East of the Don
Musings on privacy, data protection, digital democracy, surveillance and other fun stuff.

Latest

Jul
06

Public Safety and Data Privacy

This is an updated version of a post initially written for Data Privacy Day in 2012, but it still seems relevant today in the context of Prime Minister Carney’s Bill C-2.
2 min read
Jun
12
From Slop to Sabotage

From Slop to Sabotage

If AI slop is the GIGO result from a model consuming the raw, unfiltered mess that is the Internet, then AI poisoning is what happens when someone or something slips poison into the mix. It intentionally corrupts an AI model's training data to control, disrupt, or degrade its performance.
4 min read
Jun
11
AI Slop and Sturgeon's Law

AI Slop and Sturgeon's Law

In a wonderful bit of serendipity, Sturgeon's Law has become a way to counter AI hype and provide a cautionary note about AI tools and a fundamental problem with them.
5 min read
Jun
10
Our Digital Moai

Our Digital Moai

Today, our monuments are less tangible than stone, but no less massive. They are the sprawling, humming, and voraciously hungry data centres that power artificial intelligence.
3 min read
Jun
10
The Carney Liberals and Lawful Access

The Carney Liberals and Lawful Access

The Carney Liberals have introduced a bill that would permanently damage our digital privacy. Like a zombie, the idea of "lawful access" legislation keeps rising from the dead, no matter how many times Canadians have killed it.
3 min read
Jun
09

Unleashing Corporate Greed, Not Ontario's Potential

Doug Ford's Bill 5, deceptively titled the "Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025" is a direct assault on our environment, on Indigenous rights, on workers' protections, and on local democracy.
3 min read
May
23
Whose mandate?

Whose mandate?

Prime Minister Mark Carney's first mandate letter to his cabinet reads like a document for boardrooms rather than food banks.
5 min read
May
21
Privacy Prospectus 2025

Privacy Prospectus 2025

I'm curious whether new ministers' mandates will genuinely champion Canadians' digital autonomy and privacy.
3 min read
Apr
02
Photo of a group of 1960's demonstrators for freedom.

Privacy ≠ Freedom (but it should)

The data is in. Privacy is not correlated to Freedom. It is time to rethink how we write privacy laws.
3 min read
Feb
05
Growing Democracy

Growing Democracy

There is a place, little noticed and even less understood by most Canadians, where democracy is growing stronger despite a history of violence and exploitation.
8 min read