Access and Privacy Online

Access and Privacy Online


Oilsands whistleblower says federal pledge is ‘bittersweet’

John O’Connor recalls when Indigenous harvesters brought in crates and crates of deformed fish that were kept on ice piled high in the band office. That was decades ago, when O’Connor was fresh in the region as a physician, making trips north to provide health care to Indigenous communities living downstream from the oilsands. During […]

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Sister of dead firefighter calls for safety overhaul of N.S. firefighting school

The sister of a firefighter who died during a training exam at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School says the program needs an overhaul to improve its safety standards. Twenty-eight-year-old Skyler Blackie died in hospital on March 9, 2019, after a fire extinguisher he was using exploded at the school on the outskirts of Halifax. His […]

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US Coast Guard Academy works to change its culture following sexual abuse and harassment scandal

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — The grueling basic training for fledgling cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, known as swab summer, has been revamped this year in light of a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the prestigious service academy. Gone is the shock-and-awe on Day 1 of the seven-week boot camp when rising […]

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The UN is moving to fight cybercrime but privacy groups say human rights will be violated

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A global deal on the criminal use of computer technology is moving ahead despite worries it will let governments around the world violate human rights by probing electronic communications and bypassing privacy safeguards. Nearly 200 nations approved the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime on Thursday afternoon at a special committee meeting […]

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New database tracks more than 2,100 deaths in custody across Canada since 2000

The average age of people who died in a Canadian correctional facility in the past two decades was 44, according to a database launched Friday by a team helmed by an Ottawa criminologist. The Tracking (In)Justice data set lists more than 2,100 deaths from all causes of people in custody across Canada over the past […]

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Are you a Cash App user? You may be eligible for a piece of this $15 million settlement

NEW YORK (AP) — Current and former Cash App users could be eligible for a hefty piece of a proposed class-action settlement from the popular online payment service. Earlier this year, Cash App Investing and its parent company Block Inc. agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged a “failure to exercise […]

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20240803 Access and Privacy Online

Show Notes for Saturday August 3rd. Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.   Show Notes: Senators call on Federal Trade Commission to investigate automakers’ sale of driving data to brokers https://fipa.bc.ca/senators-call-on-federal-trade-commission-to-investigate-automakers-sale-of-driving-data-to-brokers/ FIPA 2015 The Connected Car https://fipa.bc.ca/connected-car/ FIPA 2019 Update to ‘The Connected Car’ https://fipa.bc.ca/2019-update-to-the-connected-car/ A Privacy Code Practice for […]

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Colorado clerk who became hero to election conspiracists set to go on trial for voting system breach

DENVER (AP) — A trial is set to begin Wednesday for former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters, a hero to election conspiracy theorists who is accused of orchestrating a breach of election security equipment. The case against Peters centers around accusations that in May 2021 she allowed a man using someone else’s security badge to […]

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What to know about the Kids Online Safety Act that just passed the Senate

The last time Congress passed a law to protect children on the internet was in 1998 — before Facebook, before the iPhone and long before today’s oldest teenagers were born. Now, a bill aiming to protect kids from the harms of social media, gaming sites and other online platforms has passed in the Senate with […]

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Probe clears Greek government agencies in spyware scandal but opposition calls it a cover-up

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A two-year investigation in Greece has cleared the country’s security agencies of involvement in an international spyware scandal that triggered sanctions by the United States earlier this year, a senior prosecutor said Tuesday. Supreme Court prosecutor Georgia Adilini said she found no evidence linking Greece’s National Intelligence Service, the police force […]

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Senate passes bill to protect kids online and make tech companies accountable for harmful content

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday that is designed to protect children from dangerous online content, pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm that they cause. The bill, which passed 91-3, has been pushed by parents […]

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Georgia website that lets people cancel voter registrations briefly displayed personal data

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia election officials are encouraging people to use a state website to cancel voter registrations when someone moves out of state or dies, a nod to Republican concerns that there are invalid registrations on the rolls. But Monday’s rollout of the site by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was marred by […]

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