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Paul Hardwick: Canada
Canada

• Administrivia: Possible unscheduled upgrade of Privacy Digest
  Administrivia: Possible unscheduled upgrade of Privacy Digest.
  
  I might be implementing an unscheduled upgrade of the site due to some problems with the software I am currently using to run the site. I had been working on upgrading the software to implement some new features but may have to implement sooner than originally planned. If you would like to take a peek at the planned software take a visit to http://www.PrivacyDigest.com/index.php Yes the full URL will have to be entered until I have completed the switch over.
  
  There may be some hiccups during the process as the XML/RSS location will change along with access to the sub-topics. I plan to create mod-rewrite rules to take of this but they may not all be ready on day one.
  
  Please let me know what you think.
• Canada.com and Email Privacy
  Canada.com and Email Privacy [Michael Geist Privacy Law RSS News Feed]
• TorontoSun.com - Canada - Privacy swipe? New system would check IDs in stores
  Convenience stores that check ID by swiping driver's licences could be violating privacy law, Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips said Wednesday.

  The system called "We Expect ID," would see store clerks swipe licences through a lottery terminal to verify a customer's age when purchasing alcohol, cigarettes, adult magazines, lottery tickets or fireworks. The terminal will read age information from the magnetic stripe on the licence and display the person's age on the terminal.

• U.S. Senators Pressure Canada on Canadian DMCA.
  U.S. Senators Pressure Canada on Canadian DMCA. An anonymous reader writes  "The U.S. copyright lobby brought out some heavy artillery last week as it continued to pressure Canada to introduce a Canadian DMCA. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins gave a public talk in which he described Canadian copyright law as the weakest in the G7, while Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to urge him to bring in movie piracy legislation."  [Slashdot]
• Canadian Gov't Grants Olympics Ownership of Winter.
  Canadian Gov't Grants Olympics Ownership of Winter. An anonymous reader writes  "Michael Geist reports that the Canadian government has introduced new legislation that grants Vancouver Olympic organizers broad powers to police the use of any commercial use of the words associated with the Olympics. These incredibly include 'winter, Vancouver, and games.' As Geist notes, the government 'has no time to deal with spam, spyware, privacy, or net neutrality, but commits to legislation on behalf of the organizers of a sporting event?'"  [Slashdot: Your Rights Online]
• BBC NEWS | Americas | Canada rejects anti-terror laws
  The Canadian parliament has voted against renewing two controversial anti-terror measures that had been adopted after the 11 September attacks.
  
  The measures allowed suspects to be detained without charge for three days and could compel witnesses to testify.
  
  The minority Conservative government accused the opposition Liberals of being soft on terror.
  
  The vote comes days after the Supreme Court revoked a law allowing foreign suspects to be detained indefinitely.
  
  Neither measure has ever been used since they were brought in by the then ruling Liberals after the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
  
  To allay human rights concerns, the measures were given a five-year limit and expire on 1 March.
  
  
• Canada Rejects Anti-Terror Laws.
  Canada Rejects Anti-Terror Laws.  Coryoth writes  "The Canadian parliament has voted against renewing anti-terror laws that had been introduced after September 11, 2001. The rejected laws included provisions to hold terror suspects indefinitely, and to compel witnesses to testify, and were in some sense Canada's version fo the Patriot Act. The laws were voted down in the face of claims from the minority Conservative government that the Liberal Party was soft on terror, and despite the fact that Canada has faced active terrorist cells in their own country. The anti-terror laws have never been used, and it was viewed that they are neither relevant, nor needed, in dealing with terrorist plots. Hopefully more countries will come to the same conclusion."  [Slashdot: Your Rights Online]
• Administrivia: Now we have a overheated CPU ( 60 degrees centigrade )
  OK, if the DDOS attack wasn't enough. Now our server went down with a temperature overload. We were up to 60 degrees centigrade when we shut down. The CPU and a broken fan have been replaced.
  
• Administrivia: Our data-center was hit by a DDOS attack today.
  Sorry for being either very slow or off the net for a while recently. The data-center we are part of was hit by a DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service) attack recently. At the moment it looks to be under control, but we are keeping an eye on things.
  
• Going to Canada? Check your past / Visitors with minor criminal records turned back at border
  

  There was a time not long ago when a trip across the border from the United States to Canada was accomplished with a wink and a wave of a driver's license. Those days are over.

  Take the case of 55-year-old Lake Tahoe resident Greg Felsch. Stopped at the border in Vancouver this month at the start of a planned five-day ski trip, he was sent back to the United States because of a DUI conviction seven years ago. Not that he had any idea what was going on when he was told at customs: "Your next stop is immigration.''

  Felsch was ushered into a room. "There must have been 75 people in line," he says. "We were there for three hours. One woman was in tears. A guy was sent back for having a medical marijuana card. I felt like a felon with an ankle bracelet.''
  

  [...]

  Welcome to the new world of border security. Unsuspecting Americans are turning up at the Canadian border expecting clear sailing, only to find that their past -- sometimes their distant past -- is suddenly an issue.

  While Canada officially has barred travelers convicted of criminal offenses for years, attorneys say post-9/11 information-gathering, combined with a sweeping agreement between Canada and the United States to share data, has resulted in a spike in phone calls from concerned travelers.

  They are shocked to hear that the sins of their youth might keep them out of Canada. But what they don't know is that this is just the beginning. Soon other nations will be able to look into your past when you want to travel there.
  

  [...]

  "From the time that you turn 18, everything is in the system,'' says Lucy Perillo, whose Canada Border Crossing Service in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helps Americans get into the country.

  [...]

  So it isn't as if rules have stiffened. But what has changed is the way the information is gathered. In the wake of 9/11, Canada and the United States formed a partnership that has dramatically increased what Lesperance calls "the data mining'' system at the border.

  The Smart Border Action Plan, as it is known, combines Canadian intelligence with extensive U.S. Homeland Security information. The partnership began in 2002, but it wasn't until recently that the system was refined.

  "They can call up anything that your state trooper in Iowa can,'' Lesperance says. "As Canadians and Americans have begun cooperating, all those indiscretions from the '60s are going to come back and haunt us.''

  [...]