Wonder about where the coverage is on Bill C-11?

Me, too.

SOPA + PIPA may be dead — or shelved — but Bill C-11 is alive and well and set to pass ASAP in 2012.

The Harper government approach to copyright is copy-wrong!

Remember Maria Aragon?

Bill C-10 will also make covers like Maria Aragon‘s illegal…

You can say “NO!” to Bill C-11!

Email your MP. Email the PM.

Say something — anything — via Twitter, Facebook, etc. against Bill C-11!

Say “NO!” to Bill C-11 now!

Visit Michael Geist’s website [ michaelgeist.ca ] for more information.

Why NO SOPA?

In case you missed it, somecanuckchick dot com went dark — along with thousands of others — on January 18, 2012 to protest SOPA and PIPA.

I believe that SOPA and PIPA would have reached beyond the borders of the United States of America and required internet service providers [ISPs] to take down any website [Canadian, or otherwise!] accused of posting, or linking to, copyrighted content.

I also believe that SOPA and PIPA would have had privacy implications for Canadians, with ISPs performing law enforcement functions that involve invading the privacy of Canadian internet users and Canadian website visitors.

SOPA and PIPA have since been shelved.

Canadian internet users, however, are still under threat from the Harper government, formerly known as the Government of Canada.

Remember Stephen Harper’s lawful access legislation?

Do you think any amount of protest (with a majority in the House of Commons and a majority in the Senate!) will be able to stop the Harper government from ramming through its lawful access legislation?

The same lawful access legislation which featured new information disclosure requirements for ISPs, mandated surveillance technology installation, the creation of new police powers, etc., etc., etc.

FYI the Harper government’s lawful access legislation has many of the same disturbing elements of SOPA and PIPA…

What can Canadians do while waiting for the Harper government to re-introduce its lawful access legislation?

Visit Michael Geist’s website: michaelgeist.ca

And, check out [Un]lawful Access!

Based on its real name only policy, I cannot in good conscience continue to be a part of Google+.

What is Google+?

What are the Nymwars?

Should Google+ reverse its real name only policy, I will re-consider the deletion of my Google+ account, as well as my Google profile.

That is all.

More at The UBB Deception.

Below is a list of additional #hashtags used in tweets discussing Canadian Politics:

#budget2011, #budget11, #bdgt11 — 2011 Federal Budget
#PBO — Parliamentary Budget Officer

#PMO — Prime Minister’s Office
#PSIC — Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada

#elxn41 — Canada’s 41st Federal Election; if/when it happens

#cdnsen — Canadian Senate

#cdnecon — Canadian Economy
#cdnhealth — Canadian Health Care
#cdnenv — Canadian Environment
#cdnpse — Canadian Post-Secondary Education
#cdnpen, #CPP — Canadian Pensions, Canada Pension Plan
#cdnsov — Canadian Sovereignty

#CRTC — Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission
#ubb, #noubb — tweets pertaining to usage-based billing, specifically those against usage-based billing

#CIC — Citizenship and Immigration
#DFAIT — Foreign Affairs and International Trade
#DND — Department of National Defence
#FIN — Finance Canada

#CCRF — Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

#RMR — Rick Mercer Report

#CBC — Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
#CPAC — Cable Public Affairs Channel; providing an uninterrupted feed of proceedings of the Canadian House of Commons

#cdnpoli, #canpoli — Canadian Politics

#lpc — Liberal Party of Canada
#ignatieff, #iggy — Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

#ndp — New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP)
#layton — Jack Layton, Leader of the NDP

#bloc, #bq — Bloc Québécois
#duceppe — Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Québécois

#gpc — Green Party of Canada
#may — Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada

#cpc — Conservative Party of Canada
#harper, #CLSH — Stephen Harper, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

#pmharper, #pmsh — Prime Minister Stephen Harper
#prorogue — Stephen Harper’s Proroguing of Parliament

#roft — Right Of Twitter; for all things Conservative, federally and provincially.
#cdnleft — Canadian “Left of Twitter”; for all things Centre, Centre-Left, and Left

#goc — Government of Canada
#hoc — House of Commons
#qp — Question Period (in the House of Commons)

These lockout issues seem to affect many Twitter users, regardless of the age of the Twitter accounts.

Twitter advises that users not attempt to change their email address, username and/or password until further notice.

According to Twitter’s status page, Twitter (now) says that it is/was under a denial of service attack (Wikipedia entry for Denial of Service Attack).

