Lindsey Pinto's blog

In light of recent revelations that a secretive Canadian spy agency has been collecting our sensitive personal data, MP Charmaine Borg asked for an emergency debate in the House of Commons yesterday. Her reasoning: “to allow parliamentarians to study in-depth the extent to which the personal information of Canadians, metadata or other, is being collected by police, law enforcement or national security agencies and to review measures that will result in appropriate parliamentary oversight and reporting.”

This debate would be a good step in bringing light to the near-total secrecy of electronic-eavesdropping agencies CSEC and CSIS. Canadians have been calling on the government to make public the details of these agencies’ online spying and data sharing activities, and to put an immediate stop to any programs of indiscriminate and arbitrary online spying. Read more »

We’ve just learned that the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have come to Canada for an intersessional round of talks.

iPolitics is reporting that negotiators are in Vancouver this weekend to discuss the TPP’s investment chapter. These “mini-negotiations” were not publicized by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade – likely to curb any public protest over the controversial agreement, and to keep citizens and other stakeholders on the outside.

The TPP—known to many as the Internet Trap—is an international trade agreement that is being put together by a group of 600 industry lobbyist "advisors" and un-elected government trade representatives.

But it’s more that just a simple trade agreement: Leaked documents show that the TPP would have a hugely negative effect on the open Internet – the agreement includes an intellectual property chapter that would drastically increase Internet surveillance, increase Big Media's Internet lockdown powers, and criminalize content sharing in general, with a likelihood of harsher penalties. Read more »

Michael Froman has just been appointed chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership—an international agreement that could criminalize many everyday uses of the Internet.

If you haven't already, send him a message at http://openmedia.org/froman and help spread the word by sharing this image:

Froman now has the unique ability to put an end to the TPP's Internet criminalization plans, but he needs to hear from citizens like us before the Big Media lobbyists get under his skin. Read more »

You wouldn’t believe just how well things are going with the campaign to demand more choice in Canada’s cell phone market. From its humble beginning as a letter-writing campaign asking the CRTC to develop national rules to protect cell phone users, the Demand Choice campaign is hitting a stride, and now includes (but is not limited to) a toolkit for mistreated cell phone users, a citizen-powered study, a letter-to-the-editor tool, and a petition that’s tens-of-thousands of Canadians strong.

It’s thanks to the amazing pro-Internet community that more and more Canadians are learning about the stunning lack of choice in our nation’s cell phone market, seeing through Big Telecom’s spin, and taking action to create change for the better.

This blog entry is here to show you what you’ve helped accomplish so far... Read more »

As Canadians wait with increasingly less patience for Industry Canada’s long-promised digital strategy, it appears that one city is taking matters into its own hands. From their mountainous British Columbia home, councillors of the City of Vancouver have crafted a plan that includes providing public wi-fi, sponsoring digital literacy programs, and creating a dedicated “digital services” department.

The Digital Strategy is slated to be implemented over a four year period, and is valued at approximately $30 million.

We at OpenMedia.ca have decried the ongoing delays in the federal government’s digital strategy—one promised four years ago—and we're now lauding the City of Vancouver’s plans, agreeing that they take steps toward a more vibrant digital future for Vancouverites. Read more »

Check it out as Lindsey talks on CBC Radio: The Current about our broken cell phone market and some measures that must be taken in order to increase choice for Canadians. “When we’re looking at a situation where the wireless market becomes less affordable and less accessible, we’re looking at a situation where we’re really in trouble as a citizenry.”