Category: Canada

Facebook Begins Sharing More Location Data With COVID-19 Researchers And Asks Users To Self-Report Symptoms | The Verge

mdbincbi

The company’s Data for Good program is expanding. Facebook is expanding a program that grants researchers access to data about movement patterns in an effort to help improve our understanding of the spread of COVID-19, the company said today. Data for Good, which uses aggregated, anonymized data from Facebook’s apps to inform academic research, will now grant access to three new maps for forecasting the disease’s spread and revealing whether residents of a given region are staying at home. The company will also prompt Facebook users to participate in a…

Read More

Is Canada Bad At Sharing Public Data? COVID-19 Rekindles An Old Debate | CBC News

mdbincbi

A debate that normally resides in the realm of wonkery roared to public attention this week, with Ottawa’s reluctance to release projections of the pandemic death toll. Is Canada bad at sharing public data? It’s a recurring obsession of journalists and researchers who use government data about things like health care, economics, crime and housing. By now, Americans haven’t just seen fatality projections. They have a one-stop site with estimates for all 50 states of how many deaths there might be, how many hospital beds and ventilators might be required,…

Read More

Email, Text Message Attacks Surge During COVID-19 Crisis | CBC News

mdbincbi

Cybersecurity experts describe it as a perfect storm: employees working from home — away from their firm’s IT experts and sometimes without the protection of a corporate computer network —  and hungry for information about a mysterious coronavirus. With the COVID-19 crisis as the backdrop, fraudsters appear to be redoubling their efforts to steal information or money from unsuspecting users, sending fake emails and text messages as bait, in a scheme known as phishing. In one scam, fraudsters pretend to be processing EI claims, preying on Canadians who’ve recently lost their jobs.…

Read More

‘Internet Is The Only Lifeline They Have’: Canada Needs To Confront ‘Digital Divide’ Amid COVID-19 Crisis | CBC Radio

mdbincbi

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Canada to confront many of its hidden social inequalities, one of these being unequal access to the internet, an internet freedom advocate says. Laura Tribe, executive director of OpenMedia, says disproportionate access to the internet is often talked about in terms of only affecting the North or remote communities, however, the current public health crisis has shown the problem is just as common in many cities. “There are so many people throughout the country — even in urban areas — that don’t have the internet…

Read More

Bell, Rogers, Other Telecoms Remove Internet Data Caps Amid COVID-19 | CTV News

mdbincbi

TORONTO — As Canadians grapple with a growing list of cancellations, closures and travel restrictions, several Canadian telecom companies are temporarily removing overage fees on home internet plans amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. In a statement issued Saturday, Bell Canada, which owns CTV News, announced it will waive any additional usage fees for residential internet customers, including Bell Aliant, Bell MTS and Virgin Home Internet services, until the end of April. “Any overage fees will be waived automatically, so customers don’t need to make any changes to their accounts,” the…

Read More

NSP Ordered To Refund Millions To Customers, But Bills Not Likely To Shrink | CBC News

mdbincbi

Nova Scotia Power was ordered to pay a multi-million dollar refund to customers Friday by regulators who ruled a mega-project once again failed to deliver promised benefits. Ratepayers are on the hook for the $1.57-billion Maritime Link, which was completed on time and on budget in 2017 to bring electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydro project into Nova Scotia via subsea cable across the Cabot Strait. The problem is customers haven’t been getting what they paid for. The Maritime Link has not delivered any electricity from Muskrat Falls. That project…

Read More

Liberals Give Big 3 Wireless Providers Two Years To Cut Prices By 25 Percent | CBC News

mdbincbi

The Liberal government is giving Canada’s big three national wireless providers two years to cut their basic prices for cellphone services by 25 per cent — and telling them it will step in to cut prices if they don’t comply. Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains issued the ultimatum today along with new spectrum auction rules that could open up Canada’s wireless market to new competition. “Yes, affordability is a challenge and we need to see lower prices,” Bains told CBC news. Bains said the government expects Bell, Telus…

Read More

U.S. Tax Rules Raising The Stakes For Canadian Residents With American Citizenship | CBC News

mdbincbi

Many Canadian residents with U.S. citizenship could risk fines or the closure of their banking or investment accounts in the coming months if they don’t provide financial institutions with U.S. identification numbers, officials warn. Experts say that in some cases, financial institutions may close accounts rather than face fines for not providing U.S. social security or taxpayer identification numbers for clients who could be subject to U.S. income tax, such as dual citizens. That means the stakes are about to get higher for those who haven’t been filing returns and for “accidental Americans” — Canadians…

Read More

RCMP Acknowledges Using Facial Recognition Technology, But Won’t Say Where | CBC News

mdbincbi

The RCMP has for the first time acknowledged using controversial facial recognition technology that has raised privacy concerns, saying it was used in the Mounties’ efforts to crack down on online child sexual abuse. The force said it has used the technology in 15 child exploitation investigations over the past four months, resulting in the identification and rescue of two children. The statement also mentioned that “a few units in the RCMP” are also using it to “enhance criminal investigations,” without providing detail about how widely and where. “We are…

Read More

Canadian Businesses Rush To Plug A Gap In Electric-Vehicle Charging: Don Pittis | CBC News

mdbincbi

The relatively small number of electric vehicles you see on the road today masks what many experts say is a disruptive revolution coming to the business of refuelling our vehicles. With some claiming as many as 80 per cent of conventional gas stations could be driven out of business in 15 years, Canadian companies are at the forefront of figuring out how to profit from the coming transformation of the business model for how we get a fill-up. Read full story here: Canadian Businesses Rush To Plug A Gap In…

Read More