Category: United States

Posthaste: The Canadian dollar is getting hammered — and its future looks even bleaker | Financial Post

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So what’s up with the Canadian dollar? While many thought the currency would strengthen in 2023, the loonie has slid to depths not seen since the height of the pandemic. (This morning it was trading near a 6-month low of 72.43 US cents) A big part of this mystery is that the drivers of the currency have changed. When a hawkish Bank of Canada was raising interest rates it supported the loonie, but now that the slowing economy has reduced the risk of more hikes, new drivers are taking over.…

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US border forces are seizing Americans’ phone data and storing it for 15 years | Engadget

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If a traveler’s phone, tablet or computer ever gets searched at an airport, American border authorities could add data from their device to a massive database that can be accessed by thousands of government officials. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders have admitted to lawmakers in a briefing that its officials are adding information to a database from as many as 10,000 devices every year, The Washington Post reports. Read full story here: US border forces are seizing Americans’ phone data and storing it for 15 years | Engadget

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Scanning students’ homes during remote testing is unconstitutional, judge says | Ars Technica

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As the pandemic unfolded in spring 2020, an Educause survey found that an increasing number of students—who had very little choice but to take tests remotely—were increasingly putting up with potential privacy invasions from schools. Two years later, for example, it’s considered a common practice that some schools record students throughout remote tests to prevent cheating, while others conduct room scans when the test begins. Read full story here: Scanning students’ homes during remote testing is unconstitutional, judge says | Ars Technica

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IRS Backtracks On Sketchy Facial Recognition Plan Following Public Outcry | Mashable

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Activism, it turns out, still gets results. That’s the takeaway following a Monday morning announcement that the IRS intends to shift away from requiring Americans use a private facial-recognition service to verify their identities on the IRS website. The about face comes after sustained criticism from privacy experts, grassroots activists, and even elected officials. “This is big,” wrote Senator Ron Wyden Monday morning. “The IRS has notified my office it plans to transition away from using facial recognition verification, as I requested earlier today. While this transition may take time, the administration…

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The IRS Will Soon Make You Use Facial Recognition To Access Your Taxes Online | The Verge

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he Internal Revenue Service will require people who access and pay their taxes online to enroll in a third-party facial recognition company starting this summer (h/t Krebs on Security). Even those who have already registered on IRS.gov with a username and password will have to provide a government ID, a copy of a utility bill, and a selfie to ID.me, the Virginia-based identity verification company. You’ll take a video selfie with whatever webcam or mobile device you’re using to sign up, which seems likely to cause problems for people with…

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Canadian Travellers Frustrated As U.S. Cruise Lines Won’t Recognize Mixing-and-matching COVID-19 Vaccines | Global News

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Some Canadians are frustrated after cruise lines in the United States issued policies stating they do not recognize mixing-and-matching of COVID-19 vaccines as being fully vaccinated. Thousands of Canadians heeded the call to mix-and-match their doses as the country faced vaccine supply issues. That call was bolstered when the National Advisory Committee on Immunization not only said mixing-and-matching was acceptable but recommended it when the first dose was a viral vector vaccine, like AstraZeneca. Read full story here: Canadian Travellers Frustrated As U.S. Cruise Lines Won’t Recognize Mixing-and-matching COVID-19 Vaccines…

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Federal Agencies Use Facial Recognition From Private Companies, But Almost Nobody Is Keeping Track | The Verge

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A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has revealed near-total lack of accountability from federal agencies using facial recognition built by private companies, like Clearview AI. Of the 14 federal agencies that said they used privately built facial recognition for criminal investigations, only Immigration and Customs Enforcement was in the process of implementing a list of approved facial recognition vendors and a log sheet for the technology’s use. Read full story here: Federal Agencies Use Facial Recognition From Private Companies, But Almost Nobody Is Keeping Track | The…

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President Biden Will Make Entire 645K Federal Vehicle Fleet Electric | Electrek

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President Joe Biden has just announced that he will replace the entire US federal fleet with electric vehicles made in the US. The US federal fleet consists of over 645,000 vehicles, according to the latest Federal Fleet Report. This includes 245k civilian vehicles, 173k military vehicles, and 225k post office vehicles. Biden talked a lot about American-made electric vehicles during the campaign, so an announcement to this effect is not unexpected, but campaign promises do not always translate to real action. Read full story here: President Biden Will Make Entire…

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Civil Rights Groups Demand CBP Stops Facial Recognition Expansion At Airports | Engadget

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The American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and more than a dozen other civil rights groups have objected to Customs and Border Protection’s plan to expand use of facial recognition at border entry and exit points.  The Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule change last month that would authorize CBP to photograph foreign nationals at any point of departure, including airports and seaports. Those captured images can be used to create faceprints. Read full story here: Civil Rights Groups Demand CBP Stops Facial Recognition Expansion At Airports | Engadget

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Why Some Travellers Get Permission To Cross The Canada-U.S. Border And Others Don’t | CBC News

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Kim Zavesky is desperate to return to her home in Golden, B.C. After retiring last year, she and her husband — both Americans — sold their house in Chandler, Ariz., and moved most of their belongings to their second home in Golden, in southeastern British Columbia. The plan was to rent a place in the United States for the first part of the year and spend the rest of the year in Golden. But then the Canada-U.S. border closed to non-essential traffic in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, blocking the couple from accessing their Canadian property.…

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