NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission has ordered information from eight companies that the agency says offer products and services that use personal data to set prices based on a shopper’s individual characteristics. In a Tuesday announcement, the FTC said it was seeking to better understand the “opaque market” of “surveillance pricing” practices […]

A new phishing scam of fake missing person posts are circling around social media, and Lethbridge police are urging the public to verify information on the internet before sharing. Police have noticed an influx of posts, primarily targeted to Facebook Buy and Sell groups, of missing pets, children and wandering seniors, with the intent of […]

Energy infrastructure is an attractive target for cyberattacks but the experts needed to protect critical electricity grids and pipelines are in short supply, according to the federal government. Canada — and most of the world — is facing a shortage of cybersecurity professionals across all sectors which could reach 85 million workers by 2030, according […]

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 appears to have enough bipartisan support […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. House leaders are calling on CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify to Congress about the cybersecurity company’s role in sparking the widespread tech outage that grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and affected services around the world.  CrowdStrike said this week a “significant number” of the millions of computers […]

Transport providers, businesses and governments on Saturday are rushing to get all their systems back online after long disruptions following a widespread technology outage.  The biggest continuing effect has been on air travel. Carriers canceled thousands of flights on Friday and now have many of their planes and crews in the wrong place, while airports […]

As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals about new phishing schemes that […]

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — An initiative to ask voters if they want to protect the right to a pre-viability abortion in Montana’s constitution has enough signatures to appear on the November ballot, supporters said Friday. County election officials have verified 74,186 voter signatures, more than the 60,359 needed for the constitutional initiative to go before […]

Elections Canada is suggesting possible changes to protect the political nomination process from foreign meddling, including barring non-citizens from helping choose candidates, requiring parties to publish contest rules and explicitly outlawing practices such as voting more than once. The federal elections agency outlines the proposed moves in a discussion guide intended to help chief electoral […]

Show Notes for Saturday July 20th. Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.   Show Notes: One Tech Tip: Protecting yourself against SIM swapping https://fipa.bc.ca/one-tech-tip-protecting-yourself-against-sim-swapping/ What’s worse than thieves hacking into your bank account? When they steal your phone number, too https://fipa.bc.ca/whats-worse-than-thieves-hacking-into-your-bank-account-when-they-steal-your-phone-number-too ‘Data of nearly all AT&T customers downloaded from a […]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas isn’t enforcing a new law requiring abortion providers to ask patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies, as a legal challenge against that rule and other older requirements makes its way through the courts. Attorneys for the state and for providers challenging the new law along with other requirements […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission did not allow the public enough access to information about COVID-19 vaccine purchase agreements it secured with pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic, the EU general court said Wednesday.  The decision came a day ahead of a vote at the European Parliament at which European Commission President Ursula von der […]