So your call to the suicide line got traced… What next?
Anonymous, confidential calls to suicide hotlines are often traced and police take callers to a psychiatric hospital. Share your story.
Hostpapa Review (or Hostpapa’s Scam, and what you should know about all “low-cost” web hosting providers)
A review of Hostpapa and explanation of a common scam that cheap web hosting companies engage in.
The Launch of Inner Compass Initiative and The Withdrawal Project
I am proud to have helped develop these two websites, contributing researching, writing and editing for them. One of the most significant elements is the development of the most comprehensive, self-directed, layperson’s guide to safer psychiatric drug withdrawal ever produced. I include below further details from the organization’s executive director.
Rob
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I am writing with news that I’ve been eagerly anticipating sharing with you for quite some time. On behalf of my fellow co-founders and a growing number of volunteers, advisors, supporters, and contributors, I am incredibly excited to announce the launch of Inner Compass Initiative (ICI), a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and ICI’s first major effort, The Withdrawal Project (TWP).
Our mission is to provide information, resources, tools, and connecting platforms ?to facilitate
Who’s Deluded? Fact-checking the “ReachOut Psychosis” Show for Schools
ReachOut Psychosis is an “educational” show touring BC schools right now that traffics in a shocking abundance of misleading misinformation and blatant lies about the alleged dangers of psychotic or schizophrenic experiences and the wonders of pharmaceutical drugs.
I recently saw ReachOut Psychosis, and haven’t been able to rest until I’ve publicly commented on it. ReachOut Psychosis is an “educational” show touring BC schools right now that traffics in a shocking abundance of misleading misinformation and blatant lies about the alleged dangers of psychotic or schizophrenic experiences and the wonders of pharmaceutical drugs. It’s truly a wonder — and horror — that any teacher or school even brings this show in at all.
Cancelled: Opportunity to Intervene in OIPC Inquiry about Police Chief Association Records
Update June 2015: For reasons I do not fully understand, the OIPC suddenly did an about-face and refused to allow any intervenors in this inquiry discussed below, and then later did an about-face again and did allow a few selected intervenors. The process is now closed and awaiting final adjudication. I leave the rest of the post for informational purposes about this process, and will update on the next steps I intend to take.
I requested copies of the minutes of meetings of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police and BC Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police from four municipal police departments, because the Associations themselves refused to provide any records. These records were heavily redacted using exemptions reserved
Upcoming Speaking Events on Children, Youth, Mental Health, Surveillance and Privacy
I’ll be on the last panel of the day at the BC Information Summit in Burnaby, BC on Friday, September 19, 2014. Click here for more information.
I’ll also be speaking alongside Micheal Vonn of the BC Civil Liberties Association at the Vancouver Unitarian Church on Sunday, September 28, 2014. Click here for more info on that.
BC Information and Privacy Commissioner Urges Govt to Declare BC Police Chief Associations to be Public Bodies
BC Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham wrote a letter urging the BC government to declare the two BC associations of chiefs of police to be public bodies, and make the associations subject to public freedom of information laws. I am disappointed that the letter does not do more to educate the public about the seriousness of the police governance, transparency, accountability and conduct issues involved, and does not address the general underlying questions about what constitutes a public body. However, I support the Commissioner’s recommendation. I am also glad that the Commissioner revisited and highlighted the ongoing question of the associations’ secretive lobbying activities. To learn about the background for this decision, read my previous articles
OIPC Launches Inquiry into Police Chief Associations
The BC Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner is investigating the legal nature and practices of British Columbia’s two police chief associations and, as part of that process, will be soliciting public input until January 17th, 2014 (revised deadline is now February 14, 2014.). Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is considering whether to recommend that the BC Association of Chiefs of Police (BCACP) and BC Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police (BCAMCP) should be declared to be “public bodies” and be made subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). The OIPC’s official announcement will appear within the next few days. (Dec. 11: Her letter to stakeholders has now been released.)
This inquiry comes after I
BC Police Chief Association Records
It would be great for other people knowledgeable about policing in British Columbia to go through these records that I’ve obtained pertaining to the BC Association of Chiefs of Police and BC Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police. If you do, please tell me what you learn.
