Nov 082018
 
2018-11-08    Senator ‘repelled’ by StatsCan plan to scoop customer spending data from banks,  IT World Canada

(NOTE:  list of RELATED postings at bottom  /S) Howard Solomon    @HowardITWC Several senators attacked Statistics Canada’s controversial plan to force banks to hand over personal spending data of tens of thousands of residents at a hearing today as an unnecessary intrusion of privacy. “I’m repelled by this,” Sen. David Tkachuk told the Senate banking committee […]

Mar 232018
 
2018-03-21  Cambridge Analytica and Our Lives Inside the Surveillance Machine,  The New Yorker

Alexander Nix, pictured here in 2016, was recently suspended from his position as the C.E.O. of Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the center of a data-mining scandal involving Facebook. n 2006, a local pollster in Nepal was kidnapped by Maoist rebels while conducting opinion surveys on behalf of the American political strategist Stan Greenberg. The […]

Feb 192018
 
2018-02-13   StatsCan says response rate to 2016 census is highest yet, CBC.   The names of those being prosecuted . . .

RELATED:   (2011 census) 2013-10   Lockheed Martin Census: StatsCan math is wrong on non-compliance. It’s 11%, not 2%. Under oath at the trial of Audrey Tobias. GOOD NEWS:    3 months in jail is no longer used to coerce citizens into relinquishing their Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information.   (But the threat of prosecution is still […]

Jun 132017
 

Let us not go down the path described by George Orwell in The Animal Farm.   Forgetfulness of how democracy works,  the importance of our Charter Rights, the fact that it is only citizens who will, in the end, defend them.   We stand on guard.   http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/june-11-2017-the-sunday-edition-with-michael-enright-1.4150230/canadians-just-don-t-care-about-privacy-michael-s-essay-1.4150263   3:28 minutes total At the 1:03 minute mark, and which is WRONG: […]

Feb 042017
 

December 12,  2016    The Government announced Amendments to the Statistics Act   – –  details at  http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=18049.   Should I have sent out an action alert?   (I didn’t.) The changes to the Act have been made, but are not in effect yet – – the Bill (C-36) has not received Royal Assent as of Feb 3. […]

Aug 012016
 

August 1 update:  see appended note I sent to the Reporter, Kevin Libin.    And his appreciated reply. I removed the copy of his article from this posting (I would have had to pay $250).   To view the article,  please copy and insert into your search engine: Statistics Canada makes a shrewd power grab – while it can.  […]

Jul 142016
 
2016-07-12   University:   Canadian researchers who commit scientific fraud are protected by privacy law.  Toronto Star.   AND response.

The publicly funded agency responsible for policing scientific fraud is keeping secret the details surrounding these researchers. Their names, where they worked, and what they did wrong is protected under privacy laws.   MY RESPONSE, FOLLOWED BY THE ARTICLE  This is an extremely important article.    It opens a door through which more information can flow.   Many […]

Jul 102016
 
2014-03-04   U.S. pushes Canada to loosen privacy laws, Huffington Post

By Daniel Tencer The U.S. government is prodding Ottawa and some provinces to overhaul their privacy laws and allow Canadians’ personal data to be hosted on U.S. servers. PAUL J. RICHARDS via Getty Images In its latest report on international trade barriers, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) criticized federal and provincial regulations […]

Jun 142016
 

I did not know about the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup  in Paris, 1942.  Many French people were likewise in the dark. Bless Tatiana de Rosnay for her compelling novel, Sarah’s Key.  She says: I was . . .  appalled by what I discovered concerning the Vel’ d’ Hiv’ Roundup, especially about what happened to those 4,000 Jewish children, and […]

Jun 062016
 
2016-06-06   Official correspondence reveals lack of scrutiny of MI5's data collection   (Census, Lockheed Martin, Privacy of Personal Info)

Not mentioned in this article about confidential UK Government letters released by Privacy International: the similarities to alarms sounded in the UK, Canada, Australia and the U.S. over intelligence services and surveillance.   A few examples: 2014-09-26 Journalists and whistleblowers will go to jail under new national security laws, Australia, The Guardian. (Includes info on Five […]