Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

Summer Is the Season for Visiting Members of Congress August has just begun, and that means the start of the summer recess for Congress. During that recess, most members of Congress—specifically members of the House of Representatives—will be coming home. And that means that you have the opportunity to meet and talk to them without traveling to Washington, D.C. Let’s make sure that Representatives hear about net neutrality, innovation, and privacy while they’re back home. These discussions will play a huge rule in determining the Congressional agenda in the following months. Constituents can request meetings with members of Congress either by filling out a meeting request form on the member’s official website or by contacting their local office in your state or district. You can look up your member’s address and phone number on the member’s official website. Make sure to check who your representative is since they prefer hearing from their constituents. Though it will depend on

Summer Is the Season for Visiting Members of Congress August has just begun, and that means the start of the summer recess for Congress. During that recess, most members of Congress—specifically members of the House of Representatives—will be coming home. And that means that you have the opportunity to meet and talk to them without traveling to Washington, D.C. Let's make sure that Representatives hear about net neutrality, innovation, and privacy while they're back home. These discussions will play a huge rule in determining the Congressional agenda in the following months. Constituents can request meetings with members of Congress either by filling out a meeting request form on the member’s official website or by contacting their local office in your state or district. You can look up your member’s address and phone number on the member’s official website. Make sure to check who your representative is since they prefer hearing from their constituents. Though it will de

Transparency Win: Federal Circuit Makes Briefs Immediately Available to the Public In a modest victory for public access, the Federal Circuit has changed its policies to allow the public to immediately access briefs. Previously, the court had marked briefs as “tendered” and withheld them from the public pending review by the Clerk’s Office. That process sometimes took a number of days. EFF wrote a letter [ PDF ] asking the court to make briefs available as soon as they are filed. The court has now changed its policies to allow immediate access. Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit announced a new compliance review policy. While that new policy [ PDF ] doesn’t specifically mention the practice of withholding briefs as “tendered,” we have confirmed with the Clerk’s Office that briefs are now available on PACER as soon as they are filed. Our review of recent dockets also suggests that briefs are now available to the public right away.  While this is perhaps a small change, we ap

Transparency Win: Federal Circuit Makes Briefs Immediately Available to the Public In a modest victory for public access, the Federal Circuit has changed its policies to allow the public to immediately access briefs. Previously, the court had marked briefs as “tendered” and withheld them from the public pending review by the Clerk’s Office. That process sometimes took a number of days. EFF wrote a letter [ PDF ] asking the court to make briefs available as soon as they are filed. The court has now changed its policies to allow immediate access. Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit announced a new compliance review policy. While that new policy [ PDF ] doesn’t specifically mention the practice of withholding briefs as “tendered,” we have confirmed with the Clerk’s Office that briefs are now available on PACER as soon as they are filed. Our review of recent dockets also suggests that briefs are now available to the public right away.  While this is perhaps a small change, we ap

In 2018, Earth Overshoot Day falls on August 1. The earliest ever. This reminds us of the urgency of the climate crisis and pressure on natural ecosystems: despite the indisputable progress made over the last years, Overshoot Day is still moving forward. At Schneider Electric, our belief is that the situation is reversible: technologies and know-hows are readily available to push back the date of Overshoot Day towards December 31 st . Economics are there as well, when you consider both short-term and long-term value, with immediate savings from resource efficiency and long-term increased value of future-proofed assets and business models. To succeed we need to focus both on efficient newly built infrastructure and on retrofitting existing assets. Everything that is built new today has to be well designed with the future in mind, since initial design will largely determine the asset’s energy and resources use over its entire lifespan. At the same time, we should not forget about retr

Eight AT&T Buildings and Ten Years of Litigation: Shining a Light on NSA Surveillance Two reporters recently identified eight AT&T locations in the United States—towering, multi-story buildings—where NSA surveillance occurs on the backbone of the Internet. Their article showed how the agency taps into cables, routers, and switches that handle vast quantities of Internet traffic around the world. Published by The Intercept , the report shines a light on the NSA’s expansive Internet surveillance network housed inside these sometimes-opaque buildings. EFF has been shining its own light on NSA Internet surveillance for years with our landmark case, Jewel v. NSA . In more than 10 years of litigation, we’ve made significant strides. We’ve had our case dismissed but we fought the decision and it was reversed on appeal. We’ve overcome multiple delays. We’ve forced the NSA to produce evidence about whether our plaintiffs were harmed by mass, warrantless surveillance. And earlier t

Eight AT&T Buildings and Ten Years of Litigation: Shining a Light on NSA Surveillance Two reporters recently identified eight AT&T locations in the United States—towering, multi-story buildings—where NSA surveillance occurs on the backbone of the Internet. Their article showed how the agency taps into cables, routers, and switches that handle vast quantities of Internet traffic around the world. Published by The Intercept , the report shines a light on the NSA’s expansive Internet surveillance network housed inside these sometimes-opaque buildings. EFF has been shining its own light on NSA Internet surveillance for years with our landmark case, Jewel v. NSA . In more than 10 years of litigation, we’ve made significant strides. We’ve had our case dismissed but we fought the decision and it was reversed on appeal. We’ve overcome multiple delays. We’ve forced the NSA to produce evidence about whether our plaintiffs were harmed by mass, warrantless surveillance. And earlier t