In a statement to CNN, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone (Wikipedia entry for Biz Stone) said:

“There’s no indication that this attack is related to any previous activities. We are currently the target of a denial of service attack. Attacks such as this are malicious efforts orchestrated to disrupt and make unavailable services such as online banks, credit card payment gateways, and in this case, Twitter for intended customers or users. We are defending against this attack now and will continue to update our status blog as we defend and later investigate.”

Twitter now claims that the web site is now back up… however, somecanuckchick (still) cannot access Twitter, via the web site, TwitterFox, TwitterTools, etc.

In the meantime, here is a list of alternative things to do.

Update, from Twitter’s post regarding its recovery from the DoS attack:

“As we recover, users will experience some longer load times and slowness. This includes timeouts to API clients. We’re working to get back to 100% as quickly as we can.”

Now, Twitter Giveth Back… Kinda.

Twitter claims to have learned a lot between yesterday and this afternoon.

Twitter now has a band aid solution in place to #fixreplies.

As of today, updates beginning with @username—that are not explicitly created by clicking on the reply icon—will be seen by everyone following that Twitter account.

Twitter also says that a new feature—which will give folks more control over what they see from the accounts they follow—is being designed.

In short, Twitter will not be reverting to the previous @replies system.

Twitter acknowledges that while Twitter users loved the feature, it was confusing and caused a sense of inconsistency.

What do you think of the band aid solution? Do you think Twitter can do better than the previous @replies system?

Let somecanuckchick know!

Initially, Twitter claimed that this update removed an undesirable and confusing option for the Twitter newbies and the Twitter illiterate who could not grasp the concept of those one-sided, fragmented conversations sent via @replies to Twitter users they were not following but still appeared in their respective timelines.

*cue the Twitterati, and the more seasoned Twitter users of the Twitosphere*

For those who have not been paying attention to the topics (#fixreplies, #twitterfail) currently trending, the Twitterverse was, is, and will continue to tweet their disappointment, disgust, and disparage regarding the changes to the @replies system.

Twitter has acknowledged the voluminous amount of [negative] feedback, and now claims that the changes to the @replies system had little to do with the Twitter newbies and the Twitter illiterate, but rather there were serious technical reasons why that @replies setting had to go.

Can you say back-paddling, ladies and gentlemen?

So, the Twitter response to #fixreplies is that they cannot… not yet.

What do you think of the #twitterfail, with respect to the @replies changes and subsequent controversy? Let somecanuckchick know!

Here are somecanuckchick‘s Top 5:

• Editing
  Editing for content—specifically corrections, or updates, to information contained in a recent tweet—would improve the quality of tweets.
• Filters
  By filtering tweets, information is directed accordingly. Filters—based on #hashtags—would allow for the selection of information by followers, and for the control and direction of information to followers.
• Threads
  Discussions often take place via Twitter. Threads would help to track an entire conversation between 2+ people.
• Hyper Link Text
  Hyper link text would increase the quantity and the quality of information in tweets containing URLs. (It would also make tweets look a lot cleaner!)
• Multiple Avatars
  Different types of tweets warrant different kinds of avatars. Avatars—based on #hashtags—would represent tweets containing specific information.

Is there a Twitter Feature you would like to see? Let somecanuckchick know!

• twhirl—a desktop client for the Twitter microblogging platform.
• TinyURL—a web service that provides short aliases for redirection of long URLs.
• TwitterBar—a Firefox extension which allows one to post to Twitter from Firefox’s address bar.
• Dashblog—a Firefox extension which allows one to collect images, text, and other media from any web page and publish said media to Twitter.
• Tiny Paste—a Firefox extension similar to TinyURL but for text.
• Twitter Tools—a WordPress plugin that creates a complete integration between one’s WordPress weblog and one’s Twitter account.

Is there a Twitter Tool you cannot live without? Let somecanuckchick know!

Fueled by the desire to do something that has not been done before, Kosta Grammatis will be embedding a video camera and a transmitter in Rob Spence’s prosthetic eye.

With the aid of Kosta Grammatis, Rob Spence will record the world from a perspective that’s never been seen before—and make a documentary.

Through his documentary, Rob Spence endeavours to raise awareness of surveillance in our society and make Canadians think about how they move from one place to another under the view of surveillance cameras.

I really wonder if Canadians in major city centres like Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and/or Vancouver give a second thought to when, where, why, and how they are recorded…

Do you give it a second thought? Let somecanuckchick know!