Category: United States

Mounties, CSIS Still Haven’t Publicly ID’d People Behind Electronic Cell Surveillance In Ottawa | CBC News

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After investigating for over a year, the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) are still unable to publicly identify those who have deployed electronic espionage devices in the national capital. In April 2017, a CBC/Radio-Canada report revealed that IMSI catchers were being used in Ottawa and Montreal. These devices can capture cellphone data and listen to telephone conversations. News that sophisticated spying tools had been deployed within range of Parliament Hill caused some tumult within the government. Following the CBC/Radio-Canada report, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced the launch…

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A Trip To The ER With Your Phone May Mean Injury Lawyer Ads For Weeks | Ars Technica

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With digital traps in hospitals, there’s no need for personal injury lawyers to chase ambulances these days. Law firms are using geofencing in hospital emergency rooms to target advertisements to patients’ mobile devices as they seek medical care, according to Philadelphia public radio station WHYY. Geofencing can essentially create a digital perimeter around certain locations and target location-aware devices within the borders of those locations. Patients who unwittingly jump that digital fence may see targeted ads for more than a month, and on multiple devices, the outlet notes. While the…

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Fiat Chrysler Warns 5.3M Owners In Canada And U.S.: Don’t Use The Cruise | CTV News

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DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 5.3 million vehicles in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere because in rare but terrifying circumstances, drivers may not be able to turn off the cruise control. The company is warning owners not to use cruise control until the cars, SUVs and trucks can be fixed with a software update. Fiat Chrysler says the condition can occur if the cruise control accelerates at the same time an electrical short-circuit happens. But the brakes are designed to overpower the engine and the vehicles could…

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Electric Car Adoption Is Slowed Down By ‘Dismissive And Deceptive Car Dealerships’, Finds New Study | Electrek

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In the US, a study found that the electric vehicle shopping experience at car dealers is quite poor and a problem for EV adoption. Now, a new study finds a similar problem in Europe where “dismissive and deceptive car dealerships create barriers to electric vehicle adoption at the point of sale.” That’s the actual title of the research paper published in the Nature Energy science magazine by researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark and the University of Sussex. The study is based on “126 shopping experiences at 82 car dealerships across Denmark, Finland,…

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Utilities, Tesla Appeal Federal Rollback Of Auto Emissions Standards | Ars Technica

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A coalition of utilities and electric vehicle makers, including Tesla, filed a petition with a US Federal Appeals Court to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider its recent work to roll back auto emissions standards. One of the first actions that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took when he assumed office in 2017 was to start the process of rolling back passenger vehicle greenhouse gas standards for automakers. The standards had been made official late in the Obama presidency, but the Trump administration claimed that the standards were too burdensome…

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Your Legal Pot Buying Data Could Get You Banned From The U.S., Lawyers Warn – National | Globalnews.ca

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As laws on marijuana relax on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, attitudes have hardened at the border itself. When Canadians are able to buy legal recreational marijuana sometime this year, we are going to start generating a lot of consumer data. Some of it will be clearly linked to individuals: credit card purchases at physical stores and online ordering to home addresses, for example. And that could have lasting consequences. Canadians can be barred for life from the United States — even after legalization here — if a border…

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FTC Warns Companies That Void Warranties Over Using 3rd Party Services | TechCrunch

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The days of reading the small print to see whether a repair or new part for your ailing laptop will void its warranty may be coming to an end. The FTC has officially warned several companies that their policies of ceasing support when a user attempts “non-approved” repairs or servicing are likely illegal. It’s the sort of thing where if you buy a device or car from a company, they inform you that unless you use approved, often internally branded parts, you’re voiding the warranty and your item will no…

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The Evolution of U.S. Electric Vehicle Charging Points [Infographic] | Forbes

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What a difference a decade makes. In 2017, people planning on following the electric route had a choice of 25 battery-electric vehicles, along with 26 plug-in hybrid models. As cars such as the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and Tesla Models S and X became increasingly common sights on U.S. roads, the charging network also evolved to keep pace. The number of outlets really started to take off in 2012 when the total count nationwide hit 12,000. By the end of 2017, the number had surpassed 47,000 (including 6,270 fast charging…

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US Visa Applications May Soon Require Five Years Of Social Media Info – Engadget

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The State Department wants to require all US visa applicants, both immigrant and non, disclose their social media handles to the US government, CNN reports. In documents that the department will file to the Federal Register tomorrow, it proposes that nearly every individual applying for a US visa be required to hand over any social media handles used on certain platforms in the past five years as well as submit any telephone numbers and email addresses used during that same time period. Previously, this information was only requested from visa…

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Canadian Customs Facilities In The U.S.? Americans Say It Could Happen Soon – Politics – CBC News

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Canada could soon have its first customs facilities inside the United States, says an American official who cites Florida and Arizona as potential sites for pilot projects in ongoing experiments to modernize the border. This would come decades after American preclearance facilities were first placed at major Canadian airports, where travellers have long cleared customs before flying to the U.S., with the goal of reducing wait times at the back end. Newer innovations involve train travel, with pilot projects to have rail passengers clear U.S. customs in Montreal and B.C.,…

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