Weekly News Roundup (June 2nd)
By: Brittany Green
Top Stories this Week
Karla Homolka should be hounded for the rest of her life: DiManno (Privacy Canada) https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/06/02/karla-homolka-should-be-hounded-for-the-rest-of-her-life-dimanno.html
Convicted serial killer has been discovered volunteering at a private elementary school in Montreal. Homolka has been permitted to engage with children as an occasional volunteer at the private Seventh-day Adventist Greaves Academy attended by her children, allowing kids to pet her dog and such. It’s outrageous that Homolka’s name has never appeared among the 40,000 or so individuals on Canada’s sex offender registry. Her crimes pre-date the federal data bank’s creation, and it isn’t retroactive. At the very least, her history would have been red-flagged to a prospective employer or volunteer organization doing background checks
Sex workers can find safety with online marketplaces (Freedom of Expression Canada) https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/backpage-sex-workers-can-find-safety-in-online-marketplace/article35181699/
Over the past few years, there has been a war against online classified-ad websites such as Backpage that carry sex workers’ ads. While this war started in the United States, it has crept across the border to Canada as the discourse around sex trafficking has intensified. But one perspective is consistently missing: that of the sex worker exercising agency and using the Internet as a safety tool.
911 calls to handle text, video by 2020 (CRTC) http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/telecoms-must-update-911-system-with-texting-video-capabilities-by-2020
Canadians will soon be able to stream videos of a car crash, text photos of a suspected thief or send personal medical information to 911 instead of dialling the three digits to speak to an operator.
Providers have to invest to meet growing demand for mobile use: Bell CEO (CRTC) http://www.winnipegsun.com/2017/05/30/providers-have-to-invest-to-meet-growing-demand-for-mobile-use-bell-ceo
Internet and mobile providers must invest in infrastructure to keep up with a booming consumer appetite for entertainment both at home and on the go, Bell Canada Enterprises CEO George Cope said Tuesday. High-speed mobile data usage is up 37 per cent from just last year, while the amount of data streaming over the Internet has more than quadrupled in five years, Cope told the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.
Top International News
Nooses showing up more in hate incidents around country (Defamation International) http://www.timescolonist.com/nooses-showing-up-more-in-hate-incidents-around-country-1.20346282
Nooses have appeared recently around the nation’s capital — including the Smithsonian’s new African-American history museum — in a rash of incidents that experts say shows the growing use of hate symbols in the U.S. to try to intimidate minorities.
Lebanon bans the new “Wonder Woman” movie (Censorship International) http://www.torontosun.com/2017/05/31/lebanon-officially-bans-the-new-wonder-woman-movie
Lebanese authorities banned the new “Wonder Woman” movie Wednesday hours before it was due to premiere in the capital and following a campaign against its lead actress, Gal Gadot, who served in the Israeli army, a security official and activists said.