Prime Time Crime

Big Brother

VICTORIA - Mistakes, missed opportunities and bureaucratic bungling led more than two dozen officials to botch the BC government’s response to a major privacy breach, according to a scathing internal review. (Victoria Times Colonist) REPORTS: Jan 29, 2010 letter Privacy Breach Human Resources Review Internal Review - Privacy Breach Internal Review - Interim Report: Privacy Breach (.pdfs)

Lost laptops ‘stun’ watchdog

EDMONTON - Only half the 48 laptop disappearances over the last four years were investigated, and just once did officials look into whether a lost or stolen computer contained personal information, according to a report by city auditor David Wiun. (Edmonton Journal) REPORT: Privacy controls laptops .pdf Planned Bill redundant

'Not to disclose the existence of this request'

PHILADELPHIA - The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization. (CBS) MORE: Anatomy of a bogus subpoena

Casinos sent to the fringes

MOSCOW - Thousands of casinos, slot-machine parlors and betting halls across Russia shut down complying with sweeping new restrictions that require all gambling business to relocate to four remote regions of the country. (AP) MORE: Russia bans casinos Putin sends casinos to Siberia

Journalists win access to files

TORONTO - Journalists had been cut off from information in court files as a result of a long-standing policy of Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General that prevented the public from obtaining accurate news reports about cases in the justice system. (Toronto Star)

US court throws out 'wardrobe malfunction' fine

PHILADELPHIA - A US federal appeals court threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. on Monday for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction." The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity. (AP) PREVIOUS: Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy

Privacy law's stifling effect on research

VICTORIA - The chairman of an all-party legislative committee that rejected a plea to change a law that is stifling health research says he is surprised at the ill effects the law is having on scientific research. (Vancouver Sun) PREVIOUS: Privacy law freezes Health research

'Advisers' to enforce Bill 101

QUEBEC - In the wake of a tempest over the survival of French in Quebec, Language Minister Christine St-Pierre presented her action plan yesterday - which calls for voluntary compliance and a beefed-up crew of "language advisers." (Montreal Gazette)

Microsoft disconnects gamers

Thousands of gamers may have been cut off from Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live for modifying their consoles to play pirated games. Online reports suggest that as many as 600,000 gamers may have been affected. Microsoft has not said how it was able to determine which gamers to disconnect. (BBC) PREVIOUS: Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software 'Kill switch' dropped from Vista

Baggy pants crackdown

TRENTON - It's a fashion that started in prison, and now the saggy pants craze has come full circle - low-slung street strutting in some cities may soon mean run-ins with the law, including a stint in jail. (AP)

Officials to smoke out 'abuse'

CALGARY - Exposing children to second-hand smoke could expose parents to a risk assessment by a social worker, says the province's children's services minister. (Calgary Herald) PREVIOUS: Parents can be charged for exposing kids to drugs Drug Endangered Children Act Six kids seized in drug houses

Children playing on street run afoul of Ottawa bylaw

OTTAWA - The children were in violation of the City of Ottawa bylaw No. 2003-530, specifically Part IX, clause 93, subsection 1, which states: "No person shall play or take part in any game or sport upon a roadway." (Ottawa Citizen) RELATED: Schools banning tag at recess to avoid lawsuits

Watchdog raises alarm

OTTAWA - Were you the person who recently cashed a government-issued cheque for under $300 at your local trust company? You probably never expected to be flagged as suspicious, but you were, says Canada's privacy commissioner in a new audit of Canada's financial watchdog agency. The financial agencies, realtors, accountants, casino operators, and others that are monitored by FINTRAC face stiff fines, up to $2M, if they fail to scrutinize and report on suspicious monetary transactions of clients, which is a powerful incentive to over-report. (Toronto Star) REPORT: Annual report to Parliament 2008-2009

Every adult is a potential threat

LONDON - Adults banned from working with children under the Government’s anti-paedophile will have limited right of appeal and must wait 10 years to have their cases reconsidered. Previous employers and professional bodies are under a legal duty to inform the ISA if they think someone poses a risk. (Telegraph UK) MORE: Scheme defended Vetting children's authors This stupid law will turn us into outlaws This vetting monster will harm children

Law may have 'glitches'

PORT HOPE - Ontario Liberal Lou Rinaldi says he will look for “glitches” in the new law banning drivers from smoking in a vehicle containing children. (CP) PREVIOUS: Busted Matter of time before someone 'snaps'

Vehicles will be tracked

VANCOUVER - Next spring, there'll be eyes on the Golden Ears Bridge. As the first electronically tolled bridge in western Canada, slated for completion in spring 2009, it will be equipped with toll sensors and digital cameras to track the identification of every vehicle that travels on the one-kilometre span. (Vancouver Sun)

Did Deutsche Telekom spy

BONN - Had it not been for the money, there is a good chance that the entire "unsavory story" - as a senior executive at German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG called it last week - would never have come to light. (Spiegel) MORE: Deutsche Telekom uncovers data misuse in spy probe Data abuse can't be ruled out by any provider

Reporters ordered to reveal sources

OTTAWA - A federal court judge has ordered two Montreal newspaper reporters to reveal who leaked a confidential Canadian Security Intelligence Service document that accused Adil Charkaoui of being an Al Qaeda member. . (Toronto Star) MORE: Journalists must answer questions about leaded report

Your tax dollars at work

VICTORIA - Peace is being declared in the tug of war between public health officials and Victoria City Hall over Victoria's Old Morris Tobacconist. (Victoria Times Colonist)

PREVIOUS: Heritage signs semi-ok Catch-22 Catch-22 (logic) The out of sight, out of mind solution

