Category: United States

Some Living In U.S. Eye Canada For Health Care, But Not Everybody Can Get In | CBC News

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Deborah Millar-Jervis and husband Robert Jervis were faced with a choice. They could continue paying roughly $1,600 US a month for health insurance or leave the United States and move to Canada. The staggering, and rising, cost of their insurance did not include doctors visits, dental care, prescriptions or the deductible amount they had to meet before accessing coverage. So, four years ago, the couple packed up their home in Blaine, Wash., and moved four hours north to Penticton, B.C. “We loved living there [in the U.S.], we had a…

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Canada-U.S. Border Closure To Be Extended Beyond June 21, Sources Say | CBC News

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The Canada-U.S. border closure to all non-essential traffic will be extended beyond the June 21 date set last month, sources tell CBC News. Sources with direct knowledge of the situation have confirmed to CBC News that Canada and the United States are holding talks about extending the border restrictions but the agreement has yet to be signed. Both countries reached an agreement in March to temporarily close the border to non-essential travel — meaning no recreational visits — while keeping it open to commercial traffic and essential workers who cross…

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House Lawmakers Question Homeland Security Over Protester Surveillance | CNET

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House Democrats on the Oversight Committee on Saturday called for the Department of Homeland Security to explain how it has conducted surveillance of protesters demonstrating against racial discrimination and police violence. “This Administration has undermined the First Amendment freedoms of Americans of all races who are rightfully protesting George Floyd’s killing,” said lawmakers in their letter to acting Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf. “The deployment of drones and officers to surveil protests is a gross abuse of authority and is particularly chilling when used against Americans who are protesting…

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ACLU Outlines Privacy Concerns For Contact Tracing Tech | Engadget

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As Google and Apple prepare to team up on surveillance tech to help track the spread of Covid-19, privacy watchdogs at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are urging the government and tech companies to take a tougher stance on privacy. The ACLU published a lengthy white paper outlining privacy concerns they say need to be taken into account in order for contact tracing tech to be effective. Apple and Google’s proposal would use bluetooth data to detect phone owners’ potential exposure to people who have tested positive for Covid-19.…

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

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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…

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Broadband Speeds Fall In Dozens Of Big US Cities During Pandemic | Ars Technica

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Home-Internet download speeds have fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic in dozens of the biggest US cities as millions of Americans stay home due to school and business closures. However, typical download speeds remain high enough to support normal broadband-usage patterns, with the vast majority of cities still above the Federal Communications Commission’s 25Mbps standard. In 88 of the 200 most populous US cities, Internet users “experienced some degree of network degradation over the past week compared to the 10 weeks prior,” BroadbandNow said in a report released Wednesday. Of those,…

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How Will The Coronavirus End? | The Atlantic

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The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out. Three months ago, no one knew that SARS-CoV-2 existed. Now the virus has spread to almost every country, infecting at least 446,000 people whom we know about, and many more whom we do not. It has crashed economies and broken health-care systems, filled hospitals and emptied public spaces. It has separated people from their workplaces and their friends. It has disrupted modern society on a scale that most…

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

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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…

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‘I’m Appalled’: Lawyers Alarmed As Ottawa Gives More Powers To U.S. Border Officers At Canadian Airports | CBC News

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Concerns are mounting over added powers Ottawa has granted U.S. customs officers to strip-search, question and detain U.S.-bound travellers — on Canadian soil. The changes are part of Canada’s new preclearance act, which the federal government says will enhance border security and make travel to the U.S. easier. But Pantea Jafari, an Iranian-Canadian immigration lawyer, fears it could make travel more difficult for her. Read full story here: ‘I’m Appalled’: Lawyers Alarmed As Ottawa Gives More Powers To U.S. Border Officers At Canadian Airports | CBC News

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U.S. Doubles Number Of 5-Year Bans On Travellers From Canada | CBC News

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The number of travellers from Canada hit with a long-term ban when trying to enter the U.S. has almost doubled, new data shows. Between October 2018 and September 2019, U.S. border officers issued expedited removals — which “generally” result in a minimum five-year ban — to 616 travellers attempting to enter the U.S. by land from Canada. That’s an almost 100 per cent increase compared with 312 in the previous 12-month period. The statistics were provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Read full story here: U.S. Doubles Number…

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