Canadian Judicial Council Recommends No Public Internet Access to Canadian Court Records

October 7, 2005

A committee of the Canadian Judicial Council that is developing a model policy for Courts across the country has recommended that most court documents – affidavits, pleadings, motion records and the like – not be made available on the internet, even though they are public records and are available, generally for a modest fee, on […]

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Philadelphia Awards MuniWiFi Contract to Earthlink

October 7, 2005

On Tuesday Earthlink announced that it has won the bid to develop Philadelphia’s muniwifi system. With Google’s recent announcement of its muniwifi interest, it’s beginning to look like the telco anti-muniwifi lobby is on the ropes.

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Canada’s Privacy Act “Lags Woefully Behind”

October 6, 2005

Canada’s Privacy Act, which deals with federal public sector data protection, lags “woefully behind” and needs a “major overhaul”, according to the 2004-2005 annual report on the Act released today by Jennifer Stoddart, the federal Privacy Commissioner. The news release is here. Points highlighted in the news release:

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Spectacular Shot of an All Nippon Airliner being Struck by Lightning in Osaka

October 6, 2005

This is extraordinary – an animated gif of an All Nippon jet being struck by lightning on takeoff from Osaka.

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More on Liability for Software Flaws

October 4, 2005

Some time ago I posted on increasing pressure on developers to accept liability for software flaws. Now Bill Thompson writes a long piece on the topic for BBC Online, arguing for more responsibility on software developers. Update (2005/10/08): Bill Thompson responds to reader comments on his article.

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Surprise Employment Standards Inspections

October 4, 2005

Michael Fitzgibbon reports that the Ontario Ministry of Labour has announced that in the next year it will conduct “2,500 surprise proactive workplace inspections” to look for contraventions of the Employment Standards Act (press release here).

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Presentations 2.0

October 4, 2005

I’ve been working on a presentation I’m giving to a large group in a few weeks and feeling stymied by the by now tired and shopworn Powerpoint 1.0 approach we all know and loathe. Today, Dick Hardt’s dazzling presentation at OSCON 2005 is making the rounds. This changes everything.

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More on the Google Library Project

October 3, 2005

Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor at NYU, has a sublimely nuanced explanation of what’s at stake in this case in the September 30 broadcast of On the Media. Show details and podcast links are here.

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On Spear Phishing

October 3, 2005

A new type of phishing attack is starting to appear. Called spear phishing for its targeted style, the phish is socially engineered to seem familiar to the target – no more to whom it may concern, it appears. Details on PC World.

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Cellphone Use in Cars, Redux

October 2, 2005

The NYT reports on the growing number of US states that have banned the use of cellphones in cars: When a new state driving law goes into effect here on Saturday, Will Suarez will have to put down his Treo 650 cellphone and stop digging into his briefcase while cruising Connecticut’s streets and highways in […]

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US House Committee Considers E-Health Records

October 1, 2005

The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform is holding hearings on IT in healthcare, with a focus on e-health records. Sabrina Pacifici has the details including relevant links here.

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Taking My Life Into My Own Hands

September 30, 2005

and anticipating the imminent demolition of my arguments, I debate copyright Professor William Patry (and others) on issues raised by the recent news that publishers are growing concerned over increasing used book sales.

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