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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

Quebec’s religious-symbols ban is stranger than fiction – but the pushback from society must be real

In a cold open for a 2017 episode of the ABC comedy Black-ish, protagonists Bow and Dre walk into a bakery to buy a gender-reveal cake. The bakery has every type of cake, the employee says – but not for gay weddings. Bow and Dre leave in disgust. At the next bakery, they cut to the chase: “You don’t discriminate against people based on race, gender or sexual orientation, do you?” To which the stern-looking baker replies: “Do not like French-Canadians.” Initially stunned by the random reply, Bow and Dre quickly indicate they can live with that, and proceed with the order.

What passed for laughs in America would never fly up here. But the mention of French-Canadians in juxtaposition with fundamental civil rights was downright prescient, if not ironic. In this fictitious TV show, everyone’s fundamental civil rights are worthy of protection – except if you’re French-Canadian.

Read more at The Globe and Mail

Pharmacist sentenced for fraudulent PharmaCare claims that benefited low-income patients

Jin Tong (Tom) Li of Richmond receives 12-month conditional sentence after guilty plea

A Richmond pharmacist who submitted thousands of fraudulent claims to B.C.’s PharmaCare system, mainly to save money for his poor and elderly clients, has been sentenced to a year of house arrest.

Jin Tong (Tom) Li, 41, pleaded guilty this week to one charge of obtaining more than $5,000 under a false pretense.

That crime can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but Provincial Court Judge Georgia Docolas said the 12-month conditional sentence recommended by Crown and defence lawyers was more appropriate.

“This is what I will describe as a low-sophistication crime, committed primarily to benefit his low-income, senior patients,” Docolas said Wednesday.

Nonetheless, she added, Li’s actions have had a serious impact.

“Any time there is a breach of trust involving a public body like PharmaCare … the impact is high because it affects all British Columbians,” the judge said.

Li sold his house to pay back the more than $616,000 he owed the province, the judge said, and he and his wife have had to move in with family. Li is now a stay-at-home dad to their three children while his wife had to go back to school so she could find a job to support the family.

Read the full article at CBC News.

Android 9 Pie rolls out with new tools to fight tech addiction: Here’s everything you need to know

Google released the latest version of its mobile operating system Android on Monday, and the new software includes a series of substantial changes.

Android 9 Pie boasts a machine learning-powered system to save battery power, a new gesture-based navigation tool and features to track how much time you spend on your phone.

Read more at telegraph.co.uk

Can a gadget save you from the distraction of gadgets?

Most people I know are, to some degree, addicted to their cellphone. We’ve all felt it. How an illuminated screen demands every ounce of your attention. How an unexpected text message evokes a physiological response like an amphetamine. And then there’s that seemingly insatiable impulse to check the time, check the weather, then check the time again. It’s gotten to the point that much, if not most, of the time I spend on my phone is in a state of distraction, not productivity. I’d bet you’re in the same boat.

Read more at digitaltrends.com

Artificial intelligence sorter by Machinex arrives in Illinois

US company Lakeshore Recycling Systems has installed the new Machinex SamurAI waste sorter at its Heartland Recycling Center. It is the first recycler America to invest in this innovative artificial intelligence-powered machine.

The SamurAI sorter by Machinex achieves 70 picks per minute, compared to an average of 35 picks per minute for a human sorter. It recognises material in dirty, commingled and ‘constantly changing conditions’ including the introduction of new packaging and product designs.

Read more at recyclinginternational.com

Florida police are using Amazon’s creepy real-time facial-recognition tech

Between its cloud services and retail business, Amazon has plenty of angles when it comes to raking in the cash. But CEO Jeff Bezos’ ecommerce giant has one more unusual money maker up its sleeve: Selling facial recognition technology to the police.

According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amazon recently sold access to its real-time “Rekognition” facial recognition tech to the Orlando, Florida police department, which could potentially use it as part of their future crime-solving goals.

Read more at digitaltrends.

Ghosts in Google Maps a risk to banks and national security, ‘internet police’ claim

On Google Maps, Inna Bogdanov is standing in front of a plaza in Richmond Hill, Ont., a few steps away from a Scotiabank branch. Click on the pin marking her apparent position, and you get a website that belongs to the bank.

“Hello, Inna speaking,” said a woman who answered a call to the listed phone number and confirmed her identity to CTVNews.ca. “I’m a mortgage broker. I used to be a mortgage specialist with Scotiabank.”

According to Richard Trus and Sydney Eatz, “internet police” who investigate questionable content on Google Maps, Bogdanov is “ghosting.” It’s essentially gaming Google Maps to deceive users who rely on the widely-used platform to find the businesses they are looking for.

Read more at CTV News

Politics Briefing: Facebook’s online privacy concerns mount

Canada’s privacy commissioner says he’s considering joining his B.C. counterpart’s investigation into a Victoria data firm’s ties to the Brexit vote and the ongoing Facebook data controversy. Daniel Therrien says he’s already been in touch with B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner, which announced last year that it was investigating AggregateIQ. The company has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Read more at The Globe and Mail

Chilliwack parent raises flags over school district privacy breach

About 1,000 past and present students in the Chilliwack School District may have been affected by a privacy breach that took place between 2005 and 2015.

A letter explaining the breach was published by the district on their website on Dec. 22, 2017, but the information has not come up in any recent public meetings. It happened through the district’s participation in research with a not-for-profit group called Educational and Community Supports, a program of the University of Oregon.

Read more at The Chilliwack Progress