County Welfare Office Violated Accountability Rules While Surveilling Benefits Recipients California law is crystal clear : any entity—including government agencies—that accesses data collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRS) must implement a privacy and usage policy. This policy must ensure all use of this sensitive information “is consistent with respect for individuals’ privacy and civil liberties.” The policy must include a process for periodic audits and every time the data is looked up, a purpose for the search must be recorded.   From June 2016 until July 2018, the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance (DHA) failed to abide by these basic legal requirements, according to documents obtained by EFF through the California Public Records Act. The county allowed 22 employees working in the welfare fraud department to search ALPR data collected by other agencies and private companies more than 1,000 times without any of these mandated accountability meas

County Welfare Office Violated Accountability Rules While Surveilling Benefits Recipients California law is crystal clear : any entity—including government agencies—that accesses data collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRS) must implement a privacy and usage policy. This policy must ensure all use of this sensitive information “is consistent with respect for individuals’ privacy and civil liberties.” The policy must include a process for periodic audits and every time the data is looked up, a purpose for the search must be recorded.   From June 2016 until July 2018, the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance (DHA) failed to abide by these basic legal requirements, according to documents obtained by EFF through the California Public Records Act. The county allowed 22 employees working in the welfare fraud department to search ALPR data collected by other agencies and private companies more than 1,000 times without any of these mandated accountability meas

Stupid Patent of the Month: Upaid Sues “Offending Laundromats” For Using Prepaid Cards When patent trolls threaten and sue small businesses, their actions draw the public’s attention to the worst abuses of the patent system. In 2013, a company called MPHJ Technology got called out in a U.S. Senate hearing as a “bottom feeder” engaged in “garden-variety extortion” after it sent out thousands of demand letters demanding payments from small businesses that dared to use printers with “scan-to-email” functions. Lawmakers, understandably, found it incomprehensible that broad, stupid patents were being used to sue burger stands and grocery stores . It’s essentially a patent on having a prepaid account for—well, anything. There’s a good reason for that concern. It’s hard to see how lawsuits against small businesses using basic technology do anything to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts.” By contrast, it is easy to see how these lawsuits harm companies and consumers by

Stupid Patent of the Month: Upaid Sues “Offending Laundromats” For Using Prepaid Cards When patent trolls threaten and sue small businesses, their actions draw the public’s attention to the worst abuses of the patent system. In 2013, a company called MPHJ Technology got called out in a U.S. Senate hearing as a “bottom feeder” engaged in “garden-variety extortion” after it sent out thousands of demand letters demanding payments from small businesses that dared to use printers with “scan-to-email” functions. Lawmakers, understandably, found it incomprehensible that broad, stupid patents were being used to sue burger stands and grocery stores . It’s essentially a patent on having a prepaid account for—well, anything. There’s a good reason for that concern. It’s hard to see how lawsuits against small businesses using basic technology do anything to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts.” By contrast, it is easy to see how these lawsuits harm companies and consumers by

Sextortion Scam: What to Do If You Get the Latest Phishing Spam Demanding Bitcoin You may have arrived at this post because you received an email from a purported hacker who is demanding payment or else they will send compromising information—such as pictures sexual in nature—to all your friends and family. You’re searching for what to do in this frightening situation. Don’t panic. Contrary to the claims in your email, you haven’t been hacked (or at least, that’s not what prompted that email). This is merely a new variation on an old scam which is popularly being called “sextortion.” This is a type of online phishing that is targeting people around the world and preying off digital-age fears. We’ll talk about a few steps to take to protect yourself, but the first and foremost piece of advice we have:   do not pay the ransom. We have pasted a few examples of these emails at the bottom of this post. The general gist is that a hacker claims to have compromised your computer and say

Sextortion Scam: What to Do If You Get the Latest Phishing Spam Demanding Bitcoin You may have arrived at this post because you received an email from a purported hacker who is demanding payment or else they will send compromising information—such as pictures sexual in nature—to all you friends and family. You’re searching for what to do in this frightening situation. Don’t panic. Contrary to the claims in your email, you haven't been hacked (or at least, that's not what prompted that email). This is merely a new variation on an old scam which is popularly being called "sextortion." This is a type of online phishing that is targeting people around the world and preying off digital-age fears. We’ll talk about a few steps to take to protect yourself, but the first and foremost piece of advice we have:   do not pay the ransom. We have pasted a few examples of these emails at the bottom of this post. The general gist is that a hacker claims to have compromised your