freedom of information
2.jpg "David Climenhaga, author of the Alberta Diary blog, is a journalist, author, journalism teacher, poet and trade union communicator who has worked in senior writing and editing positions with the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. His 1995 book, A Poke in the Public Eye, explores the relationships among Canadian journalists, public relations people and politicians. He left journalism after the strike at the Calgary Herald in 1999 and 2000 to work as Communications Director of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which with more than 73,000 members is Alberta’s largest union and Canada’s 10th largest. Alberta Diary focuses on Alberta politics and social issues. Contact: albertadiary @ gmail.com")
IFEX
The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) is a global network dedicated to ensuring the right to free expression. Today, IFEX's umbrella network spans 95 independent organizations worldwide.
In 1992, IFEX was established in Montreal, Canada.
Canada's Olympic crackdown
Going to Canada? You may be detained at the border and interrogated. I was, last week. I was heading from Seattle to give a talk at the Vancouver Public Library. My detention provoked outrage across Canada, making national news. It has serious implications for the freedom of the press in North America.
I drove to the border with two colleagues. We showed our passports to the Canadian guard and answered standard questions about our purpose for entering Canada. No visas are necessary for U.S. citizens to enter.
The guard promptly told us to pull over, leave the car and enter the border crossing building.
Psiphon
Psiphon is a software tool, created by The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, that is designed to circumvent internet censorship. Its primary focus is to counter to the Great Firewall of China, relying on trust relationships between private users to enable unfettered internet searches for users residing behind the firewall. Psiphon was released under the GNU General Public License in December 2006.
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks is a whistleblower organization that publishes anonymously contributed confidential government and corporate documents on its website for public scrutiny. This non-profit media organization's aim is to expose oppressive regimes and unethical corporate practices via document dumps.
Within one year of its 2006 launch, WikiLeaks claimed a database of over 1.2 million classified documents.
Since its conception, WikiLeaks has inspired a number of spinoff organizations based on the original WikiLeaks model. Such spinoffs include: OpenLeaks, Balkan Leaks, Brussels Leaks, Indoleaks, RuLeaks, and TradeLeaks.