Here’s the back story:
Are BC Police Chiefs Evading the Law?
Is the Law Catching Up to BC’s Police Chiefs?
Here are the records finally obtained during mid-2013 which are discussed in “Coup de Police”. These are pdf files that contain hundreds of pages, so they’ll take some time to download. I suggst right-clicking on the filename and choosing “save link as” or “save
Op-ed on Halifax Election Published in The Coast
(I just published the following article in The Coast in Halifax. Can’t say I’m feeling inspired by the comments below it — and I’m trying to defend these guys’ rights to fair elections becaaaaussse…?? Oh, I’m sure there’s a good reason, it just slips my mind right now what it is. rw)
Was Halifax’ e-vote Hacked?
Evidence shows last fall’s online voting in Halifax was not secure. But is anyone going to do anything about it?
It’s been several weeks since I revealed evidence that the online voting in last fall’s municipal elections in Halifax was not secure. Now I’m starting to wonder, does anyone care? How many people care about defending our most basic pillar of democracy—our elections?
Global Psychiatric War Hits Home
Originally published in Focus, June 2013.
The international war raging between the titans of psychiatry and psychology may not seem like “local” news. However, tens of thousands of local Victoria citizens have been seriously injured and now desperately need caring attention.
The stage was set 20 years ago, with the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the “bible” of mental illnesses. In recent years, Dr Allen Frances, who chaired that DSM-IV’s task force, has been writing publicly about his mistakes and regrets, and warning about the upcoming DSM-5. Frances has apologized profusely about how the DSM-IV led to diagnoses of ADHD, depression and bipolar spreading through the general population
Elections Ontario Releases Damning Report on Internet Voting
Elections Ontario’s “Alternative Voting Technologies Report” released today tries to put an optimistic face on things — e.g. expressing hope that a unique, enforced, province-wide government-issued ID card could help solve some of the problems — but generally they admit that online voting is too risky. A few quotes from their rundown of other jurisdictions:
“In an April 2013 report on compliance with the voting process, Elections Canada indicated that “current Internet voting systems carry with them serious, valid concerns about system security, user authentication, adequate procedural transparency, and preserving the secrecy of the vote.””
“In 2010, Washington D.C.’s internet voting pilot project was compromised by a group of four University of Michigan professors and students who, within 48
Halifax Election Security — the Story and Documents
I went on CBC radio in Halifax to discuss concerns about the security of their online election, and then was stunned to hear how an elections official went on the next day to patently dismiss all concerns. Consequently, security researcher Kevin McArthur has gone public with some of the background story, and some of the evidence, surrounding my recent video about the security vulnerabilities in the Halifax election.
I’m also posting the documents I obtained from the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre featured in the video: Public Safety disclosure halifax election A-2013-00029
Note that Kevin has posted some of the unredacted documents he submitted to CCIRC — very interesting, and the basics
Elderly Woman Still Hiding from VIHA
An update on Mia following her narrow escape from involuntary electroshock therapy
Eight months after an independent tribunal ordered her released from hospital, the Vancouver Island Health Authority is still pursuing a Saanich woman. Focus previously reported on 82-year-old Mia (“The Case for Electroshocking Mia,” November 2012), whom VIHA senior geriatric psychiatrist Dr Michael Cooper had slotted for electro-convulsive shock therapy against the wishes of her and her family. Last July, an official inquiry determined Mia needn’t be forcibly treated for depression nor even hospitalized; however, almost immediately VIHA representatives began calling, coming by the family home, and demanding that Mia check in with them. Mia, her granddaughter Michelle and grandson-in-law Russel and their children fled the city.
They’d
Numbers Guy Speaks Out
Former federal Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page exhorts Canadians to “wake up.”
Parliamentary institutions that bolster Canadian democracy “are under attack right now like I’ve never seen them before in my 35 years of public service.” The warning had a particularly sharp sting coming from recently departed federal Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page. Brought to UVic by the Green Party, Page was speaking to a packed lecture hall in April. No partisan firebrand, Page is just a lifelong bureaucrat and self-described “numbers guy” who became increasingly frustrated, then appalled, and then positively worried witnessing important national financial decisions being made “based on ideology alone” and without accountability to anyone. Read the rest at Focus online.