Webistemology

Relocation

2009-01-23T23:41:00.001-05:00

My occasional blog posts can now be found at http://wunderlich.ca/blog

Google Blogger Widget

2006-10-14T23:06:00.000-04:00

Just testing:

Coming back after an absence, triggered by seeing the new google blogger widget off the new google mac blog, and also the availability of a gaping void widget to add to the site. Convenience and something interesting at the same time! Who am I to resist. What you see below is the default text put in place by the blogger widget.

This widget has successfully logged in! Replace this text with your
first post.

You can use ⌘-B and ⌘-I to make text bold and
italic.

Audible Auto Link

2006-07-25T20:41:00.000-04:00

When I reinstalled my PalmOne software on my iMac, and then went into the extra software, I got this:

Protect Personal and Financial Privacy: Cell Phone Privacy Sold for $110

2006-01-08T00:32:00.000-05:00

Protect Personal and Financial Privacy: Cell Phone Privacy Sold for $110: "Chicago Sun Times Crime Reporter Frank Main bombshell privacy story (linked above) tells of a web site called LocateCell (one of dozens of similar services) where the cell phone records of any phone can be purchased for $110 for a list, plus $50 more for length of calls. "
This business model pretty much guarantees the introduction of legislation.

Footprints in the Sand.jpg

2006-01-07T22:49:00.000-05:00

Footprints in the Sand.jpg
Originally uploaded by JohnW_1956.

It was pretty cold this morning in Montreal, so I thought I'd post this shot from a trip to Florida in November.

Remembrance of warmer times.

Internet News Article | Reuters.co.uk

2006-01-07T21:46:00.000-05:00

Internet News Article | Reuters.co.uk: " Forgetting computer passwords is an everyday source of frustration, but a solution may literally be at hand -- in the form of computer chip implants. With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer. Tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chips inserted into Graafstra's hands make it all possible."

Is it just me or does this strike anyone else as a two edged sword. Never mind the obtrusive advertising of the "Minority Report" base on retina scans, think what marketers and security staff can do with this one!

Happy New Year

2006-01-02T09:19:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year!

Also wanted to give kudos to give bloglines kudos for their creative under construction notice.

Federal agents' visit was a hoax: 12/ 24/ 2005

2005-12-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

Federal agents' visit was a hoax: 12/ 24/ 2005: "The UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by Homeland Security agents over his request for 'The Little Red Book' by Mao Zedong has admitted to making up the entire story.

The 22-year-old student tearfully admitted he made the story up to his history professor, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, and his parents, after being confronted with the inconsistencies in his account."

Although there was suspicion from the start that this was a hoax, the original reporter stuck by his story, until this latest addendum by the student.

Thanks to Bruce Shneier for this blog post on this.

Schneier on Security: Vehicle Tracking in the UK

2005-12-22T17:08:00.000-05:00

Schneier on Security: Vehicle Tracking in the UK: "The problems and insecurities that come from living in a surveillance society more than outweigh any crimefighting (and terrorist-fighting) advantages."

All I can say is that isn't it ironic that Orwell was a Brit?

Innovation Happens Elsewhere

2005-12-21T17:57:00.000-05:00

Innovation Happens Elsewhere: "Innovation Happens Elsewhere" is the name of a recent book on the business uses of open source. Available on the web thanks to a Creative Commons license.

Schneier on Security: How Much High Explosive Does Any One Person Need?

2005-12-20T17:10:00.000-05:00

Schneier on Security: How Much High Explosive Does Any One Person Need?: "If anyone is looking for something to spend national security money on that will actually make us safer, securing high-explosive-filled trailers would be high on my list."

Mine Too!

The Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition

2005-12-18T20:47:00.000-05:00

The Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition: "Privacy rules let con man drain funds"

In this piece the bank for an old woman, who appears to have been bilked for her life savings by a young 'opportunist', correctly claims that that they shouldn't presume to know better than the customer what they want to do with their money. One of the woman's sons claims that only an alert from a bank employee - which breached his mother's privacy - enabled them to detect the alleged fraud. This highlights the wrong issue at the bank. The customer's privacy does need to be protected, as does her fiscal well being. Protecting the customer's privacy is something that the bank has to do, and has the power to do. Making decisions about her money or who to disclose her transactions to violates both the customer's privacy and removes from her the possibility of acting on her own behalf - even to the extent of making bad decisions.

I have to say that I share the view that the bank has some culpability here. The pattern of withdrawals described is at least suspicious, and it seems to me should have alerted the bank to do something more concrete than the internal hand-wringing that was described. Had this been a case of identity theft, with money disappearing unbeknownst to the customer, clearly the bank would have some explaining to do. A notice to police of possible fraudulent activity would not, in my mind, constitute a privacy breach, and would enable the bank to protect all clients and not just those with diligent sons.

At this point, only civil or criminal proceedings present any hope, and if the 'handy man' of the story claims that the money given was given freely, then this just might unfortunately be the end of the story

Caveat emptor!

The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Borrow the wrong book and get it personally delivered by the feds

2005-12-18T18:40:00.000-05:00

The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Borrow the wrong book and get it personally delivered by the feds: "One of the problems with widespread monitoring is the huge incidence of 'false positives'. This example from the University of Massachusetts is instructive and a bit chilling to those who have commented upon it."

I just checked and I still have my copy of the little red book from my old days. Does admitting this in public make me more of a security risk than if I kept it secret?

BBC NEWS | Technology | What is it with Wikipedia?

