Monthly Archives: February 2009
Update: Bell Users’ Average Bandwidth Use
( Source ) Just a quick note about an interesting tidbit that was passed out by the Bell rep who gave a presentation on DPI today: A few years ago (no precise dates given) users were consuming, on average, 1GB of traffic; this has risen tenfold since that date. As Bell has repeatedly stated in CRTC submissions, they are not caching personally identifiable information as packets course through their DPI equipment, but still maintain that they are looking into the application layer of packets, but not the ‘content’ of the packet. … In the next day or so, I’ll be putting up more thoughts and facts that emerged through the 10th annual security and privacy conference, ” Life in a Digital Fishbowl “. Continue reading
Reflections: Day Zero of ‘Life in a Digital Fishbowl’
In talking about the infrastructure that is going to be deployed, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia noted several things: He will fight against long-term deployment of Olympic CCTV systems; Only if it is justified and legal can the lower mainland area be surveyed with Olympic CCTV infrastructure, post-games; The infrastructure put in place for the games will be sold off to the highest bidder; It is unclear if the current intention is to secure the perimeter of game areas, or if it is to secure areas of the city. … The Olympics operate as a time for members of society to come together an announce their causes to the world; given the broad understandings of ‘threats’ by law enforcement, this means that a massive number of Canadians may be situated in databases for unknown future purposes and labeled as dangerous somehow. … This, I worry, can become the legacy of the games that is unseen, and thus challenging to investigate as academics; if we don’t even know what data is being recorded, or who is storing it, then even FOIs are limited in their capacity to render transparent the legacy of data shadows the accompany social action at the Olympics. Continue reading
Review: Canadian Copyright – A Citizen’s Guide
After providing a quick overview of broad elements of copyright (e.g. you copyright expressions, not ideas or facts; copyright is distinguished from trademarks, etc.), they get into what content owners can do with their IP, discussing public performance, first publication, translation, conversion, public communication, exhibition, rental, authorization, and moral rights (as a note, moral rights lack a clear parallel in the US). … For academics, what is probably most interesting is the discussion of Access licenses (most university libraries notify visitors that works are protected under Access licenses using large posters beside photocopiers and scanners) – it quickly becomes apparent that the authors have little love for these licenses and throughout this section, and the following one on policy, they note problems with the licensing scheme. … Without a mention of Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, or other popular Web 2.0 digital environments, I worry that this text is a good primer for copyright generally (and thus achieves its aim in educating the public about some nuances of Canadian copyright) while simultaneously missing out on the spaces where Canadians most need their citizen’s guide. Continue reading
Update: Manitoba and EDLs
( Source ) First, and totally off-topic: I had no idea just how beautiful the Manitoba legislative buildings were! … Manitoba is moving forward with its planned deployment of EDLs, with residents of the province being able to apply for the card starting February 2nd, 2009. The government has apparently been working with the privacy ombudsman, but to date I haven’t found anything about those consultations. Continue reading