Quebec spells doom to 'zoom, zoom, zoom'

MONTREAL - Transport Minister Julie Boulet proposed an amendment to the highway safety bill yesterday that will give the provincial auto insurance board a mandate to come up with guidelines to ban ads that depict "heedless, careless or dangerous behaviour and gestures." She said she didn't like seeing ads, for instance, that show "snowmobiles flying over the snow." (Montreal Gazette)

Privacy threats no longer 'Terra Incogtnita'

MONTREAL - International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioner's conference brings together hundreds of privacy commissioners, government regulators, business leaders, and privacy advocates who spend three days grappling with emerging issues. (Michael Geist) PREVIOUS: Phone data law extends surveillance power No escaping Big Brother Technology turning citizens into spies Making data anonymous can be tricky

Urban rules

New federal legislation designed to curb money laundering and terrorism has made banking difficult for some people in Arctic Canada. Under the rigorous legislation, every account must be linked to an address with a street name. But many northern communities don't have street names. (CBC)

Drink limits 'useless'

LONDON - Guidelines on safe alcohol consumption limits that have shaped health policy in Britain for 20 years were “plucked out of the air” as an “intelligent guess. (Times online)

Privacy ranking

Canada is one of the world's leading nations when it comes to protecting the privacy of its citizens, but this country's safeguards are slipping, says a new international survey. (CanWest) REPORT: 2007 International privacy ranking

Ottawa chooses secrecy

OTTAWA - The federal government has rejected calls to modernize and expand Canada's Access to Information Act, despite warnings that the program is collapsing under bureaucratic foot-dragging and political negligence. (Toronto Star)

Access without warrants

TORONTO - An Ontario Superior Court ruling could open the door to police routinely using Internet Protocol addresses to find out the names of people online, without any need for a search warrant. (CanWest)

Police need warrant

Privacy czar questions need

Surveillance society keeps an eye out

Word 'nuclear' wiped from record

Confidential computer dodges info laws

Records on G-wagon now a secret

Privacy Commissioner

Facebook has privacy gaps

Facebook breaches Canadian privacy law

An Internet that never forgets Astroturfing

Government to access personal information

DND relents, release once-public information

Personal information at risk

OAG: Managing identity information

Privacy management frameworks

Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Matters of special importance 2008

Easier Internet access a tool police don't need

Feds to give cops Internet snooping powers

Bill to require surveillance capabilities

Law would let police snoop on online

Government looks to increase surveillance

What do they know about you?

EU probes Google over privacy concerns

Big Brother is watching you online

Sacrifice civil liberties for security

Cops buying cell phone records online

Battle for access rages on the Hill

Government pledges no warrantless disclosure

Government opens up talks on Internet Privacy

Feds push for greater access to private info

Google refuses censor request

SYDNEY - Google has refused to bow to a request by the Australian government to censor videos on YouTube, saying the move would stifle public debate on important issues such as euthanasia and drug use. (Times online)

Stephen Conroy

"RC' information?

Courts deal body blow to filter

Cyber attacks against AU will continue

AU Internet debate

Australia's 'Internet Filter"

Internet censorship in Australia

Australia's Big Brother internet filtering

Australia to implement internet censorship

Internet censorship in Australia

Internet censorship

Global Network Initiative

Failure to launch

Censorship filters coming

Big Brother's big ears

Hong Kong, in all its money-worshipping glory, is utterly unlike the grim dictatorship George Orwell conjured up in his chilling novel "1984." Yet there is one similarity: the city's law enforcement agencies, legal experts warn, have embraced covert surveillance with the zeal of Orwell's all-seeing Thought Police. (Newsweek)

Limits on sealing search warrants ignored

HAMILTON - Prominent media lawyers say police and justice officials aren't heeding a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that set limits on how search warrants can be sealed and kept from the public. (Hamilton Spectator) RELATED: NCC study a secret

YouTube will be allowed to mask users' identities

NEW YORK - The video-sharing site YouTube will be allowed to mask the identities of individual users when it provides viewership records to Viacom Inc. and other copyright holders behind a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit. (AP)

Google ordered to hand over YouTube details

Judge throws users to the wolves

Top court asked to weigh in

OTTAWA - The National Post is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal that could define the rights of the media to protect confidential courses. The document was connected to the newspaper's ongoing reporting of what was dubbed Shawinigate, about alleged conflicts of interest by former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and public money spent in his riding. (CanWest)

The buck stops here

Adscam: The Sponsorship Scandal

Sidewinder and the Asian triads

Why did fed kill information registry

Tories kill information registry

CAIRS

AG balks at vetting by PMO

Why did fed kill information registry

CAIRS No respect

Tories kill information registry

Confidential sources are essential

National Post ordered to hand over document

Court overturns ruling on sources

Reporters do not have 'automatic right' to protect sources

John Laskin Janet Simmons Eileen Gillese

Chrétien receives Order of Canada

’Force of the state met its match'

OTTAWA - An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down a law used to obtain search warrants that authorized controversial RCMP raids on Ottawa Citizen journalist Juliet O'Neill's home and office in January, 2004. Judge Lynn Ratushny ruled yesterday parts of Section 4 of the Security of Information Act are unconstitutional because they violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (CanWest)

Appeals court overturns contempt ruling

Appeal court overturns contempt charge

Ottawa Citizen investigated

MPs launch probe into RCMP's witness protection program

He had a license to kill

Decision offers chance to overhaul security act

Judge quashes warrants used in raid

Injusticebusters: Juliet O'Neill

CSIS backgrounder: Security of Information Act

Lawyer wants tribunal cited

VANCOUVER - A lawyer for standup comedian Guy Earle, who has been accused of making homophobic remarks, has filed a motion in BC Supreme Court asking that the BC Human Rights Tribunal be cited for contempt. (Vancouver Province)