2005-12-18T09:36:00.000-05:00

It was thinking about what is turning into an issue for Wikipedia that gave me the idea for the name for this blog....Webistemology

BBC NEWS | Technology | What is it with Wikipedia?: "The achievement of the Wikimedia Foundation should not be underestimated, but we should not be surprised if there are errors. No information source is guaranteed to be accurate, and we should not place complete faith in something which can so easily be undermined through malice or ignorance thanks to its open architecture."

Global Fast Cities

2005-12-14T15:27:00.000-05:00

Gotta love it!

Global Fast Cities: "Multicultural, tolerant, hip, and tech-oriented, it features both Old World European charm and modern high-rises. Among international cities, Montreal boasts the fifth-largest creative-class workforce. Overall job growth ranks in the top five among North American cities. Film production is flourishing: Montreal has more set and sound-stage space than any city in North America."

Lawful Access

2005-11-16T13:33:00.000-05:00

Here is the summary acompanying the new "Lawful Access Bill"

My question is why is this necessary? The police seem to have been making arrests and moving forward on cyber crime. What's up?

SUMMARY

This enactment requires telecommunications service providers to put in place and maintain certain capabilities that facilitate the lawful interception of information transmitted by telecommunications and to provide basic information about their subscribers to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Commissioner of Competition and any police service constituted under the laws of a province.

Maybe this should just be labelled "Easy Access"

Enterprise Infrastructure > Servers and Mainframes > FALL IDF: Microsoft to support Linux with Virtual Server

2005-08-26T14:01:00.000-04:00

Is it just me or is this like a Chevy sedan trying to pull a Mack truck?

Enterprise Infrastructure > Servers and Mainframes > FALL IDF: Microsoft to support Linux with Virtual Server: "he next release of Microsoft Corp.'s Virtual Server product will support the virtualization of both Linux and Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris operating systems on servers running the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS), a company spokesman said in an interview Wednesday."

Blogger For Word Test

2005-08-23T22:25:00.000-04:00

Addendum to prior post:
This is just a quick note that I’m putting in to text the Blogger for Word add-on.
More Later,
JW

This Magazine: The Rebel Sell

2005-08-23T17:29:00.000-04:00

Just read Rebel Sell, and agree with this blurb:
This Magazine: The Rebel Sell: "So here is Frank’s claim, simply put: books like No Logo, magazines like Adbusters, and movies like American Beauty do not undermine consumerism; they reinforce it."

www.GovExec.com - DHS policy shop may reshape agency priorities (7/20/05)

2005-07-22T15:43:00.000-04:00

So what's the subtext?
www.GovExec.com - DHS policy shop may reshape agency priorities (7/20/05): "Privacy abuses, Baker said, can be prevented by controlling access to data, conducting electronic audits, and through a cryptographic tool known as anonymization, which allows data to be shared while still controlling conditions of access to that data. For example, lists could be encrypted and then compared electronically. Only items common to both lists would be identified."

blogonnymity - bloggin On the Identity Trail

2005-07-06T14:48:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting commentary by outgoing B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis:

blog*on*nymity - bloggin On the Identity Trail: "Before privacy laws or the Charter, there was little if anything to stop police or national security operatives from cajoling or coercing information from private sector organizations. A civic-minded government department or company could blab all it wanted about its customers or employees."

Schneier on Security: Wired on Identity Theft

2005-06-29T22:22:00.000-04:00

Schneier on Security: Wired on Identity Theft

Just passing on what seems a sensible set of recomendations.

Week in review: Revenge of the fedsI'

2005-05-29T15:15:00.000-04:00

Is it just me, or does this sound chilling to you as well:

Week in review: Revenge of the feds: "Homeland Security agents from several divisions served search warrants on 10 people around the country suspected of being involved with the Elite Torrents site, and took over the group's main server."

Silly me. I thought Homeland Security was supposed to be about terrorism, not intellectual property. I'm not taking a position here on whether or not the Bit Torrent site was involved in IP theft, or on peer to peer sharing generally. I'm just saying that even if you grant that this is a flagrant and egregious violation of creative and intellectual property rights, what has that got to do with 'Homeland Security'?

The Five Most Shocking Things About the ChoicePoint Debacle - CSO Magazine - May 2005

2005-05-03T10:25:00.000-04:00

CSO Magazine quotes Bruce Schneir regarding the ChoicePoint debacle: "It was like they put a big sign on themselves that said 'Regulate me,'' "

Identity theft: Attack the right issue

2005-04-15T10:20:00.000-04:00

Bruce Schneir writes in his blog: "The very term 'identity theft' is an oxymoron. Identity is not a possession that can be acquired or lost; it's not a thing at all. Someone's identity is the one thing about a person that cannot be stolen.
The real crime here is fraud; more specifically, impersonation leading to fraud. Impersonation is an ancient crime, but the rise of information-based credentials gives it a modern spin. "

David Akin's On the Hill :: Canada to update Access to Information laws

2005-04-15T09:23:00.000-04:00

According to David Akin's On the Hill: the Justice Minister is, "proposing the possible extension of the ATIA to the Office of the following Agents of Parliament: the Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner, the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Chief Electoral Officer, and the Auditor General".
One wonders if this means that one will be able to use an access to information request to disclose the names of companies that have been found to have violated privacy?

BBC - Press Office - Creative Archive

2005-04-13T09:10:00.000-04:00

According to the BBC Press Office: "The BBC Creative Archive, first announced by former BBC Director-General, Greg Dyke at the Edinburgh Television Festival in August 2003, launches in autumn 2004 and will allow people to download clips of BBC factual programmes from bbc.co.uk for non-commercial use, keep them on their PCs, manipulate and share them, so making the BBC's archives more accessible to licence fee payers.

However, the initiative also has broader public service ambitions to pioneer a new approach to public access rights in the digital age."

