Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

Don’t Buy California’s Callous Attempt to Ignore People’s DNA Privacy Rights, EFF Tells Court Analyzing and indefinitely keeping the DNA profiles of thousands of Californians arrested for felonies, but never charged with a crime, is not just an ominously overbroad practice by law enforcement—it’s an invasion of privacy that violates the state’s constitution. Last year we filed a lawsuit against California challenging its DNA retention and search practices on behalf of the Center for Genetics and Society , the Equal Justice Society , and an individual plaintiff, writer and editor Pete Shanks . Attorneys for the state responded to the case by telling a judge there’s no basis for it, no law is being broken, and it should be dismissed. This is simply wrong. We asked the judge this week to reject the state’s callous indifference to the privacy rights of Californians and its attempt to sweep its conduct under the rug. DNA can reveal a vast array of highly private information, includ...

California’s Legislature is Contemplating Abandoning Oversight Over Broadband Monopolies Just Like the FCC At a time when we are fighting to keep the future of broadband access from reverting back towards a monopoly , it seems implausible that a legislator would suggest their state should follow the Federal Communications Commission’s lead to abandon oversight over a highly concentrated, uncompetitive market. But Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez wants to take that exact approach.  The recently introduced A.B. 1366 mirrors the FCC’s abandonment of consumers with one exception—California fought to establish its own net neutrality rules under S.B. 822 passed last year. Apart from that, A.B. 1366 removes any semblance of the state promoting competition for broadband access through its state regulator, the California Public Utility Commission (the state version of an FCC). Instead, it appears to just hope that our cable monopolies will be benevolent.   We Need to Promote Com...

Through our Critical Facility Operations service, Schneider Electric manages data centers of all sizes around the world. In talking with some of the Critical Facility Managers (CFMs) who are responsible for data center operations in these facilities, it’s clear they share at least four attributes. Before diving in, though, it’s important to draw a distinction between “critical” facility management and “facility management.” A traditional office building, school, or retail store will have a facility manager who takes care of the building, making sure HVAC systems are functioning well, the roof doesn’t leak, the lights stay on and so forth – all certainly important for the comfort and well-being of the building occupants. But the stakes are far higher in a critical facility such as a data center. Many customers have zero tolerance for downtime, so plans must be in place to deal with everything from routine upgrades to widespread power outages without missing a beat. Meeting those ki...

Don’t Repeat FOSTA’s Mistakes Some of the most fruitful conversations we can have are about nuanced, sensitive, and political topics, and no matter who or where we are, the Internet has given us the space to do that. Across the world, an unrestricted Internet connection allows us to gather in online communities to talk about everything from the mundane to the most important and controversial, and together, to confront and consider our societies’ pressing problems. But a growing chorus of U.S. politicians is considering dangerous new policies that would limit our ability to have those complex conversations online. The Chair of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, is urging tech companies to prioritize the removal of “sensitive, violent content” from their online platforms. But as we were worried might happen , the Chair didn’t stop there—he’s also threatening new legislation if the companies don’t move quickly. In a letter written shortly after the he...