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Industry Canada Explains its Wireless Policy

technologyEdward Kiledjian

A short video by the Government of Canada explaining that Canadians deserve more choice, more competitive pricing and better contract terms. 

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15 bidders submitted bids for the upcoming 700mhz wireless auction, you can see the list here.  On November 8, it will publish the list of qualified bidders that have submitted the required deposit (those who will be allowed to participate in the auction). 

The official statement from the government was: 

"Today, Industry Canada published the list of applicants for the 700 MHz spectrum auction scheduled for January 14, 2014. This high-quality spectrum will soon be deployed across Canada, providing Canadians with dependable, high-speed wireless services on the latest technologies.
"Well before this summer's public debate on wireless policy, our Government introduced a number of measures to create more choice in Canada's wireless market and to defend consumers. As a result, prices have come down, the number of jobs in the wireless sector has increased and consumers have more choices. This trend will continue as a result of January's auction.
"In addition to this auction, our Government will continue to aggressively pursue policies that ensure consumer interests are at the core of all Government decisions." - link

Governments are requesting more user info from Google

SecurityEdward Kiledjian

Google geeks and privacy advocates love Google’s “Transparency Report” (now in its 5th version). In the latest version, it is interesting to note an upward trend of requests Google defines as “troubling”.

An interesting new feature is the ability to see aggregated court orders and other requests worldwide. To add some meat to this discussion, consider the fact that from July to December 2011, governments requested information on 28 562 user accounts. This number includes requests for user information and takedown requests for blog posts and videos. Of the 6321 US Government requests, Google auctioned at least 90% of them.

Just remember that nothing you do online is private and you'll be fine.