Are you listening RIAA?

Ready Set... wait for it

2005-04-11T18:31:00.000-04:00

According to the story to be found here: "Canada's main opposition party is unlikely to let the minority Liberal government survive more than a month, senior Conservatives said on Monday."

Given the almost complete lack of principle shown by the major parties, I'm thinking it might be time to nominate Rick Mercer from Monday Report for our next P.M. If nothing else we'll have the possibility for some straight talk, and a little fun besides. Just picture Prime Minister Mercer in question period. If he can get Mary Walsh as his Minister for Attitude, I'd be a happy Canadian.

Just how paranoid is paranoid enough?

2005-04-11T18:14:00.000-04:00

Check out the story below. Two passengers were on the U.S. 'no-fly' list and a KLM flight was therefore denied overflight of U.S. territory. Note that neither the U.K. nor Saudia Arabia detained or arrested these individuals when they returned through the U.K. to Saudi Arabia. One doubts that either of these states would have hesitated if there had been any real evidence.

Expatica - Living in, moving to, or working in the Netherlands, plus Dutch news in English: "The two passengers who were on the US 'no-fly list' were not arrested at Schiphol and were flown via England back to Saudi Arabia, their land of origin, where they were not refused entry either. Neither British nor Dutch authorities decided to detain them."

Clearly, as if any extra evidence was required, the balance between privacy and civil rights on one side and 'security' on the other is completely skewed in the U.S.

States Scramble To Protect Data (washingtonpost.com)

2005-04-11T10:38:00.000-04:00

Here's a pretty good example of someone whose eyes are pretty firmly fixed in the rear view mirror:

States Scramble To Protect Data (washingtonpost.com): "'Consumers may say they want the choice, and may exercise the choice, but they don't often realize the consequences,' said Nessa Feddis, senior policy counsel with the American Bankers Association. 'They may not realize that a freeze will slow a credit application. It may also delay job applications, apartment rental applications, insurance applications.'"

Black eye for privacy | Tech News on ZDNet

2005-04-05T10:28:00.000-04:00

Black eye for privacy | Tech News on ZDNet: "The downside of security becoming more mainstream is that everyone has an agenda or opinion, and the default behavior is overt overreaction. Yes, something must be done, but it's important to get back to basics first."

Apple's Mac Mini | A Mac In The House | March 4, 2005 | Network Computing

2005-03-08T12:18:00.000-05:00

Apple's Mac Mini | A Mac In The House | March 4, 2005 | Network Computing: "Something else about the hardware: Why is it that Steve Jobs is the only man on earth whose company can design a computer that people somehow instinctively 'love'? "

Schneier on Security: Sneaking Items Aboard Aircraft

2005-03-01T15:13:00.000-05:00

I was once late for a flight out of Halifax. I was stopped and had to decide whether to leave my Swiss Army knife with security (i.e. have it confiscated) or miss the flight. Please note that this was the smallest product available from victorinox. If I hadn't been late, I could arranged to have the little thing mailed back to myself, but I was late so I did lose the tool. Which why I'm sympathetic with this one:

Schneier on Security: Sneaking Items Aboard Aircraft: "Security systems fail in one of two ways. They can fail to stop the bad guy, and they can mistakenly stop the good guy. The TSA likes to measure its success by looking at the forbidden items they have prevented from being carried onto aircraft, but that's wrong. Every time the TSA takes a pocketknife from an innocent person, that's a security failure. It's a false alarm. The system has prevented access where no prevention was required. This, coupled with the widespread belief that the bad guys will find a way around the system, demonstrates what a colossal waste of money it is."

ChoicePoint Error Prompts Calls for Identity Theft Law - Computerworld

2005-03-01T14:39:00.000-05:00

I would be very interested to see what a national privacy law in the U.S. would look like, especially since I think that is will only happen in response to instances like ChoicePoint error below. It's likely that we would see the following as components of such a law:

Offenders would not be anonymous

Guilt would be effectively presumed in the event of a privacy breach

Fines and punishments would be significant

Even worse, violation would provide excuse for civil litigation

ChoicePoint Error Prompts Calls for Identity Theft Law - Computerworld: " A variety of privacy groups and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are renewing calls for a national privacy law in the wake of news that data collector ChoicePoint Inc. mistakenly gave private information on up to 145,000 U.S. residents to identity thieves. "

Right to know vs. Privacy

2005-01-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

According to Media Scout, "...the perennial media debate of the right to privacy versus the right to know has been reignited" by whether or not to produce lists of Canadians thought to be dead or missing due to the tsunami of Dec. 26th.

This is one of those issues that will never be settled by the recitation of anecdotes or experiences. People who grieve based on a name on the list, only to find out that the person survived may well be incensed. On the other hand, people who do lose loved ones could be just as incensed by the publication of their relatives name as an invasion of privacy. On balance, I think Ottawa has done the right thing in not publishing a list that is partially speculative, and will definitely include the names of people that have survived. I don't doubt that as bodies are identified, then next of kin are notified, so that nobody is in suspense in the case of a confirmed fatality. Therefore the publication of a list serves only to serve the needs of the curious and the morbid.

There is no doubt that there is a public "right to know", but this should apply to items that belong in the public sphere, and the private tragedies of the families and friends of people who may have lost their lives in the South Asian disaster do not belong there.

CBC News: Canadian air security jeopardized: senator

2004-12-29T15:34:00.000-05:00

This one is just plain embarassing:
"Documents obtained by CBC News show that 1,127 uniform items belonging to Canadian airport screeners were lost or stolen in a nine-month period." The report goes on to quote Peter St. John, a U. of Manitoba terrorism expoert,
"If you have a uniform and you have the right credentials then you've got access to do anything you want in the airport," says St. John. "You can almost board a plane at will and hijack it or anything. Security is just poor."

