Access and Privacy Online

Access and Privacy Online


20250315 Access and Privacy Online

Show Notes for Saturday March 15. Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder Send comments to: FIPAOnline @ fipa.bc.ca You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.   Full Show Links LJI Privacy and Access Issues  Documents indicate massive diesel spill at New Brunswick Irving station   https://fipa.bc.ca/documents-indicate-massive-diesel-spill-at-new-brunswick-irving-station/  River Valley Sun – https://rivervalleysun.ca/documents-indicate-larger-than-expected-diesel-spill-at-beardsley-irving/   Province quietly pulls plug on Grade […]

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Schools use AI to monitor kids, hoping to prevent violence. Our investigation found security risks

One student asked a search engine, “Why does my boyfriend hit me?” Another threatened suicide in an email to an unrequited love. A gay teen opened up in an online diary about struggles with homophobic parents, writing they just wanted to be themselves. In each case and thousands of others, surveillance software powered by artificial […]

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Risks of state abortion reporting mandates outweigh the benefits, an advocacy group says

States should stop requiring health providers to file reports on every abortion because the information poses a risk to both them and their patients in the current political environment, a research group that advocates for abortion access says. The Guttmacher Institute says in a new recommendation that the benefit of mandated and detailed data collection […]

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UK expels Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in tit-for-tat response to expulsions in Moscow

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government said Wednesday it has expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two British embassy staff in Moscow earlier this week. The Foreign Office said it had summoned the Russian ambassador to the U.K., Andrei Kelin, to inform him of the […]

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Takeaways from our investigation on AI-powered school surveillance

Thousands of American schools are turning to AI-powered surveillance technology for 24/7 monitoring of student accounts and school-issued devices like laptops and tablets. The goal is to keep children safe, especially amid a mental health crisis and the threat of school shootings. Machine-learning algorithms detect potential indicators of problems like bullying, self-harm or suicide and […]

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FTC asks judge to delay Amazon trial due to resource constraints

The Federal Trade Commission asked a federal judge on Wednesday to delay a trial in a case accusing Amazon of using deceptive practices in its Prime subscription program, citing staffing and budgetary challenges at the government agency. Jonathan Cohen, a lawyer for the FTC, made the request before U.S. District Judge John Chun, who is […]

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US attorneys for a Russian woman seeking to recover a megayacht target Antigua

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Attorneys for the daughter of a U.S.-sanctioned Russian billionaire asked a U.S. federal court Tuesday for access to the financial records of officials including the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, whose administration is under scrutiny for seizing and selling the family’s 265-foot (81-meter) megayacht and not releasing documents […]

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Province quietly pulls plug on Grade 10 exams

Manitoba Education has discreetly dropped Grade 10 exams from its annual system-wide assessment schedule. The evaluations were originally designed to measure strengths and knowledge gaps up to and including Grade 9 content to inform teacher instruction for the remainder of a cohort’s high school career and provincial planning, policy and resource decisions. They never made […]

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As Ontario hikes cost of electricity exports, Lutnick says more tariffs are coming

Ontario placed a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports to the United States on Monday as Canada braced for steel and aluminum duties the Trump administration is set to deploy on Wednesday. “I feel terrible for the American people, because it’s not the American people who started this trade war,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford […]

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Meet the federal worker who went rogue: ‘I hope that it lights a fire under people’

NEW YORK (AP) — To billionaire Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team at the Department of Government Efficiency, Karen Ortiz may just be one of many faceless bureaucrats. But to some of her colleagues, she is giving a voice to those who feel they can’t speak out. Ortiz is an administrative judge at the Equal […]

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Russia expels 2 British diplomats from embassy in Moscow over espionage claims

Russia said on Monday it was expelling two British diplomats based at the embassy in Moscow over spying allegations that the U.K. called “malicious and baseless.” Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti that the two diplomats had provided false personal data while seeking […]

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U.S. commerce secretary says steel and aluminum tariffs coming this week

Canada remains in the crosshairs of U.S. President Donald Trump’s enormous tariff agenda, with steel and aluminum duties set to come into force on Wednesday. While U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that Trump will follow through on his plan to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., […]

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