Funny business

Surreal spectacle

Please don't call it "human rights'

Canadian ruling 'offensive'

A bad night at Zesty's

Lawyer walks out

Rights hearing process illegal

Human rights tribunal faces dissolution

Everybody's a victim

Protest hurt business

Importance of mockery

No laughing matter

Tribunal members

Internet killed the hate law

Censored stories for 2010

CHRC investigates

Hate speech laws violate Constitution

Hate speech law unconstitutional

2009 CRTC 26

Lawyers must come to aid

Jennifer Lynch: Please send reinforcements

No charges for man's call to kill soldiers

Dangerous evolution

Canada slips

Reporters Without Borders

Press freedom index 2009

SCC to review ruling that forced reporter to reveal confidential sources

Call for probe

Unjustified infringement

AB must amend Human Rights Act

Free speech at long last

End the witch hunts for good

'It's a great day for freedom-of-speech'

Phony courts, phony racism

Phipps v. TPS Board: 2009 HRTO 877

Selective multiculturalism

The human rights set-up

The collected writings of Salman Hossain

AG reviewing request

Arab group exec's anti-Canada tirade

Canadian Arab Federation

CAF letter asks PM to muzzle minister

Subsidizing hatred

Our right to speak

Jennifer Lynch

Commissioner has free expression wrong

Human Rights tribunal dismisses a complaint

Human rights

Rights revisited

Lynch's misinformed rights commission

CHRC doesn't have a clue

Lynch mob

How to get around web censors

Psiphon Freegate

Critics are unbalanced, unfair and misinformed

Thank the thought police for this idea

Why censorship is impossible in a democracy

CHRC want to squash free-speech defences

Rights Commission wants to stay in business

CHRC tries to bully CTV

'Disappointing and disturbing'

White supremacy group warned

5 year probe

Manitoba Human Rights Commission

Human rights gone awry

Does the UN really matter?

Complaint dismissed Tribunal ruling

Cut off the CAF

Mouammar accepted 100% of refugees

Sympathizer was immigration board member

'Zionist campaign'

Just don't expect taxpayers to pay

Non-profits need to get back to basics

Withdrawn charges can stay on record

CRTC will review hands-off approach

CRTC out of control

Commission out of control

Censor seeks red pencil

National censorship council

Resisting the censors

Dispersing the Fog

When government controls opinion

Repeal hate speech provision

Time for Parliament to take action

Common sense on free speech

At last, common sense on free speech

Ands, buts and howevers in Moon report

Ottawa must end this censorship

Latest power grab

Regulators turn to the internet

Decision clarifies fair comment guidelines

BC Human Rights rejects complaint

CRTC calls for Digital Restrictions Management

Former premier in line to head association

Punished first, acquitted later

Another human rights commission at work

Report to the CHRC concerning section 13

Rights commission to correct Judge

Canada's medieval rights commissions

Don't say a word

Censorship in Canada

'Deeply Hurt'

Human rights commission hell

Maclean's wins 3rd round

BC Human Rights Tribunal

2008 BCHRT 378 .pdf

Aw nuts, we won

BC Human Rights may never live down fiasco

Web expands hate speech law

Lawyers attach hate-speech restrictions

Woman files suit over children

Tribunal dismisses discrimination complaint

SCC overturns BC Court of Appeal's ruling

2008 SCC 40

Commissions of Human Wrongs

BC human rights complaint filed

Kenny Hotz Showcase TV

Welcome to Canada

Complaint exposes flaw

CHRC complaint thrown out, only BC's remains

CHRC dismisses complaint against Maclean's

Finally, good news on 'human rights'

Canada's free speech polices need reform

Next laugh on BC Human Rights Tribunal

Comedian to BC human rights hearing

Comedian defends 'rude' words

Woman offended by noisy children

Human Rights Commission rejects complaint

AB human rights protest shelved

Free legal advice, fishing expeditions

All speech is free in Canada except

Human Rights Act foils seasoned debate

BC human rights tribunal

100% conviction rate

All about freedom of the press

The court of last resort

Another Islamic group files complaint

Battle of Khartoon comes to Halifax

Ontario Human Rights Commission

Warman wins another rights case

Anyone care about free speech?

Human flesh search engines

CHRC to review how to police the internet

Fine line to tread

An assault on speech in an inappropriate forum

The lawyers get the last word

Expert witness

Mahmoud Ayoub

Another expert witness

Idiot's guide to idiotic CHR

Temple University rejects $1.5M IIIT endow

Live blogging the BC HRT

RCMP launches investigation into CHRC

Why you should care

Fire the censors

Fighting for freedom

CHRC to examine hate on Internet

Free speech

CHRC’s computer system wins IT award

Time to fold up the tents on rights commissions

The fight against censorship

To turn a neo-Nazi into a free-speech martyr

A day in the life of Canada's kangaroo court

Landmark disaster for the CHRC

Censure the censors

Scrutinizing the human rights machine

CHRC still doesn't get it

That poor woman down the street

Lemire files complaint against CHRC

Reform rights commissions

Imam drops rights dispute

Complaints & Lawsuits

Canada's human rights complainant sues again

Hey, why bother with a trial?

