Lots of bad news for privacy activists this week, starting with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that cops can dig through your trash once you put it out for pick up. The logic — if you no longer want it, you can no longer expect that the fact you once owned it to remain private — is a little shaky, to say the least. It’s like saying once you hang up on a phone sex line, the police should be able to broadcast your conversation. Does this ruling also give stalkers the right to sweep through their obsessions’ trash bins?
Meanwhile, Google announced plans that its mapping street view function would expand to a dozen Canadian cities including Toronto, over concerns from some quarters that the company is filming public places without permits and capturing peoples’ images without their permission. Some local performance activists are planning to disrupt filming with suprise performances, which would be lovely. Let’s just hope Google’s not covering Queen’s Park on a Friday night, eh?
The Star’s Chris Hume rebuts the idiotic Toronto Board of Trade report that says Toronto is falling behind Calgary and Dallas. The “yeah, but where would you rather live?” argument is a little facile, but it doesn’t make it untrue.
And, the obligatory Easter story flagged at the Toronto Diary is a misleading headline from the Toronto Star. Am I the only one who hoped this story was going to be about a theme display window at Come As You Are?
Why you can trust Xtra