Top 5 privacy issues for 2005 - Computerworld

2004-12-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

Larry Ponemon's Top 5 privacy issues for 2005: "Despite privacy concerns, however, the vast majority of people we contacted are willing each day to take significant information-sharing risks for small benefit. These actions include downloading free software, obtaining free Internet services or receiving an e-product coupon. "
The top five issues are:
Identity management
Phishing and Spoofing
Internet Advertisting
Airline privacy
Customer Trust for business value

Another kick at the can

2004-12-22T11:00:00.000-05:00

After losing their first complaint about Abika, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)
has refiled a complaint. The first complaint was rejected because the federal Privacy Commissioner maintained due to lack of jurisdiction outside of Canada.

Say cheese

2004-12-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

The CAW in Winnipeg has just launched a grievance and a privacy complaint in reference to employer video surveillance, asking for damages based on "loss of dignity and invasion of privacy". Meanwhile, next door in Ontario, in a provincially regulated arbitration hearing, David Fraser has pointed out an arbitration hearing rejecting a grievance about video surveillance, since there is NO statutory right of privacy in provincial labour relations in Ontario.

I predict two things. First is that Anne Cavoukian, the outspoken Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario will not be pleased and will say so. Second and more nebulous is that this decision, if publicized, may act as a catalyst to properl private sector privacy legislation in Ontario. The two are not unrelated.

Ontario government acts to defuse security slip up

2004-12-21T14:47:00.000-05:00

The next time suggests to you that they release a product or process without realistic simulation and testing, just point them to this

Members cry foul over data collection

2004-12-21T11:35:00.000-05:00

In this story one of the directors of the organization is cited as saying that, "... he did not know until this week that the organization was using an outside company to collect data or that collection had expanded from major donors to those who contribute as little as $20. 'Honestly, I don't know the details of how they do it because that's not something a board member would be involved in,' he said"

Big problem here. Knowing the privacy guidelines for personal information collection sufficiently well to know that privacy is not being violated is EXACTLY the responsibility of the board. Hiding this as 'too detailed' for our attention is, at best, a serious misunderstanding the role of governance and privacy. At worst it could quality as malfeasance in office. When you add that the organization in question is the ACLU, you have to add hypocrisy to the mix

Globetechnology: They know when you are sleeping, they know when you're awake

2004-12-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

This one in from the Globe on-line:

"As a vice-president at Environics Analytics, he runs one of the Canadian companies that tell people trying to sell you stuff how to track you down and get your attention. He advises banks where to locate new branches, he knows which grocery stores should stock thin-crust pizza and he can design direct mail to your presumed tastes. A few years back, with great success, he told the Liberal Party what to say (and not to say) to woo swing voters in certain neighbourhoods."

Is it just me or is there something fundamentally wrong about a policital party operating on polls instead of something silly like principles and policies? I know that it's been this way for a while, but seeing it cast this way as if it were a positive thing is just a bit too over the top for me.

Compliance Spending: The Good, The Bad, And The Good

2004-12-19T23:57:00.000-05:00

Given how few IT projects are solidly grounded in financials, it's hard to see how this assertion could be made in Compliance Pipeline:

"Weighing the costs versus the benefits of compliance projects has been a challenge. Most corporations hate being told how they must spend their money, but in the final analysis, IT projects like Sarbanes-Oxley compliance may actually net positive results."

maisonneuve :: eclectic curiosity

2004-12-17T18:11:00.000-05:00

Jonathon Monpetit of MediaScout says, "Yesterday, Britain’s law lords, who preside over the UK’s highest court of appeal, ruled in a blockbuster decision that Britain’s anti-terrorism law contravenes the European Charter of Rights. The pronouncement was unequivocal in its criticism: Britain’s anti-terror legislation is xenophobic and discriminatory. What the law lords took issue with are clauses allowing foreigners to be detained without any of the traditional liberties afforded to defendants, such as a trial, while citizens are spared such treatment. Canada has similar laws and provisions to those currently being held to the fire in Britain. But Anne McLellan, Canada’s Public Safety Minister, has said there are no plans for a review of this country’s anti-terrorist legislation. At least Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has said he will consider the British ruling carefully. "

Shame on you Ms. McLellan!

"Do Not Call" in the Future

2004-12-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

It's about time. According to Canada NewsWire, "Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer
Stoddart today congratulated Industry Minister David L. Emerson on the recent
introduction of legislation to create a national Do Not Call List for
telemarketers."

CIBC Apologizes - some more

2004-12-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

A business idea whose time has come? A subscriber based private fax phone network?

CNEWS - Canada: Rogers faces privacy probe

2004-12-17T13:24:00.000-05:00

And cheers could be heard throughout the land. Who amongst us has not quietly, or not so quietly railed against the so-called negative option? According to CNEWS, "The federal privacy commissioner's office has opened an investigation into a Toronto man's complaint that the Rogers Wireless service contract includes a 'negative option' privacy policy that is illegal. "

Microsoft fixes 'critical' XP firewall issue

2004-12-17T13:18:00.000-05:00

According to IT World Canada, "Microsoft Corp. has quietly released an update to Windows XP to fix a potentially serious configuration problem in the firewall that ships as part of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Users who installed SP2 on their Windows XP machines and also have file and printer sharing enabled may have been sharing their files and printers with the entire Internet, according to Microsoft."

As tempting as it might be to slag Microsith over this, I do understand that they are caught in a fundamental contradiction. Microsoft grew fat and happy on providing 'easy' and 'convenient' software for a mass market. Enterprise priorities are different. And now you add to the mix that people SAY they want security, but ACT and BUY for price and convenience. What's a company based on old style, pre-Cluetrain marketing to do?