Era of thought police has arrived

'Maximum disruption' campaign of Warman

Human rights

Ontario spends $14.1M to improve censor

Commission vs. Commission

Jeers and loathing at tribunal

Investigator admits to using lies

Kangaroo court is now in session

Too many rights make a wrong

Muslims test press freedom limits

Liberal MP wants change to rights act

Martin's good fight

Kate McMillan Kathy Shaidle Free Dominion

Richard Warman

Ezra Levant.com

Ezra Levant's opening remarks

Time to clean-up partisan public service

Alberta's gauntlet of bias

Defiant Levant republishes cartoons

It's a human right to be an idiot

The right not to be offended

First they came....

Home invasion

Catholic magazine target of complaint

Quit Validating Professional Victims

Got a complaint? Call 1-800-Human-Rights

Children? Not if you love the planet

Ontario Commission 'groundbreaking' ruling

Governments must reform Commissions

The suicide of reason in Canada

Canada's thought police

Canadian Press wakes up to free speech threat

BC Human Rights Tribunal

Canadian Human Rights Commission

Mark Steyn

Steyn online

America Alone

In defence of the Western Standard

Cartoon controversy ignites in Canada

Canadian Islamic Congress

Mohamed Elmasry

Syed B. Soharwardy

Let's not be racist about racism

CIC launches human rights complaints

What a lot of garbage

Dolores Umbridge Barbara Hall

Suing for silence

Is abolishing Commissions necessary?

Tory raise appointees' base pay to $455,000

Myths, legends and human rights

The new totalitarians

Mark Steyn has a right to be wrong

Censorship in the name of 'Human Rights'

Western Standard sued over cartoons

Alberta Human Rights & Citizenship

Western Standard publishes cartoons

Jyllands-Posten cartoons controversy

Star wins 'landmark' court fight

TORONTO - Municipal government institutions must produce any electronically stored information the public has a right to see, even if it requires using their technical expertise to develop new software, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled. (Toronto Star)

Information laws widely interpreted

Freedom-of-information

Access to information audit

Behind the veil of secrecy

2008 freedom of information audit .pdf

Another communications ban

CNA 2007 Freedom of Information audit

Self-preservation overrules transparency

Fighting our culture of secrecy

Canada's culture of secrecy

Great wall of secrecy

No such thing as free speech in politics

Entitled

Canada: Life in a banana republic

Non-Profit Industry

Regulators

Citizens offer new take on news

A news agenda formulated by citizens would be radically different from that put together by journalists. That is the conclusion of a US study which compared what made the headlines in the mainstream media with that of three diverse user-driven news sources. (BBC)

The latest news headline - your vote counts

Scientist use the "Dark Web"

Chinese web filtering 'erratic'

Software turns photos from bad to good

Google modifying Canadian Street View program

Google Street View may be illegal

Making health info free

Tracking you on the web

UK laws in action

LONDON - Lawyers for US golfer Tiger Woods have obtained a UK injunction preventing certain information purportedly about him being published. The order was granted by a judge at the High Court in London, and concerns alleged information which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons. (BBC)

UK blocks nude photos, videos

Libel laws should be repealed

Pollution disaster Trafigura files

UN criticizes Dutch handling of toxic ship

2006 Cote d'Ivoire toxic waste spill Trafigura

Blogger vs. billionaire

Craig Murray Alisher Usmanov Schillings

British libel laws under attack

Growth area for UK libel lawyers

Report highlights blog censorship

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007

Author mounts 'libel tourism' challenge

US writer fights gagging order

Latest 'super-injunction' lifted

Playing away

UK libel laws at work, again

Rise in 'libel tourism'

Libel row

New Statesman blog Nadhmi Auchi.

British libel laws under attack

Did Saddam bagman help Obama buy mansion?

Rezko's billionaire buddy

Libel tourism

Court gives another cash cow to lawyers

Ruling is a victory for the public

Court gives media new latitude

Censorship in Canada Censorship

Internet censorship Self censorship

Chilling effect

Saudi billionaire's lawsuit

Cambridge University Press

The Vanishing Jihad exposes

Khalid Bin Mahfouz

Libel Tourism: Terrorism & censorship meet

Censored by Allah Apology

Alms for Jihad' Rachel Ehrenfeld

Banning wouldn't outlaw stupidity

VICTORIA - BC Solicitor General Kash Heed has again tossed out the red herring of banning motorists from talking or sending text messages on their cellphones while driving. (Nanaimo Daily News)

The cops came and took my gun

Licence plate censors doing their job

Big brother bylaw a load of BS

Criminalizing everyone

Ban unlikely to work

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Bottle ban a sign of the times

Medicine Hat under boil water advisory

Going to town on bottled water

Long term urban plan

Defiance can end in arrest

Quebec to sue tobacco industry

Ontario files $50B suit

Trucker busted for smoking in 'workplace'

Resurgence of contraband cigarettes

Smokers find refuge in secret nicotine dens

Tough Anti-Smoking Laws Blanket Canada

Youth smoking declines another 11%

Landlords using ban to weed out smokers

EU: bosses may refuse jobs to smokers

Cannabis

Smoking ban

Thank you city hall

Guilty until found innocent

BC cell phone ban

Cell phone ban misses key risk

MPs: guilty until proven innocent

Random tests for drunk drivers

Chiefs call for all-out electronics driving ban

Regulating drinking habits with a heavy hand

BC wants to force ‘mentally ill’ into shelters

Cellphone risks

Kids and cellphone warning

Premier open to car gadgets ban

Crackdown on distracted drivers

Anti-cellphone driving laws in effect

Cellphone as risky as alcohol for drivers

Toronto moves to ban smoking in apartments

Alberta bans underage musicians

Marines ban new tattoos

New Delhi bans smoking at the wheel

San Francisco to ban plastic bags

Interracial marriage ban

Prohibition of alcohol

Sex, drugs and rock & roll

Long hair

Obesity

Can ban ends for PEI residents

Smoking movie stars to be fined in Toronto

Smoking students can request escort

Canadians concerned about anti-terrorism laws

OTTAWA - Nearly 50 per cent of Canadians say new laws designed to protect national security, such as government-issued identification cards, are intrusive and invade their privacy, reveals a major international survey by Canadian researchers made public Monday. (CanWest)

