Sheila Fraser, Call Your Office

20 Replies to “Sheila Fraser, Call Your Office”

1. My company doesn’t allow access to Facebook, You Tube etc. Apparently they think it’s a waste of, well, company time.

2. Last I heard, Facebook, et. al., collect only what their members are willing to voluntarily provide.
   Unlike, say, the Canadian government.

3. I can’t see how Stoddart thinks she’s going to enforce this. Facebook’s never been too proactive about privacy and unlike Hulu, they have no vested interest in keeping markets outside the US from getting to their site. If they simply say “meh” to any federal court order, what can anybody do about it?

4. All roads lead to Rome.

5. All joking aside, it’s one of the little things Facebook needs to be aware of; how it handles and distributes personal info is not that clearly stated in its terms of service. I’m glad some of that is being clarified.

6. Seems to be that the same sort of billing parasites involved in the Ontario eHealth scandal have infected yet another government department this time at the federal level.

7. Vancouver Sun, eh? Like me guess. This article wasn’t written by Chris Parry?

8. Forget Facebook – consider how many sites across the net collect data on readers. Free access registration at news organizations, dating sites, yahoo groups, the list is endless. No one is compelled to provide it, or compelled to provide accurate info. What the hell is she wasting taxpayer money on this for? Even if it was a legitimate concern (and it’s not in my opinion), it’s a bottomless pit.
   If that’s all the privacy commissioner has left to do, perhaps a reduction in the budget is the more appropriate course of action.

9. They’ll just register their boats, er uhm, companies in Liberia like our old crooked Prime Minister Fat Paulie did.
   Sorry gotta go , I hear there’s a list of websites banned by the Australian gubmint over at Ezra’s.

10. Never mind the fact that all information on facebook is provided freely by the users, it’s a service you don’t have to pay for, and it’s not a necessary service. If anyone has concerns about the privacy of their information, they can choose not to use facebook, simple as that!

11. When the privacy commission decides that unwarranted government snooping of private email and surfing habits and keeping data on people with certain opinions is an abuse of privacy then I may take their role seriously.
    The privacy commission has always been a token agency. A nostrum for [valid] public fears of increasing government intrusiveness. They never fail to disappoint in their abstract priorities or remedial impotency.
    Running after some security gaps in an online US narcissist doll’s house when the largest privacy affront to Canada’s online community is grinding through parliament is a demonstration of the commission’s diversionary agenda.

12. I certainly agree with Kate at July 17, 2009 9:40 AM.

13. How do the Privacy Commissioner have any jurisdiction over any foreign enterprise run from a foreign site?

14. If you’re dumb enough to post your personal information on the web, you can’t expect Big Government to bail you out…uh, let me rephrase that.
    E-mail: good 🙂
    Facebook: bad 🙁

15. idle minds, idle hands………..
    gubmints have too many employees
    block network access to frivolous sites. works in the private sector.

16. Am I missing something? Isn’t Sheila Fraser the auditor general?
    This story is about Jennifer Stoddart, who is the privacy commissioner. Is there some connection between the auditor general and the privacy commissioner that I’m not understanding?

17. Yes she is. It was a tongue in cheek reference to suggest that this smacked more of wasteful spending/scamming the taxpayer than it did useful work.

18. OK, now I get it. Sorry, Kate, I usually get your humour, but this one went right by me.

19. From the linked article:
    “This notion that because Facebook is located in California it wouldn’t be bothered by a Canadian federal judgment is just wrong. It clearly has a substantial presence in Canada.”
    Now, how is it that a learned professor would apply something pronounced by an agent of Canadian government to other countries?
    Is the professor suggesting that what goes on in Canada, goes on in the rest of the world, or else?

20. The whole facebook issue in my view is a distraction intented to make Canadians feel the government is concerned about their privacy rights – in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. The HRC is tracking individuals and compiling lists – probably not checking them twice, to compile “profiles” on Canadians who may be trouble makers at best and at worst criminals. Dissent is becoming a crime. The track from Blondie – One Way or Another – should be played when accessing the HRC site. Song with text Lyrics:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab_IE_eXyTQ&feature=related