I don't know, but I do know that until we have some general consensus on how to understand and specify our individual and corporate requirements on privacy, security, and ease of use software companies are going to continue to be caught between a rock and a hard place. On the other hand, sitting on the pile of cash that they are, even the that place has to be pretty comfortable for Microsoft.

Lessons in identify theft

2004-12-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

Just because you haven't seen changes in your credit card doesn't mean your identity hasn't been stolen:

Geekward Ho: So very casually: "I'm talking to a credit-check person on the phone; he's asking for, if possible, a photocopy of my Social Insurance Number card. I explain that I don't carry the card because I've had it stolen twice and never bothered after that. 'Ah yes,' he says, 'the file mentions that your social insurance number has been used by many other people.'"

Alberta's turn

2004-12-17T01:43:00.000-05:00

After the hoopla in B.C. the show appears to be going on the road. There were two press releases by the Alberta Privacy Commissioner in the last two days. First the commissioner announced a review of public sector outsourcing. The very next day, we find a press release on the disclosure of credit information of hundreds of Alberta civil servants.

I'm not trying to be cynical here people, but I'm thinking that someone had to be doing some spin control in releasing the "gov't has done something bad" and the "The gov't is doing some positive" so close to each other. But that could just be me!

Yet another cross border privacy complaint.

2004-12-16T15:38:00.000-05:00

I remember sitting in a presentation about privacy complaints from a senior crown corporation official about a year ago. For those of you that aren't Canadian, a crown corporation is a corporation set up by the government to run as a business at arms length from the government. But because it was a crown corporation it was regulated by public sector rules, including the 20 year old Privacy Act, rather than the post millenial PIPEDA for the private sector.

Anway, the point of his presentation is that over the 20 years they had experienced a doubling of complains about every 5 years, with no signs that the rate of increase would slow down. While we are at a much earlier stage in the curve for privacy complaints in the public sector, it's beginning to look like the rate of increase may be faster. Another complaint to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has been launched. According to the online version of the Georgia Straight out of Vancouver, Straight.com: Straight Talk: "A Vancouver man has asked the federal privacy commissioner to investigate the outsourcing of Canada student loans to a U.S.-owned company. Mark O'Meara, founder of the www.canadastudentdebt.ca/ Web site, claimed that as a result of a recent corporate takeover, Nebraska-based Nelnet has access to all federal student debtors' personal information and financial data."

I have to agree with David Fraser who, blogging about this as well, said that it would be easier to blog about who isn't complaining to the privacy commissioner this week.

Dead innocents in other countries

2004-12-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

I found this quote: on John Gilmore's home page: "If you are an innocent person living in Afghanistan or Iraq, you are far more likely to die from the intentional act of a US Government soldier than you are to be killed by any other terrorists."

I was actually searching for the original context for the source for this one, "The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it," which John Gilmore is also reputed to have said.

I figure both are true, and both offend those who would be authorities, so I felt impelled to repeat them.

Cross posted to both Webistemology and .:. fuck decaf .:.

Runaway Cluetrain

2004-12-15T19:18:00.000-05:00

All I can say this is Doc Searls in a full out Clue Train runaway. Gotta love it. Here's a sample:

First, we're readers, viewers, listeners and (most of all) customers, not just "consumers." As Jerry Michalski put it long ago, a consumer is nothing more than a gullet whose only purpose in life is to gulp products and crap cash. Economically speaking, "consumer," as the word is commonly used in the advertising business, is a linguistic fossil from the old industrial world where the only way big companies could reach potential customers was through media conduits that sluiced in one direction only, from the privileged few to the captive many. Except as the literal reciprocal of "producer," "consumer" no longer holds much useful meaning, except where the supply side of advertising talks amongst itself. Worse, using it is risky and misleading. It disses a whole side of the marketplace that grows in power every time one customer links to another one.

Malaware

2004-12-15T17:09:00.000-05:00

According to Dave Winer, Microsoft's view on malware such as spyware is ultimately poisonous to the computing environment in which we pass our cyber lives. Like a lot of observers/participant's in the tech scene, I've had some negative views of Microsoft. I don't think we can blame this one on them however. When you have a de-regulatory ethos in place in government and the "common sense" answer to most business questions is said to be let business go, and we will all prosper, is it any surprise that the environment takes a hit. From Bhopal to Nimbda, it doesn't matter what your context is, business can NOT regulate itself or govern itself effectively without outside intervention.

It's the way the market works. The market pays attention to what it wants to, and not what citizens think it should. That's the role of regulatory agencies. This could be the Privacy Commissioner in Canada or the FTC in the U.S. Either way, without those interventions, forcing a level playing field at a higher level of ethical responsibility, the situation will go on.

How not to FUD

2004-12-13T18:32:00.000-05:00

“Yet, the study also determined that 283 software patents not yet reviewed by the courts could potentially be used to support claims of infringement against Linux. To be clear, this is not a level of potential infringement greater than that of proprietary software; comparable proprietary software faces the same level of potential infringement.”

Note the careful wording of this comment. This is anti-FUD

Digital Apoptosis: Red Globe

2004-12-13T17:11:00.000-05:00

Digital Apoptosis: Red Globe: "Success is a matter of luck, ask any failure.
- Lazyboy"

Not only is the picture on this photoblog cool, but the quote is a winner.

Compliance Pipeline | Regulatory Hand Extends To Smaller Companies

2004-12-13T17:09:00.000-05:00

Compliance Pipeline | Regulatory Hand Extends To Smaller Companies: "In other words, just because you're small, don't assume you don't have to comply with federal, state, or local government regulations."