Always under surveillance

Surveillance Project

Electronic medical records a privacy issue

Germany, Canada top privacy watchdog's list

Leading surveillance societies in the world

Sun Eye Spy series

Columnist's family outraged at FBI

WASHINGTON - Not long after columnist Jack Anderson's funeral, FBI agents called his widow to say they wanted to search his papers. They were looking for confidential government information he might have acquired in a half-century of investigative reporting. (CBS/AP) MORE: Family denies FBI peek at late columnist's papers

Historian uncovers records about secret prison camp system

OTTAWA - The federal government had detailed lists of political activists and subversives it planned to arrest in the aftermath of a nuclear war or other national emergency, keeping such plans on the books until at least the early 1980s, according to new records obtained by an Ottawa historian. (CanWest)

Hackers put porn on gov't computers

VICTORIA - BC government computers were used to store pornographic material by hackers who recently compromised the province's system. (Times Colonist)

Hackers get inside province's system

Sensitive files on stolen computers

Welfare worker stole rent cheques

In future, tapes to be destroyed, minister says

Refugee claim files found on data tapes

BC to probe auctioned health records

ABC faces fine

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $1.43 million indecency fine against ABC television stations for a 2003 episode of "NYPD Blue," the second-largest proposed indecency fine against a television broadcaster ever. (Washington Post)

Gay' Snickers spot and Prince's guitar

CBS fined for 'Trace' of indecency

Federal Communications Commission

Stones' Super Bowl songs censored

Telus halts sale of adult content on cellphones

Why Telus ditched its plans to profit from porn

Spy coin deemed harmless

WASHINGTON - An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind the US Defense Department's false espionage warning earlier this year. The odd-looking - but harmless - "Poppy Coin" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. (AP)

DSS statement on Canadian coins incorrect

Toonie

US Warns Against Spying Canadian Coins

Spies embedding transmitters in Canadian coins

Collection Trends in the Defense Industry 2006 .pdf

Judge throws out grow-op charges

CALGARY - Court of Queen's Bench Justice Sal LoVecchio ruled, in quashing a warrant to search the home in October 2004, that it was granted through evidence obtained by having illegally installed a device to measure the amount of electricity used in the home. (Calgary Herald) Device violates privacy

Reporter fights police order to hand over notes

HAMILTON - Bill Dunphy of the Hamilton Spectator, recently was given a court order to hand over notes of his interviews with a convicted drug dealer. The newspaper and Dunphy plan to fight the order. (CBC) MORE: Newspaper reporter could go to prison

BC husband dies

VANCOUVER - The 96-year-old husband of a 91-year-old B.C. woman who died alone after being moved from their bedside last month, sparking a provincial investigation, has died. Al Albo's family confirmed his death on Thursday, less than two weeks after the death of his wife of nearly seven decades, Fanny Albo. (CBC)

PREVIOUS: Report chastizes medical staff for death BC hospital crowding blamed for senior's death Senior dies after being separated from husband

Citizens free to criticize government, court rules

MONTAGUE TOWNSHIP - A judge has thrown out a unique lawsuit in which an Ottawa-area township attempted to sue one of its citizens for defamation for complaining about the shoddy performance of the volunteer fire department. The suit was believed to be one of the first in Canada in which a government tried to sue a citizen for speaking out. (Ottawa Citizen) PREVIOUS: Township's lawsuit casts chill over free speech

Surveillance went beyond wiretaps

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely publicized warrantless wiretapping program, a government report disclosed, encompassing additional secretive activities that created "unprecedented" spying powers. (LA Times)

US lawmakers pass warrantless wiretaps bill

The President's surveillance program .pdf

Warrantless wiretapping yielded limited results

Congress knew about spying

Cheney directed CIA to be silent

ISP added spy code to web sessions

British Telecom 'Phorm' report

FBI wants instant access to identity data

FBI cast wide net when targeting phone records

Court puts limits on surveillance

Secret US court ruling limits spy powers

Federal judge orders end to wiretap program

AG: Bush blocked eavesdropping probe

US searching bank transactions

Bush signs bill expanding surveillance powers

GovTrack: history and status of bill H.R. 1

Looking for a leaker

Bush agrees to review of spy program

Congress Oks US eavesdropping bill

NSA spying part of broader effort

Amid concerns, FBI lapses went on

Secret court to monitor US spy program

Challenge promised over ruling in spy case

Wiretap Ruling Threatens Telecoms

Presidential signing statements

Examples of the president's signing statements

Text of the signing statements 2001-2006

FBI denies routinely tracking reporters' calls

What agency might do with your telephone calls

Telecoms let NSA spy on calls

Our phone calls not being tracked, spy agency

Phone calls are just the start

Breaking the law

NSA secret database report triggers debate

FBI scrutinized 3,501 without a court's approval

Feds try to dismiss domestic spying suit

Beware, the Internet is watching you

Telus users on the hook

Group sues AT&T over domestic wiretaps

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Surveillance found to yield few suspects

