OpenMedia.ca

CBC: Introducing Google Camel View

Ever wanted to tour the desert? Got a few great Canadian parks on your bucket list? Google street view just made visiting off-the-beaten-path locations a bit easier.

Article by the CBC

There aren't a lot of streets in the UAE's Liwa Desert, but you can now explore the massive, sandy dunes on Google Street View anyway. Read more »

How we move forward

It’s been a tough week for all of us. I’ll never forget checking the news on Wednesday morning and discovering that Parliament - the very symbol of the Canadian rights and freedoms we hold dear - was under attack.

Since Wednesday, I’ve been talking with friends, family, and colleagues, trying to process these events, and consider how Canada will move forward as a country. If there’s one thing I’ve been hearing again and again, it’s this: We can’t let this tragedy make us lose sight of the democratic values we all cherish.

Sadly, this government isn’t listening. Already, they are promising drastic new spying powers that would place the everyday lives of law-abiding Canadians under a government microscope.¹

Let’s ensure cooler heads prevail: Canadians should be consulted before the government enables expensive and invasive spying plans that affect our lives. That’s why we’re asking Canadians to come together in creating a pro-privacy plan to shape rules that work for all of us. Read more »

WATCH: Glenn Greenwald speaks in Ottawa

WATCH: Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Glenn Greenwald spoke today in Ottawa about privacy, state surveillance, and its impact on Canadians. This event was organized by Bill Owen of Eyestir Communications, and sponsored by Rabble.ca and your OpenMedia.ca team. It took place on Saturday Oct 25 from 6.30-8.30pm ET.

Thanks to our event co-sponsors at Rabble.ca for providing this live stream - let us know what you think about the points under discussion in the comments below.

(This live stream has now concluded)

Read more »

Canadians are coming together after a tragic week, but will the government listen?

It’s been a terrible few days. Wednesday’s events on Parliament Hill have left all Canadians shaken and asking questions about how we move forward as a country.

I doubt I’ll ever forget waking up on Wednesday to learn that Parliament - the very symbol of the rights and freedoms we hold dear - was under attack. Since then I’ve talked with a lot of people - my friends, family, OpenMedia colleagues, and engaged supporters - trying to process this news and consider how we can all move forward.

One thing I’m hearing again and again is that Canadians don’t want to allow this tragedy to undermine our freedoms and our way of life. We just can’t let this attack change our society for the worse. As Jamie Bertrand told us on Facebook:

“This is horrible but I am now worried what freedoms & rights we'll be losing now to ‘stay safe from terrorism’. Hard fought freedom & rights are always the 1st to go and be traded for "safety" after incidents like this.”

Power to the people (through the Internet)

This article is a part of a series on the Our Digital Future report, our crowdsourced roadmap for Free Expression that proposes fair and balanced copyright reform for the 21st Century. See Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

One thing we hear over and over again from our community is that they value the ability of the Internet to foster creativity and advance human progress. It often provides us with solutions to some of our most stubborn problems. Here at OpenMedia, we talk about “the possibilities of the open Internet,” and it’s something we all keep coming back to.

Here are just a few of the ways that we - and when I say we, I mean all of us here on this planet - have made good on these possibilities so far: Read more »