You can assume, however, that if the eye of the government turns to you with regard to your treatment of personally identifiable information you will feel like Frodo in Mordor if you haven't cleaned up your act and started treating your customer data appropriately.

Schneier on Security: An Impressive Car Theft

2004-12-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

Schneier on Security: An Impressive Car Theft

If a professional wants what you have then the chances are that you will lose it. Precautions and security may prevent amateurs getting at you or your information, but they only add to the resale cost for the professional. The trick is to make the cost of getting what you have more than the value of the goods/information to the thief.

The Globe and Mail: CIBC boss tells businessman he's sorry

2004-12-13T09:40:00.000-05:00

The Globe and Mail: CIBC boss tells businessman he's sorry: "In recent days, people in Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere have told The Globe of stray faxes they received containing information about customers of other banks -- Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia."

Sing along now,
It's the end of the fax as we know it,
It's the end of the fax as we know it,
It's the end of the fax as we know it, and I feel fine...

Sing to the the tune of REM's "It's the End of the World as We Know it"

Washingtonian Online - Book Review

2004-12-13T08:45:00.000-05:00

Washingtonian Online - Book Review: "Americans are perfectly happy to violate their own privacy, and those of strangers, as long as they have an illusion of control over the conditions under which the violation occurs."

From the review, sounds like a book that I should read.

Psychology Today: A Nation of Wimps

2004-12-09T16:46:00.000-05:00

Psychology Today: A Nation of Wimps: "Although error and experimentation are the true mothers of success, parents are taking pains to remove failure from the equation."

It's amazing any prior generation got out of life alive.

InfoWorld: Bootstrapping the semantic Web: December 03, 2004: By Jon Udell : APPLICATIONS

2004-12-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

InfoWorld: Bootstrapping the semantic Web: December 03, 2004: By Jon Udell : APPLICATIONS: "It's tempting to draw parallels between the careers of Albert Einstein and Tim Berners-Lee. Both men made world-transforming breakthroughs and then pursued even grander visions. Einstein, of course, never found the unified theory he sought for three decades. A lot of people think Berners-Lee's vision of a semantic Web will prove equally elusive. "

This sounds pretty interesting. The reason that I named this blog Webistemology, other than that play on words, was to reinforce the idea in my head that the Web provides on filters. Heck, that's why I can publish like this. So how do we know what we know about the web? A semanticly self-aware Web connected as suggested here?

Privacy shocker: Who needs the Patriot Act?

2004-12-09T15:48:00.000-05:00

Privacy shocker: "Skinhead Daniel Sims has in his U.S. jail cell the SIN numbers of staff of the Edmonton law firm that sued him after he beat former broadcaster Keith Rutherford so badly he lost an eye. The SIN numbers - including that of high-profile Edmonton lawyer Tom Engel - are included in a 1,000-page immigration file Sims obtained this week from American authorities as he battles deportation back to Canada."

This make case for Danny Weitzner's Open Internet Policy even more interesting.

ITBusiness.ca

2004-12-09T11:53:00.000-05:00

ITBusiness.ca: "Craig Pike, Paradigm's system technician, said the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) forced his company to take security more seriously."

Jennifer Stoddart has got to like that interpretation. The Federal Commissioner's only 'punitive' power is the power to publish names. This interpretation suggests that a Well Founded finding by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner would act in support of a civil suit.<\p>

Who cares about privacy?

2004-12-07T22:24:00.000-05:00

Privacy-U.S.,: "'Most people don't care about privacy. It's the media that makes it a big hype.' "

It will be interesting to see if a business model built on this premise will work. And be interesting I mean of course scary and Orwellian.

Can Exposing Personal Info Preserve Privacy?

2004-12-07T11:55:00.000-05:00

Can Exposing Personal Info Preserve Privacy?

This article summarizes an interesting approach to privacy put forward by Danny Weitzner. The approach is Openness as a Privacy Protection Strategy, and is an interesting take, to say the least. My reading of this is that he argues that since privacy by obscurity or security is no longer feasible, it makes for better protection of privacy to bring the data into the open, so that you can effectively control who has access to it and why. He says, "This is the transparency paradox: Amid the explosion of the collection of personal information, privacy protection requires that we embrace the transparency of information systems in order to ensure that information is used properly. Giving people a window into the information collected about them, and control over its use, can help put the transparent enterprise on the right side of privacy protection."

www.PrivacyInfo.ca

2004-12-07T00:27:00.000-05:00

www.PrivacyInfo.ca: "The Canadian Privacy Commissioner has issued her first decision involving spam. Although not yet publicly available, Professor Geist was the complainant and has posted the well-founded decision. The decision includes a determination that business email addresses constitute personal information and are not covered by the business information exception. It also concludes that the use of email addresses for secondary purposes (such as marketing) found on publicly available directories do not qualify under the publicly available exception found in the law. Finally, the decision confirmed the requirement to respect an opt-out request."

I have very little doubt that this will be challenged in some manner by those of a marketing bent.

2004-12-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

Link to a link : Howard Tayler via Eric Raymond.

Schneier on Security: Airline Security and the TSA

2004-12-06T17:28:00.000-05:00

This bit is from Scheier on Security. You've got to respect someone who values substance over form like this.

Schneier on Security: Airline Security and the TSA: "4. I think airline passenger screening is inane. It's invasive, expensive, time-consuming, and doesn't make us safer. I think that civil disobedience is a perfectly reasonable reaction."

Wired News: Spyware on My Machine? So What?