Police bypass subpoenas

NASH has massive database of phone calls

Social network

Judge blocks law criminalizing web porn

PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge on Thursday threw out a 1998 law that makes it a crime for commercial website operators to let children access "harmful" material. In the ruling, the judge said parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit the rights of adults to free speech. "Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection," wrote Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr., who presided over a four-week trial last fall. (AP)

FBI illegally used Patriot Act, audit says

Google only search engine to fight subpoena

DOJ actually subpoenaed companies

Government subpoenas dozens of companies

US judge to order Google to turn over records

Searching for searches

Google defies US over search data

Feds seek Google's search records porn probe

A tale of two eavesdroppings

Google shows its true colors

No booze or jokes for Googlers in China

Web Anonymizers suddenly get very popular US technology has been used to censor Net

Internet filtering in China 2004-2005

Telus blocks consumer access

15 died in crackdown

BANGKOK - Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, the United Nations human rights envoy to Myanmar, said that Burmese officials had acknowledged that 15 people, not 10 as they previously said, were killed in the military government's crackdown on protesters in September.

2007 Burmese anti-government protests

Myanmar death 'far greater' than reported

Environmental problems loom in Myanmar

Power Corp. under fire for ties

Democratic Voice of Burma

Irrawaddy

Snoops to enter family homes

LONDON - Health and safety inspectors are to be given unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents. (Times online)

Security flaws

Right to privacy broken by public databases

Computers create rubbish profile

10 ways to track the citizen

Black boxes to record email & website visit

Database state .pdf

U-turn over vetting

Intercept evidence plans beset by flaws

'Snoop' power is used 1,400 times a day

Government ads run 10,000 times a day

Spy centre will track you

A week in the surveillance society 2016

UK Internet sites could be given age ratings

Passports needed to buy mobile phones

UK to store all calls, e-mail and internet visits

Broad new 'Big Brother' surveillance powers

Councils told to stop snooping

Phones tapped - 1,000 a day

Councils to handout fines caught on CCTV

Council spy cases hits 1,000 a month

Offenders must get 'badges of shame'

Home Office: anti-social behaviour

Plan to toughen up on offenders

Louise Casey

Billboards that look back

Minister admits ID benefits were exaggerated

Big Brother was watching Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair

15M Brits losing saving in Safe Bet

Speeding tickets increase by 1M

Right to rubbish bin collection to be abolished

Police have access to children's database

ContactPoint

Cameras watch you put bin out on wrong day

'Big Brother' database

Numbered for life

EU plans biometric border checks

Britain is 'surveillance society'

New visas 'exporting the borders'

New child checks to identify future criminals

The main proposals

Talking CCTV gives Big Brother a voice

Giant ID computer plan scrapped

Database to record the lives of all children

Council spies on family

RIPA

Phone tap evidence will not beat terror

Interception of Communications

British national identity card

National Identity Scheme

500,000 DNA database mistakes

Safety fears over new register of all children

Police want bigger DNA database

Safety fears over new register of all children

ID cards 'could be a Big Brother tax trap'

Fines from speed cameras soar

Caught on camera

Road charges equipment introduced by stealth

Ex-MI5 chief sparks ID card row

Rebels ready to face prison over ID cards

Guardian: Explaining ID cards

UK illegal immigrant figure revealed

Criminals to 'adapt to ID cards'

ID card plan

ID cards a 'present' to terrorists and criminals

Cash for fake ID scandal

Word on the street...they're listening

Britain fails fake passport test

My fake passports and me

Britain to monitor every car journey

Knife scanners to be used UK-wide

Passports issued to false claimants

Cities caught shortening yellow light times for profit

Short yellow light times at intersections have been shown to increase the number of traffic violations and accidents. Conversely, increasing the yellow light duration can dramatically reduce red-light violations at an intersection. (Motorist)

BC money grab

Increased 'safety' didn't pay off

Hypocrisy makes a loud statement

Case for speed cameras destroyed in a flash

Cash cow

Local teens claim pranks on speed cams

Red-light cameras cause more accidents

Red light cameras too good

Red light cameras reduce deaths, but

Airlines to demand kids ID

OTTAWA - Children who appear to be 12 years of age or older will have to present government-issued ID to board an airplane once Transport Canada's new no-fly list comes into force in March. The new rules mean that children as young as 10 or 11 could be denied the right to board domestic flights if they can't produce government photo ID or present two pieces of non-photo ID issued by government. (Ottawa Citizen)

Feds mum on no-fly list

Canada to launch no-fly list in spring

Fingerprints, scans to speed border crossings

Canada Unveils Border Security Plan

Canada's "New Government" invests over $430M for smart, secure borders

Fake licences aiding terror

The document problem

Bogus licences traced to Alberta

Identity theft feeds $1B gaming black market

Fines levied for Internet resume scams

Fake driver's licences used

'Real' false IDs

States seek to kill federal 'Real ID' requirements

Real ID Act

EU concern at US data transfers

Taking security into their own hands

The boss is watching

Someone's watching you

Deep packet inspection

Secret wiretaps flying under the radar

Someone is watching

Probe into Facebook

Facebook 'violates privacy laws'

Electronic strip search troubling

Millimeter wave whole body imaging

Screeners get a closer look

Canadians not welcome

Passport please

Tighter security restrictions

Western hemisphere travel initiative

DHS: Crossing borders WHTI

Passport required for US travel June 1

What did Canada ever do to you?

