Today I learned from @milamiceli, that Canadian telecom, Telus, has a subsidiary called Telus Digital that does contract work such as content moderation for Facebook

Three employees working for Telus in Germany are anonymously speaking out about the poor working conditions, poor support for employees, and poor wages for the emotionally draining work https://dair-community.social/@milamiceli/113187526033696804

Canada’s Competition Tribunla lays down its largest ever fine of $38.9M. Cineplex has revived the fine for drip pricing, where they do not disclose a $1.50 per ticket online booking fee until the very end of checkout

Drip pricing is a rampant problem in Canada, from food delivery to airline tickets. The Tribunal seems to be hoping this shows companies they are serious about enforcement and it’s time to start complying with the June 2022 updates to the Competition Act #CdnPoli

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/cineplex-ordered-to-pay-38-9m-by-competition-tribunal-in-ticket-fee-case-1.7049445

Tim Groves & Martin Lukacs at The Breach are reporting that Awz Ventures, led by former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is the main investor in Corsight, the facial recognition company the New York Times reported is being used to conduct mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza

https://breachmedia.ca/stephen-harpers-firm-behind-spy-tech-israel-is-using-to-target-gazans/

A new pilot program from Vision Zero Vancouver to help pedestrians safely cross the street in #Vancouver

I remember a @notjustbikes video about some wild ideas for safe pedestrian crossings in America, this takes it one step further

Use of facial recognition in vending machines at University of Waterloo to collect age & gender data. The manufacturer says the machines are GDPR complaint… but this is in Canada. Who is even liable for this? Machines manufactured by Invenda, owned by Mars, fulfilled by Adaria Vending Services Limited, housed on Waterloo campus. Who is on the hook for following privacy law?

The precedent was already set in the Cadillac Fairview case that just because the images are deleted after analysis, does not mean consent isn’t required - however that case also set the precedent that there is no punishment for doing this, just say “oops, sorry” and move on #CdnTech #CdnPoli #Privacy #GDPR

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/facial-recognition-error-message-on-vending-machine-sparks-concern-at-university-of-waterloo-1.6779835

British Columbia is looking to Quebec, New York, and California; preparing a crack-down on short-term rentals #AirBnB #VRBO

A proposed Act would limit short-term rentals to principal residences, so investors with multiple condos or single-family homes will have to instead put them in the long-term rental market #BCpoli

#Victoria, #Vancouver, & #Kelowna already have rules like this, but it’s estimated almost 50% of listings are breaking bylaws & municipalities just can’t keep up

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/bc-short-term-rental-legislation

Starting Nov. 1, job postings in British Columbia (or open to BC residents) will be required to include the expected pay range

As of right now, the Province doesn’t have any rules on how large the range can be, so we’ll see how that goes & if they’ll have to introduce that later

You also cannot be punished in any way for discussing pay with your coworkers #BCPoli #CdnPoli

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-laws-in-bc

Just watched The Ashley Madison Affair on Hulu about the 2015 data breach so I could see @briankrebs on TV, got the bonus of @troyhunt & @josephcox on there too!

Things I learned: 1) Ashley Madison is a Canadian company, 2) Ashley Madison is still around & doing better than ever, 3) former CEO Noel Bidderman, who stepped down after the breach, is now working with WonderFi - one of Canada’s largest crypto companies that has been buying up all the other crypto exchanges in Canada and is financially backed by Kevin O’Leary

A little food for thought that Nora Loreto pointed out on #Canadaland this week

“Treasury Board President Anita Anand is tasking federal cabinet ministers with finding $15.4 billion in government spending cuts by a deadline of Oct. 2.” #CdnPoli
https://globalnews.ca/news/9898633/government-spending-cuts-ministers-anand/

“The deal between Stellantis and LG Energy Solutions to continue construction on the NextStar electric vehicle (EV) battery plant could be worth up to $15 billion in tax breaks for the project, the province said Wednesday night.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/deal-struck-battery-plant-windsor-stellantis-lg-solution-1.6861649

“Canada has promised Volkswagen up to $13 billion in subsidies to secure the automaker’s first battery plant outside of Europe.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/9641259/volkswagen-ev-plant-canada-ontario/