2004-12-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Wired News: Spyware on My Machine? So What?: "IMesh, maker of a popular file-sharing application, recently began bundling an application called Marketscore. Some would view Marketscore as a privacy nightmare: The program routes all of a user's web traffic through Marketscore's own servers, where it is then analyzed to 'create research reports on internet trends and e-commerce activities,' according to Marketscore.
Even data entered on secure websites -- such as passwords, credit card numbers and bank account numbers, information that is supposed to be viewable only by the sender and the intended recipient -- is accessible to Marketscore, since the company has developed a method that allows it to view encrypted information.
But some users of iMesh didn't seem to be troubled by the actions of Marketscore. Users at iMesh forums chided those who complained, posting messages stating that 'without spyware there's no such thing as free software.'"

The issue is choice. If consumers want the 'free' software, enabled by spyware and such, cool. Not too aware of the consequeces of identity theft and fraud, but their choice. The problem is that these sites and/or service usually only operate in a mandatory mode, so people have to choose the service or not....not cool. A better more responsible model is needed by companies offering these services.

we make money not art: New technology could turn computer users into armchair spies

2004-12-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

we make money not art: New technology could turn computer users into armchair spies

Cool AND Scary

Wired News: How Long Is Your Digital Trail?

2004-12-03T11:58:00.000-05:00

Wired News: How Long Is Your Digital Trail?: "The problem with Google, computers, the whole internet shebang is that it's all right there, all the time, even at 2 a.m. when your judgment is impaired by nostalgia and tiredness and maybe a glass of wine and a sentimental novel. "

No protection for journalists' sources?

2004-11-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

I found a link to this National Post piece on Zeke's Gallery. National Post: "A reporter who refused to testify about where he got confidential information is no longer facing a criminal record but could still be found in contempt of court, because journalists are not ''above the law,'' a judge said Monday."

Tim's place: Busy week

2004-11-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

The web is an intersting place. Got this one from Feedster on a search for "Privacy AND Canada". I can't validate this, I'm just saying that if this is true, it's yet another case of NOT GETTING IT:
Tim's place: Busy week: "Hooked on Phonics stated in their privacy policy that they wouldn't give out your personal information and then they sold that personal information to outside marketers to make a buck."

TheStar.com - Numbers don't crunch against downloading

2004-11-30T18:54:00.000-05:00

According to Michael Geist, a U. of Ottawa law prof. and privacy expert, TheStar.com - Numbers don't crunch against downloading: "A recent Economist article reported that an internal music-label study found that between two thirds and three quarters of recent sales declines had nothing to do with Internet music downloads."

This makes sense to me, having read the anecdotal stories about how the appearance of the video recording machines, and subsequent movie rental business, actually revived the flagging movie industry. If the Canadian recording industry would embrace Napster 2.0, Puretracks.com, Archambault and the upcoming iTunes Canada it might extracate itself from the necessity of dependence on government funding.

Don't get me wrong. I like that my tax dollars support culture and the arts. I just think that pop culture should be a little more self sustaining to bear the sobriquet of 'pop'ular.

The Globe and Mail: CIBC bans faxes after scrapyard gets more

2004-11-27T22:49:00.000-05:00

The Globe and Mail: CIBC bans faxes after scrapyard gets more: "The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce took the remarkable step of banning the use of fax machines for any transmission of customer information after The Globe and Mail and CTV reported that confidential data for hundreds of its customers had been faxed for more than three years to a scrapyard operator in West Virginia."

Talk about closing the barn door after the entire herd has left!

The New Yorker: Fact

2004-11-23T23:45:00.000-05:00

The New Yorker: Fact: "Words belong to the person who wrote them. There are few simpler ethical notions than this one, particularly as society directs more and more energy and resources toward the creation of intellectual property."

Those are the words in a New Yorker article. Somehow I find that chilling. Possibly even stultifying. That's not to say that writers and others shouldn't be compensated for their work, it's thinking that ideas or expressions of ideas as property that bothers me. I can accept Intellectual Property as a necessary fiction given the structure of our economy and our society, but not as some sort of natural or intrinsic right.

For an alternate view check out the creative commons

iFact vs. Fiction: 10 Questions to Test Your Space IQ

2004-11-23T23:35:00.000-05:00

Fact vs. Fiction: 10 Questions to Test Your Space IQ

Try your luck on this 10 question Fact/Fiction Science quiz. Fun for geeks

rabble news

2004-11-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

According to Murray Dobbin on rabble.ca:

At no time in the past 50 years, at least, has Canada's élite been so openly contemptuous of its own country, or so eager to give up its self-appointed role of protecting Canada's unique place in the world. And at no time in this same period have “ordinary” Canadians been more proud of their values and traditions and so confident in them.

I'm pretty sure he's correct about our 'leaders', and I sure hope he's right about the pride that Canadians have in their values. The fact the Tommy Douglas seems to be topping the vote in The Greatest Canadian may give some credence to this view.

...I have to confess that part of me would have got a giggle if Don Cherry was the winner!

[daily dose of imagery] noam chomsky @ york

2004-11-22T15:50:00.000-05:00

[daily dose of imagery] noam chomsky @ yorkIt's not so much the picture of Noam Chomsky sitting under a sign that prompts this entry. If you go to this link, and read the comments, someone disparages Chomsky for his "pathetic idealism"!
I can accept that one's idealism can be mistaken, misdirected, out of touch with reality or even naive. But pathetic somehow implies that the very idea of idealism (so to speak) is wrong. Now that poor soul IS pathetic. I suspect they live in a narrow self imposed prison of perception, always pre-emptively acting selfishly on the mistaken assumption that that is how the world works.

Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire

2004-10-01T11:10:00.000-04:00

Sarah McLachlan - World On FirePretty much self explanatory

Ripping good time

2004-09-03T08:19:00.000-04:00

I've had me eMac for a few months now and I think I'm finally getting the hang of the GUI. iTunes on the Mac rocks, and I've been busy taking all my CD's and importing them to my iTunes. I foresee an iPod in a future gift to self. I had a listen to one in a recent foray to California where I found an Apple store, and it is a way cool piece of technology. Note to Apple...coolness would increase significantly if the damned thing included a radio...especially at that price.

Transferring Personal Information about Canadians Across Borders

2004-08-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

Submission of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada - USA PATRIOT Act - Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Something most Canadians should read, including comments like

In Canada, citizens increasingly recognize the vital importance of personal information management for good government and sound corporate practices.

2004-08-20T15:58:00.001-04:00

Late afternoon in Prince Edward County on Lake Ontario.

2004-08-20T15:58:00.000-04:00

Another postcard shot, although they do appear nicer when one shoots them oneself.

Globetechnology

2004-08-10T14:23:00.000-04:00

Globetechnology: "Outsourcing firms depend on the trust of their partners and have every incentive to maintain the security and confidentiality of the personal information entrusted to them"
In other words, integrity sells...

2004-08-09T19:57:00.000-04:00

This is actually two pictures. The day that I shot the picture of St. Joseph's was a little gray and gloomy, so I lightened the facade and colours a bit, and added a sky from another picture. Thanks, GIMP.

2004-08-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

The commuter train station on ile Perrot, looking east to Montreal.

Big Brother with ham fists

2004-07-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

The Globe and Mail

The thing about any kind of obvious security measure like this is that it does much more to help the state document ordinary people than it does to prevent serious threats

2004-07-28T23:43:00.000-04:00

Sunset looking southwest from Ile Perrot.

Assume the Position, A Critic's Unsentimental Education, by Nate Lippens (07/15/04)

2004-07-22T23:33:00.000-04:00

Assume the Position, A Critic's Unsentimental Education, by Nate Lippens (07/15/04): "There is a mentality and an attitude about art--perhaps stemming from a protectiveness toward it, since it can be so easily dismissed--whose core conceit is exclusion: You don't have the tools to understand this; you shouldn't be here."
I found this at Zeke's Gallery. and it really captures some of what I feel about the naricissistic inbred nature of some of the art world (as oppossed to the artists) that I know.

SUNY Press :: Art Nature Dialogues

2004-06-22T08:01:00.000-04:00

SUNY Press :: Art Nature Dialogues: "Art Nature Dialogues offers interviews with artists working with, in, and around nature and the environment. The interviews explore art practices, ecological issues, and values as they pertain to the siting of works, the use of materials, and the ethics of artmaking. John K. Grande includes interviews with Hamish Fulton, David Nash, Bob Verschueren, herman de vries, Alan Sonfist, Nils-Udo, Michael Singer, Patrick Dougherty, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and others"

I met the author at a launch celebration the other night, and picked up a copy of the book. It is an intriguing and engaging read so far.

Historic Space Launch

2004-06-04T01:40:00.000-04:00

Historic Space Launch
For those amongst you that read sci-fi, remember Harriman (you'd have to be a Heinlein fan to get the reference).

You're being watched

2004-05-26T16:02:00.000-04:00

You're being watched: "Earlier this year, for example, the Justice Department unsuccessfully attempted to subpoena abortion records from hospitals and Planned Parenthood offices, ostensibly to scrutinize enforcement of late-term abortion laws, saying consumers no longer had a 'reasonable expectation' of medical record confidentiality."

Free Registration required to read this article in the LA Times. After you read this, take a look at the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's presentation to Parliament about the Canadian version of the U.S. Patriot Act.

I would like to be very clear at the outset. We object strongly to this Bill for two reasons: first, because the legislation is far too broad; and second, because it co-opts private sector organizations by pressing them into service in support of law enforcement activities.

nuff said

Life With Alacrity: Four Kinds of Privacy

2004-05-24T13:45:00.000-04:00

Life With Alacrity: Four Kinds of Privacy
It's true that privacy is one of those words that mean many things to many people. I'm not sure that trying to categorize it is a helpful exercise. Privacy is contextual and personal. Any external definition is likely to miss the mark for an individual. That's why, I think, the most appropriate part of most privacy codes is the "informed consent". That is what prevents the uber geek from deterimining what is and is not private for any individual.

What's private for me is for me to determine.

Absence Alert & HELLO

2004-05-21T01:14:00.000-04:00

I've been travelling for most of the last week, so didn't have the energy to blog. Still don't, but the Blogger people have added a photoblog abiltiy with their partnership with Hello, so I couldn't resist posting the picture below.

Have a good day.

2004-05-21T01:13:00.000-04:00

Just a quick snap with my new CoolPix. Feels a little bleak. Maybe I'm Scandavian after all?

Catherine Jamieson Photography | Photo Of The Day

2004-05-11T01:16:00.000-04:00

Catherine Jamieson Photography | Photo Of The Day

Look at this woman's photo's. Read her blog. All will be well.

YULBlog

2004-05-11T01:13:00.000-04:00

YULBlog
Just a quick note that this is a way cool site. First it is your entrance to the world of Montreal blogging, which is killer. Second, they've added Webistemology as a newbie site.

Ya gotta love it. I've got a back log of posts, and have run out of time again. Will be travelling for a chunk of the next two weeks. Still don't have a digital camera. Curse that darn't indecision.

Digital Camera redux

2004-05-10T01:44:00.000-04:00

I've come close to deciding that my first foray into digital photography will be another Nikon, the CoolPix 3200. Any comments or feedback would be appreciated.