Liberal coverup of stolen personal information?

BC Conservatives call for minister’s resignation over missing documents.

BC Conservative Party.

The BC Liberal government has just revealed that it knew about a very serious security breach involving allegedly stolen information from 1,400 British Columbians on income assistance, but did nothing to notify those people to protect their personal information.

It was the RCMP who found missing documents inside of a Victoria home of a government worker last April, and those documents were handed to the BC Liberals in May. Yet it was not until seven months later that the victims were informed. [Read more]

Olympic industry greenwashing concerns activists

Statement on the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The Council of Canadians, one of Canada’s largest public advocacy organizations, with members and chapters across the country, views positively the Olympic goal of friendly international competition between athletes who excel in their respective sports. We understand and appreciate the pleasure and enjoyment so many around the world share in the spectacle and achievements of the Olympic Games.

However, we are gravely concerned by the increasing evidence that these worthy aspects are being overwhelmed, if not totally supplanted, by an “Olympic industry” focused on real estate development and massive corporate marketing opportunities. An “Olympic industry” founded and based in undemocratic and unaccountable national and international structures, implicated in numerous corruption scandals that undermine everything a truly noble Olympic movement should stand for. [Read more]

Federal surveillance proposals threaten privacy

Privacy commissioners urge caution on expanded surveillance plan.

Parliament should take a cautious approach to legislative proposals to create an expanded surveillance regime that would have serious repercussions for privacy rights, say Canada’s privacy guardians.

Privacy commissioners and ombudspersons from across the country issued a joint resolution today urging Parliamentarians to ensure there is a clear and demonstrable need to expand the investigative powers available to law enforcement and national security agencies to acquire digital evidence. [Read more]

Adobe bakes bigger cookies

Just when you thought you had your computer under control, along comes something else…

This time it’s Flash — made by Abobe (formerly by Macromedia) — and it’s what web developers use to produce all the neat animated effects we now find on websites. For instance, every time you watch a video your web browser is running a little Flash program that creates the video player. [Read more]