CRTC Reprimands Bankers/Marketers over Telemarketing

Awhile back I told you about ioptout.ca - a website started by Dr. Michael Geist to close a loophole in Canada's new "Do Not Call" list. I Opt Out gives you the opportunity to tell a bunch of companies at once that you don't want them to call you any more.

Predictably the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) and the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) bitched to the CRTC about the site, arguing that their competitors could fraudulently use it to keep them away from customers. Fortunately the CRTC wasn't buying it:

"..any such issues that arise could be dealt with by Canada's competition laws, the Criminal Code and the Privacy Commissioner.

He [CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein] also suggested the CMA and CBA work with Geist to smooth out any technical or operational problems."

Personally I'm pleased with the CRTC on this one. Telemarketing, to me, says nothing except that the company obviously doesn't respect you but would like your money anyway. The very nature of telemarketing says that they do not respect your privacy. The way telemarketing is carried out - a quick sales pitch with few details and barely a chance to say no - says that they don't respect your intelligence. Finally the recent trend toward using recorded messages rather than actual people to make the pitch says that the company doesn't believe that your time is worth enough that they can have a real person talk to you. Fortunately all of this comes to an end on September 30, when you can sign up for the do not call list. Dr. Geist's ioptout.ca is merely a convenient way to close a loophole and tell companies that the government left out of its 'do not call' legislation that they can back off too - without your having to contact them all individually.

Facebook Sued over Privacy

According to internetnews.com the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) is suing Facebook charging 22 distinct violations of Canada's privacy laws.

""Facebook purports to provide users with a high level of control over their data," said Harley Finkelstein, one of the law students who wrote the complaint. "But our investigation found that this is not entirely true -- for example, even if you select the strongest privacy settings, your information may be shared more widely if your Facebook friends have lower privacy settings. As well, if you add a third-party application offered on Facebook, you have no choice but to let the application developer access all your information even if they don't need it.""

Opt Out of Telemarketing

Compliments of Michael Geist comes a way to easily close a loophole that telemarketers are counting on.

"The Canadian government passed legislation in 2005 mandating the creation of a do-not-call registry. The registry is scheduled to take effect in mid-2008, yet many Canadians may be disappointed to learn about the exemption of a wide range of organizations (registered charities, business with prior relationships, political parties, survey companies, and newspapers). Under the law, exempted organizations are permitted to make unsolicited telephone calls despite the inclusion of the number in the do-not-call registry. However, organizations must remove numbers from their lists if specifically requested to do so."

Using ioptout.ca you simply enter your contact information, select the organizations you never want to hear from again and ioptout.ca sends the requests for you. If, after sending these 'opt out' requests you hear from the organization again, simply file a complaint with the privacy commissioner who must, by law, take enforcement action.

Although this is a beta version and there appear to be some initial problems with the login mechanism if you don't like being called in the middle of dinner by someone trying to sell you things you don't want or need it's well worth bookmarking.

BC Govt. uses Facebook/Myspace to Spy on the Poor

According to the Tyee British Columbia officials are using social sites such as Facebook and Myspace to spy on welfare recipients.

"A message circulated in recent weeks to advocates working with people who receive financial help from the government warns that investigators use the Internet sites to look for evidence of "undisclosed co-habitation (living with someone), spending beyond what is provided by the ministry, casual employment, leaving the province for more than 30 days, gifts, pets and other income."
In each of those cases, the information might affect how much welfare a person could receive, or whether they would be eligible for help at all."

To me this sounds like an excuse for bureaucrats to spend their work days surfing the net and pretend that it is work related.

Privacy Rights Eroding in Canada

In case you missed it, and it's entirely possible that you did since it came out on New Year's Eve: a new report is out on the erosion of privacy rights in Canada.

Individual privacy is best protected in Canada but is under threat in the United States and the European Union as governments introduce surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and border control, an international rights group said in a report.

The report indicated that this was largely due to Canada's ties to the US and Europe (the US and Britain scored the lowest of the countries surveyed).

He cites the CIA's accessing the banking records of Canadians through the SWIFT banking information system, the Canadian no-fly list, and the Toronto Transit Commission's installation of security cameras as examples of the erosion of privacy rights.

You can read more about it at the GlobeandMail.com

Canadian Library Association Sides With Canadians

Michael Geist points to an article in todays Globe and Mail on the Canadian Library Association's objections to the Government's copyright bill. From Don Butcher, Executive Director of the Library Association:

“This is a battle between Hollywood lobbyists versus the average Canadian,”.

In case you miss it, in the reader comments section for this story Sam Genkins of Toronto has found a quote that seems to sum up the debate nicely:

There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back."
-Robert Heinlein, 1939

Ottawa Hires Weasels to Guard the Henhouse

This should be interesting, according to the CBC Bell Canada has been awarded the contract to maintain the "Do-Not-Call list". Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that there is finally going to be a do-not-call list but Bell?

When my family and I moved into our current residence we called to have our Bell internet service switched over. Once that was done though we noticed that it was unbelievably slow - slower than dial up at times. So we called Bell to fix it. After a month which included several technician visits, hours on the phone and explanations that changed from day to day we switched providers.

Last friday, in what is only the most recent case, Bell called to offer us high speed. When I mentioned that Bell had already told us, in so many words, that they couldn't provide us with high speed at our current location the caller assured me that there was no obligation so it was a good deal. I asked to be taken off of their calling list and the caller assured me that I would be. They called back on Monday to make the same offer.

The reality is that Bell and Rogers, along with ADT and a few mystery 'you have won an all expense paid trip to...' companies are the worst violators of telemarking. These are the people who made a do-not-call list necessary in the first place, so it is more than a bit ironic that they sould be awarded a large government contract, which will presumably result in some handsome profits, to police themselves.

Breaking Links: Wednesday, November 21

The End of America Alternet interview with Naomi Wolf (Thanks CBC Radio 3)

Canadian records an album every week for a year via Chart

Sign out of Facebook before making online purchases. An article from the Globe and Mail about Facebook's new tracking and consumer reaction.

CBC Television has presented it's Winter schedule. You can watch Video of that Presentation Here and find out what they have in store.

The Dears have new stuff on the way and while anyone in their right mind is automatically excited about that, the fact that the Dears themselves seem really and I'm mean really, really excited about it makes the waiting almost too hard.

Sears is suing Ryerson because they want more publicity fin exchange for their donation. Personally I don't even want to know the facts. The thought of a multi-billion dollar American corporation suing a university over something like this means that Sears joins the Gap on the list of places I won't be shopping in the foreseeable future.

Stephen's List?

Here's a strange tale via Michael Geist: Apparently a large number of people received Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) cards from the Prime Ministers Office. Now, if you're like me your initial reaction may be "well, isn't that nice." It turns out the answer is - 'no, that's not nice at all'.

The Prime Minister's Office is now being investigated by the Privacy Commissioner's office according to the Edmonton Sun. See, the problem is that the recipients of the cards were not friends of Harper's, or even supporters of the conservative party. They were just Jewish people. So, the question that these people want answered is - Where did the the PMO get a list of Jewish people and why was such a list collected in the first place.

Quechup: Just Say No

Via BoingBoing (and my inbox) - Please do not accept invites to Quechup. It appears to be some kind of new 'Social Networking' site but it , in the words of Xeni Jardin, "anally rapes your address book, and violates user trust by spamming all your contacts." In other words it will send invites to everyone in your address book, regardless. The spam blasts are large enough that some gmail accounts have been suspended because of them.