On January 4, 2021, Desmond Tan, Minister of State for Home Affairs, revealed that contact tracing data from TraceTogether, Singapore’s COVID Contact Tracing App, is available to police. (YouTube video) The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is empowered under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to obtain any data, and that includes the TraceTogether data, for criminal … [Read more...]
Portland’s Nightly Riots and its Ban on Facial Recognition Tech
In Portland, Oregon, George Floyd’s death at the hands of police sparked riots, arson and looting, just as it did all across America. Portland’s riots, generously called “public demonstrations” by woke media outlets and woke politicians alike, take place nightly and have for the past 120 days. Some “protesters” say the riots will continue every night until the U.S. … [Read more...]
Snowden Exonerated: US Court of Appeals Rules NSA Mass Surveillance Illegal
On September 2, 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, in United States v. Moalin, said the NSA's mass surveillance program outed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013 was illegal. We conclude that the government may have violated the Fourth Amendment and did violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) when it collected the telephony metadata … [Read more...]
Text Message Privacy: Did the Supreme Court Get It Right?
On March 27, 2010, the Owen Sound Police Service obtained a general warrant under s. 487.01 and an assistance order under s. 487.02 of the Criminal Code. The warrant named two Telus wireless subscribers and required the telecom giant to provide the Owen Sound Police Service with copies of any text messages stored on Telus’ computer database that were sent or received by … [Read more...]
Why do Criminals Go Free When Police Screw Up?
In response to my Friday column Cops Screw Up: Drug Dealer Jermaine Barrows-Taylor Escapes Illegal Handgun Conviction, one reader shared his frustration with this case specifically, as well as these types of cases in general. I do not understand why police screwups result in criminals going free. If police illegally search a vehicle and find a body, does the driver get a … [Read more...]
Revenge Porn: Former RCMP officer pleads guilty
Unfortunately, the identity of the latest entrant into the RCMP’s Hall of Shame cannot be named due to a publication ban imposed to protect the identity of the victim, also an RCMP member. Here's what we know or can glean from the few news reports available. At the time of the offence, specifically publishing an intimate image without consent, violating … [Read more...]
DNA Databases, Privacy Rights and Law Enforcement
You've probably seen the ads for Ancestry.com's DNA testing. Their pitch, if you're even slightly curious about your own family history, is compelling: Uncover your ethnic mix, discover distant relatives, and find new details about your unique family history with AncestryDNA®. How do you refuse that premise? My own son-in-law used 23andMe to test his DNA to see if he could … [Read more...]
Rachel Small: RCMP Due Diligence or Violation of Privacy?
Did you know the RCMP has a Tactical Internet Intelligence Unit? Or that this unit may scour social media looking for information about you? Neither did Rachel Small, a political activist from Toronto, until a Canadian Press reporter gave her a copy of the RCMP's 6-page report on her. "I found it kind of creepy and unsettling because of the way that they were compiling … [Read more...]
Apple Violates Your Privacy Rights Again
[Update 2020-20-11 22:10 hrs: Added info about Apple suspending its "grading" program and updated links to sources.] "Siri, violate my privacy..." You don't expect your phone or tablet to spy on you. Last year news broke that Siri, Apple's virtual assistant, sends audio of sexual encounters and other private moments recorded without users’ knowledge to human ‘graders’ for … [Read more...]
Washington DC Judge Shuts Down US DOJ Fishing Expedition
Cops love vaguely-worded search warrants with a wide-open net. Why they love them is no secret. These kinds of search warrants are fishing expeditions. These search warrants are massive gill nets tossed into the ocean of humanity in search of a crime to prosecute. They don't even care which crime. Any crime will do. That's the type of broad warrant the US Department of … [Read more...]
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Denies Your Right to Privacy
I'm forever baffled by morons wearing robes who believe violating our Right to Privacy is perfectly okay. The latest morons in black robes to defecate on our rights is the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. These robed dipshits ruled, by a vote of 12-3, that police do NOT require a warrant to access your cell phone's location data. Wireless companies, … [Read more...]
Salt Lake City Park Apartments Demands Tenants Like them on Facebook or face Eviction
It's one of the more bizarre violations of our Right to Privacy I've ever come across: "friend" your apartment building's Facebook page or be found in breach of your rental agreement. That could mean eviction for those who refuse to "like" their apartment building on the social media platform within the 5-day window provided for in the contract. What is even more bizarre … [Read more...]
Got a password-protected Smartphone? At the Border you still kiss your Right to Privacy Away
We Canadians like to believe we have rights. We like to believe those rights are protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are fools. Our government moves to strip us of our rights every day. The latest abuse of power stripping us of our Right to Privacy comes to us courtesy of the Canadian Border Services Agency, who can now demand the password for … [Read more...]
Julie Bosman – The Epitome of Hypocrite and “Stupid Little Bitch”
For those who don't know, Julie Bosman is a journalist who works for the New York Times. That's the title the New York Times gives her, anyway. I call her an irresponsible and hypocritical little bitch who felt it was her absolute right to violate the privacy of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. Officer Darren Wilson hit the national stage when he shot and killed … [Read more...]
Why do American Doctors want to know if Patients own Firearms?
Why do American family physicians want to know if their patients own Firearms before treating them for [insert medical issue here]? The only doctor who will ask you about gun ownership before treating you is a doctor who hates guns. Any doctor who hunts or target shoots or believes in your Right to Self-Defense isn’t going to ask the question. He won’t care. It’s only … [Read more...]
Our Right to Privacy vs Police Need to Investigate Crime – Who Wins?
Police want easy access to personal information, generally with the assurance that they will not misuse the data they collect. The trouble is they almost always misuse the data, or if that statement seems too unfair, they often use it in ways never intended and they said they would never do. Take the testimony of Scott Naylor of the Ontario Provincial Police before the … [Read more...]
EFF Report- Who is Protecting Your Data from Government Requests?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) constantly fights for our right to privacy on the Internet. It's an organization every single person who values privacy ought to support financially, as they are continually beating back Leviathan when it comes to issues of personal privacy online. In this fourth-annual report, EFF examines the publicly-available policies of major … [Read more...]
Bill C-13 is Conservative Government’s Attempt to Police Internet
Bill C-13 - dubbed the “Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act” is really an attempt by our so-called Conservative government to re-introduce measures from their failed Bill C-30, "Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act". You remember that one, right? That’s the bill where then-Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said you either sided with the government (and … [Read more...]
CSIS Does “End-Run” Around Privacy Law to Spy on Canadians Abroad
It’s as horrifying as it is becoming routine: Canadian police agencies lying to Judges in Court so they can keep violating the law they are supposed to uphold. This time is the Canadian spy agency CSIS that’s caught in the spotlight. Judge Richard Mosley wasn’t pleased when he discovered CSIS and the Communication Security Establishment of Canada (CSEC) lied to him. Both … [Read more...]
Is an Encrypted Social Network Possible? Three Montreal Computer Students Say Yes
Syme brings privacy to your group conversations by encrypting everything you share. With the look of Google Plus and Facebook-like elements, a new social network named "Syme" feels as cozy as a well-worn shoe. But beneath the familiar veneer, it's quite different. Syme encrypts all content, such as status updates, photos and files, so that only people invited to a group can … [Read more...]