Canada must ensure its digital sovereignty in the face of U.S. threats

Trump’s threats demand bold Canadian tech policy. It's time to invest in digital sovereignty and self-reliance.

How Might Trump’s Big Tech Agenda Affect Canada?

It will be more difficult for Canada to undertake content moderation that differs from US policies.

Canadian universities and faculty must continue to push back against the speech-stifling IHRA antisemitism Working Definition | Centre for Free Expression

In January 2024, we wrote a blog post (and one of us, Blayne Haggart, wrote a companion piece) for the Centre for Free Expression raising concerns about the weaponization of antisemitism to stifle academic and political speech in the context of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. We wrote it in the context of the then-upcoming and now proposed Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act. At the heart of the issue, however, was the push by officials and activists for Canada in general, and the post-secondary education sector in particular, to adopt a specific, expansive definition of antisemitism that would have the effect of silencing legitimate political criticisms of the state of Israel and its government.

Device attacks in Lebanon could be harbinger of new era of Trojan horse threats

Booby-trapped electronic devices that can be used by civilians in the internet era poses a new kind of threat.

CFP: Resisting Surveillance through Data Visibility and Invisibility | Surveillance & Society

Power and Authority in Internet Governance | Return of the State? | Bl

Power and Authority in Internet Governance investigates the hotly contested role of the state in today's digital society. The book asks: Is the state "back" in

A medical ‘right to repair’ can empower consumers — and save lives

The ‘right to repair’ empowers consumers to fix and modify the products they purchase. When it comes to medical devices, the right to repair can help save lives.

Canada must end financial discrimination against sex workers

The federal government should work with financial institutions and sex-worker associations to help stop denial of financial services.

Urgent Call for ISA Action

Petition to condemn the killing of Palestinian scholars & students & to boycott Israeli academic institutions and military The Global South Caucus for International studies (GSCIS) is calling ISA members to action because of the incomprehensible dereliction of duty displayed by the current ISA leadership to denounce the killing of Palestinian colleagues and students, and the destruction of academic institutions in Gaza. We call ISA members to exercise their conscience on the killings and sufferings of Palestinian colleagues and students, and compel ISA to act. We call ISA members to partake in this action because the ISA leadership is frozen in time. Several members and leaders of components units of the ISA have demanded that the government of the Association step up to express our collective condemnation of the plausible commission of genocide by Israel for the past seven months. No formal action from ISA yet. In retaliation of the horrific killing of 1139 innocent Israeli civilians and the abduction of 200 others on October 7, 2023, the state of Israel has launched a "ruthless military campaign to decimate the population of the Gaza Strip and unleash death, horror, and suffering against Palestinians on an unprecedented scale” (Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International). At the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 26, 2024, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories stated: “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.” Giving empirical credence to this claim, as of May 20, 2024, at least 36,067 people have been killed, including 15,000 children and 8,400 women; 79,652 people are injured, more than 10,000 are missing, and forced displacement of almost 2 million people. According to the latest data from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization, Israeli attacks have damaged 73% of school buildings. According to Reuters, 625,000 school-aged children are unable to attend classes. We believe that thousands of ISA colleagues do not want to stand as passersby of the unfolding crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza. We believe that thousands of our ISA colleagues have been waiting for ISA leadership to face the facts and state the truth. Yet ISA elected leaders remain hidden. But as scholars of international studies we cannot stand silent and watch the massive destruction of innocent lives, the demolition of academic institutions and other infrastructures in a Global South state. We cannot oversee the manufacturing of poverty in Gaza. We cannot refuse to speak truth to power. Many ISA members are progressive forces and constitute the majority within our Association. Many have led important changes in the past and today this majority is flabbergasted by the current leadership’s failure to denounce the genocidal actions of the state of Israel. We believe that majority of ISA members are steadfastly committed to the promotion of the rights and the protection of the lives of Palestinian colleagues and students. Since ISA President, Dr. Marijke Breuning, and her colleagues, President-Elect, Dr. Siba Grovogui, Immediate Past-President, Dr. Laura Shepherd, and Executive Director, Dr. Mark Boyer will not lead, we are turning to ISA members, the rightful owners of the Association, to engage in a direct action by explicitly formulating ISA policy on a matter that is inflicting a deep wound to our collective human consciousness. Through this petition, let us exercise our conscience and collectively do our small part to contribute to stopping the commission of a genocide against Palestinians; let us stand up and call for the protection of our colleagues, students, and human lives in Gaza. We will not stop, we will not rest! By signing this petition, you are calling upon the government of the ISA to: - Draft a resolution that unreservedly condemns the cruel Israeli militaristic campaign against the people of Palestine, including scholars and students, and the destruction of their academic institutions. - Draft a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions – not individual scholars - until it is proven that these institutions have ended their complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law. - Disclose a list of the companies benefiting from ISA’s investment portfolio. - Divest ISA’s endowment from companies that are associated with the Israeli military and that support Israel’s ongoing breaches of international law in its onslaught of violence committed against Palestinians in Gaza, including scholars and students. - Draft a resolution that call on university officials to stop inviting police on campus to silence dissent on the genocidal actions of the state of Israel, and condemns the criminalization of peaceful protests. *These resolutions shall be drafted in collaboration with the GSCIS. Petition prepared by the Executive Committee of the Global South Caucus for International Studies.

To Decommodify the Data Economy, First Fix Data-Sharing Period-Tracking Apps

A class-action lawsuit in British Columbia, certified in March 2024, should provide a better understanding.