Canadian held for 11 hours

Feds rate travelers' potential for terror

US can take your electronics

WASHINGTON - When the US Department of Homeland Security announced last summer that it could seize anyone's laptop, mobile phone, or camera at the border to analyze them for an indefinite period, the criticism was immediate. It didn't help that the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals already had blessed the practice - meaning that anyone, even US citizens, can have their tangle of gadgetry seized at borders or at international arrivals even if there's zero evidence of illicit activities. (CBS)

Secure passport, still isn't

E-passports get F for privacy

Elvis may be in the building

ePassport

US passport problem

OTI `ePassport'

US group wants China 'spy' probe

US to issue RFID enabled passports

Biometric passport

Hackers crack new biometric passports

'Fakeproof' e-passport cloned

ePassports 'at risk' from cloning

Hard line

Fake visas, degrees 'alarming'

US sees you coming

DHS Automated Targeting System (ATS)

New rules make firms track e-mails

Special Report: Privacy lost

Judge: US rules wiretaps 'Gobbledygook'

Radio tags spark privacy worries

RFID Consultation website

80 cameras watch tiny Alaska town

Controlling the US radio frequency system

Carlyle Group

Mobile tracking devices on trial

RFID

RFID pose risks

Wiretapping, European-style

Back door to North American ID card

Security flawed in electronic passports

Day puts national ID card back on the agenda

Don't expect special identity card

Alarms work, documents didn't

Western Hemisphere travel initiative

National ID card

Border-crossing cards may be official ID

US opening some private mail in terror fight

NSA mined vast data trove, officials report

FBI monitors Muslims for radiation

Homeland Insecurity

Wanted: Competent Big Brothers

White House web site revelation

The Constitution versus itself

Lawmakers: Whistleblower system is broken

US to deploy high-tech security on border

Big brother in small packages

Bush's snoopgate

Bush lets US spy on callers without courts

Listening in on the enemy

Communications Security Establishment

Pentagon to increase domestic surveillance

Pentagon runs clandestine infrastructure

Future of pizza orders

'Massive empire of surveillance'

Keeping an eye on Big Brother

US VISIT program

Public, justice disagree on criminal database

High-tech border pass raises alarm

Problems with the Real ID system

Your boss can now track you on your cell phone

Whistleblower says NSA violations bigger

Have you ever been wired tapped?

Wiretaps surged 19% in 2004

The Echelon report

Technology alters threat of spying

Bill C -74: Investigative Techniques Act

38th Parliament: House Government Bills

Act makes it easy for cop spying

You are exposed

Privacy czar blasts police for secrecy

Privacy International

Spy imagery agency watching inside US

The Surveillance-Industrial Complex

Spy in the sky eyes US

Indigo pulls Harper's Magazine from shelves

OTTAWA - Indigo, Canada's largest retail bookseller has removed all copies of the June issue of Harper's Magazine from its 260 stores, claiming an article by New York cartoonist Art Spiegelman could foment protests similar to those that occurred this year in reaction to the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. (CP)

Indigo pulls magazine

Liberal party's deep pockets support Ignatieff

Martin vows to change gov't spending habits

Setting the record straight

Bookselling and publishing in Canada

House votes in principle

OTTAWA - Conservative MPs, with the support of a few Liberals and New Democrats, have voted in principle to kill the contentious federal long gun registry. (CTV) MORE:

Vote exposes rural-urban split

Rural - a long time coming

Urban - soft on gun law

Committee may keep registry on life-support

Gun registry misfires

A nation of licence holders

Part 5 Guns: A question of control

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

The birth of gun control

A passion for shooting

Overview of world wide Gun politics

McLellan's role in gun registry under scrutiny

Why should we ever trust the Liberals again?

Gun policies hit-and-miss

Gun control doesn't mean crime control

Gun registry not working

Knife homicides equal gun homicides

Police chiefs aren’t always right

In the bedrooms of Canadians

Regulatory despotism

Liberals still support wasting billions

Most guns seized from American tourists

Toronto plans ban on gun clubs

Feds reintroduce bill to abolish long-gun registry

Tighter gun control comes at a price far too high

Tougher gun laws 'not being enforced'

UK gun legislation

Gunlaw Britain on the side of the criminals

The facts of Britain's gun culture

Hot Irons

Guns and the law

Metal Storm Metal Storm weapon

Video: Weapons of the future

Gun registry: 10 years of waste

Liberal gun policy change linked to survey

Gun registry like another adscam

Government takes action to eliminate registry

Gun registry a 'national disgrace'

Gun registry an easy target for hackers

Thieves targeting gun collectors

Pressure on MPs to scrap gun registry

The gun registry: billion dollar uselessness

Rising tide of smuggled guns

Canada Firearms: Armed Robbery

The Failed Experiment

Firearms Act

Violent crime up 11% in UK

Stats released UK war on gun crime failing

Stun guns for everyone?

Fight gun violence: Scrap the registry

UN Study says small arms fire deadliest

Floridians' self-defense rights expanded

Florida politicians back use of deadly force

Findlaw: On Florida's Law

Ontario wants power to ban handguns

What gun controllers don't want you to know

Gunning for gun smugglers

Deaths involving firearms 2002

Gun crime figures show fresh rise

Violent crime figures rise by 12%

Crime in England and Wales 2003/2004

Gun registry cost soars to $2 billion

Gene missing

MONTREAL - Researchers at McGill University have made a co-discovery that some morbidly obese people are actually missing a set of genes that play a role in controlling weight. (Montreal Gazette)

Do you want trans-fats or fascism?

