunch — a big reason why it wants “equal treatment”-bidding in upcoming spectrum auctions that may include “set-asides” exclusively
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Globe: The Conservatives haven’t demonstrated a need for online spying bills
By John Ibbitson for the Globe and Mail Suppose you read an online article – not this one, hopefully – that makes you so angry you post a comment under your online pseudonym, “Irate Canuck,” saying that someone ought to shoot the author. The police notice. Under legislation that the
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Reporting back from Ottawa: Weekly Update from OpenMedia.ca
Hello! Here’s Reilly and Steve (in Ottawa!) with your Weekly News Update from OpenMedia.ca: read more
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: A custom-built mobile tool for the pro-Internet community
Thanks to your donations and some good ol’ pro-Internet elbow grease, the OpenMedia.ca web app for iPhone and Android is here! Developed by the amazing Mark Coatsworth of Built By Giants, this app has everything a pro-Internet Canadian needs. Want to hit the streets in your community armed with a
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: G20 brings about Canada’s ‘largest’ spying operation ever; this before the online spying bills are even passed
Canada, you’ve just lived through what the RCMP calls the “largest domestic intelligence operation in Canadian history”. Wow… How does it feel? Last week Canadians learned that the government initiated a large Canada-wide, RCMP-led surveillance mission leading up to the G20 and G8 meetings, as well as to the 2010
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: A new tool to win the battle in the media
Pro-Internet community, you helped us build a first-of-its-kind online tool that will make it easy for Canadians to sound the alarm in newspapers across the country. Thanks to your donations and to some particularly awesome volunteers (Connie, Quincy, we’re talking about you), we were able to create an application that
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Ottawa Citizen: Ontario Privacy Commish slams online spying
By Vito Pilieci for the Ottawa Citizen Canadian judges and politicians have grown too old and out of touch with the reality of today’s digital world to be trusted to make sound policy decisions, according to Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner. Speaking at the Privacy & Information Security Congress 2011 conference in
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Guest Blog: CIPPIC tech lawyer Tamir Israel debunks government myths on online spying
As the lawful access debate moves into full swing, the government spin machine has been busy responding to the many emails received by MPs as a result of OpenMedia.ca’s recent letter-writing campaign set up in opposition to proposed online surveillance or ‘lawful access’ legislation. Although a number of individuals have
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Ars Technica: ISPs policing the Internet? European courts say "no way".
In Europe, the courts have decided that it would be a Charter of Rights violation—not to mention “technically unfeasible” and a violation of privacy—if ISPs were forced to police the Internet. Here in Canada, the government’s online spying bills would mean ISPs would be treated as state agents, obligated to
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: A healthy dose of competition: Weekly Updates from OpenMedia.ca
Hello! Here’s Lindsey and Carla with your Weekly Update from OpenMedia.ca: Thanks for your ongoing support, The OpenMedia.ca Team
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Surveillance expert Chris Parsons dismantles "Lawful Access" phone book comparison
While thousands of Canadians voice their concerns about the Conservative government’s proposed online spying legislation, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews attempts to dismiss our opposition, by comparing the program to a flip through the good old phonebook. ..Sounds innocent enough, no? Except for the fact that many telecommunications and
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Huffington Post: Indie ISP group says online spying bills will kill the competition
By Daniel Tencer for the Huffington Post The controversial online spying laws Ottawa has promised to reintroduce in Parliament could force independent Internet service providers to shut down, an industry advocacy group says. The Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium, a trade group composed of 25 small and mid-sized ISPs, says the
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: EFF: Update on Online Spying
By Katitza Rodriguez and Maira Sutton for the Electronic Frontier Foundation The Canadian national anthem proudly honors “The True North strong and free!” Yet Canadians face an imminent round of frightening online spy proposals that threaten long held civil liberties and privacy rights. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has insisted
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Post-UBB Reality: Hey MPs! Canada’s Internet is Still Falling Behind
Last week was a big week for Canada in terms of fostering Internet accessibility and affordability. As we’ve previously mentioned, we’re relatively happy with the UBB decision that came down last week, preventing Big Telecom companies such as Bell and Rogers from forcing usage-based billing practices on independent ISPs. And
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Geist: The CRTC sided with indie ISPs with the Internet metering decision
By Michael Geist Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released its much-anticipated usage based billing decision. While the ruling only focused on the use of data caps (or UBB) as between Internet providers, the issue garnered national attention with over 500,000 Canadians signing a petition against Internet data
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Montreal Gazette: Groups says it’s time to dump Big Telecom
By Jason Magder for the Montreal Gazette About 94 per cent of Canadians get their Internet service from one of a handful of large telecom companies. Now a net neutrality lobby group is urging people to dump big Telecom in droves, in the wake of a decision Tuesday by the
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Indie ISPs speak out on online spying: This isn’t going to be sustainable
By Howard Solomon for Network World Canada Canadian Internet providers say they could be in financial trouble if they have to buy equipment to comply with the government’s expected surveillance act The Conservative government’s anticipated lawful Internet access law could financially wipe out small Canadian Internet service providers, warns a
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Politicians Come Together for the Internet
The recent CRTC decision to revert mandatory UBB (Usage Based Billing) has only highlighted the immense role that OpenMedia.ca plays in safeguarding the public interest. Canadian politicians from all sides of the spectrum have come to a consensus over the need to improve Internet service practices in Canada. We agree
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Reactions to the UBB decision: The capacity model, competition, and a call from Shaw
I’d be caught in a lie if I were to write that this week has been anything less than hectic. I’m not sure exactly how I handled this amount of media attention and policy analysis this past spring, but today it was all on adrenaline. But now that things have
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