BC trans-fat regulations in effect

Let them eat cake

Quebecers can remove winter tires

Telling the good fats from the Bacon brothers

Alberta axes trans-fat initiative

BC bans trans-fat

Nanny state

BC trans-fat ban will cost restaurant owners

Study links obesity to a virus

adenovirus-36

Rights fight heats up

Children's sports liability waivers void

The end of the Nation-State

The Orwellian power of anonymity

Hospitals are no places for food Nazis

Personal choices cause premature deaths

Health industry stereotypes wrong again

Warning for parent of fat children

Parents too serious about fun and games

Children deprived of adventurous play

Smoking disability

Numbers dropping

Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring

Time we put our dollars elsewhere

Decline in smoking rates flatlines

Canadian tobacco use

Law of diminishing returns

Global hate

Ban happy Ontario

Tempest in a coffee cup

Pizza not junk food

News about obesity is fuelling disorders

Obesity gene

Fat cell numbers 'set for life'

Obese advantage

Obesity is 'socially contagious'

Obesity can be a mental illness, expert says

Thin dreams

Its your fault so don't ask for free health care

Obesity worries show signs of backfiring

A few extra pounds won't kill you

Children who stay up late at risk of obesity

Smoking now a private vice

Single drink could push drivers over the limit

Lock pupils up

You have mental health issues

Genes link stress, addictions

Chocolate not an addiction

Celebs more likely to deny addiction

Heart risks detected in overweight kids

Obesity linked to cancer in women

Information Knowledge Mass media

Information overload Attention economy

NHS may not treat smokers, drinkers or obese

Cash grab unhealthy

Low-fat diet myth busted

Anti-smoking warnings make you smoke

Obese find effective medical help elusive

Researchers find virus causes weight gain

Scientists find fatness gene

Fat gene found, but no word on how it works

New York City bans science

Trans-fat myth

Calgary's new trans fat rules kick in

Food bans attack the poor

Recycle or go to hell

Seven new deadly sins

Junk food ad ban unrealistic CDPAC

Junk food

Psss want’a buy some junk food

Clogged arteries clog your arteries

Dollars to doughnuts, you pay the tab

Woman too heavy to get compensation

Connor to stay with family

One fat kid versus a mean army of meddlers

What we're doing to young Connor is cruelty

Obese boy could be taken away from his family

French food ads carry health warnings

NY bans trans fats at restaurants

The dumbing down of society

MPs want to ban fat kids

Health agency crippled by computer virus

Sweeps of human DNA yield big discoveries

Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

Tough new anti-smoking laws across BC

Alberta smokers face new restrictions

Laser printers as bad as cigarette smoke

Healthy people place biggest burden on state

Drug testing candidates

Anti-smoking drug increases suicide risks

Hockey games are a health hazard

Woman waits four days for surgery on leg break

Drug-addicted babies overload system

Broken finger set under the watchful eye of the BC gov't and media

Health care deficit surges to $4B

Slap sales tax on junk food, panel urges

Why we worry about the wrong things

Recycling cash grab will raise alcohol price

It isn't really your money

Four big, fat myths

The top 10 junk science claims of 2005

Medical myths

'Silent pandemic' blamed on toxins

Silent pandemic

Bitten by the legal bug

Campbell targets smoking, junk food

BC to ban smoking in public places: Campbell

Junk the junk food tax

Head of Medical Ass.wants tax on junk food

Lower blood-alcohol limits needed: MADD Health Minister wants to cut smoking in BC

Cookie cops' coup crumbles

Stores face tobacco crackdown

How about a law against hypocrisy?

Planners ask GVRD to discuss tolls

BC gov gets into social housing

BC Liberals 'not inclined' to open up about $100M trust

VICTORIA - The B.C. Liberals have rebuffed two requests to include the $100-million New Relationship Trust under freedom of information and protection of privacy legislation. Both requests came from David Loukidelis, the province's information and privacy commissioner. (Vancouver Sun)

BC retreats on information law

BC Bill 23: (public inquiry act)

Freedom of Information & Privacy Association

BC backs off bid to pursue Costco

Costco ready for court fight with Victoria

Costco fights bid for list of BC shoppers in AB

Conflict questions plague land panel

Couple left 'squatting' in their home

VANCOUVER - When Selina Prevost and her husband returned home recently to find a notice tacked to their front door advising them Coquitlam city inspectors would return in 24 hours looking for a marijuana grow operation, they willingly let them in. (Vancouver Province)

Victimized by grow-op cops

Police pot search upsets homeowner

Court challenge

Feds recall BC database

BC government goes Big Brother

BC rolls out driver's licence with ID chip

Canada on way to brave new world

National ID card looms

Concerns about enhanced driver's licences

BC eyeing biometric drivers licences

BC Libs poised to slam lid on secrecy

What BC Libs don't want us to know

Demand for new security card 'poor'

Lawyer fights 'totalitarian' grow-op law

Pot law challenged as rights violation

Searches bend the law

Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?

BC Hydro: 18,000 grow-ops suspected

Bill 25: Safety Standards Amendment Act, 2006

New law targets Hyrdo users as grow-ops

BC Libs poised to slam lid on secrecy

What BC Libs don't want us to know

BC's out of control bureaucracy after vets, again

BC Gaming Commission

Sports bars' betting pools targeted

Red tape snarls hiring of ER nurses

Accountants urge government to slash red tape

Red tape snarls hiring of ER nurses

Accountants urge government to slash red tape

Sensitive government tapes never found

8.3M adults thought of suicide

WASHINGTON - Nearly 8.3 million adults (age 18 and older) in the US (3.7%) had serious thoughts of committing suicide in the past year according to the first national scientific survey of its size on this public health problem.

(SAMHSA)

Assisted suicide charge

Existing laws are poor ones

Euthanasia

Right to die support

Man trades shotgun for BMW

Couple's odyssey ends in tragedy

Hunt on for kin

Suicide prevention day

Australians set-up euthanasia labs

Chinese youth 'face suicide risk'

Wrong number