CodeRedTO: Saving Gary Webster

After City Council's dramatic moves two weeks ago to rescue Toronto's LRT plans from the clutches of Rob Ford's underground-only transit "vision" (which, amazingly, I did not post about), the mayor is about to strike back by terminating Gary Webster, the highly respected manager of the TTC. See CodeRedTO for the whole sorry story.

There are five members of the TTC Board doing the mayor's bidding, instead of looking out for Toronto's interests: Vincent Crisanti, Frank Di Giorgio, Norm Kelly, Denzil Minnan-Wong, and Cesar Palacio. They really need to hear from the public. So too do the four members expected to support Mr. Webster: Chair Karen Stintz, Co-chair Peter Milczyn, Maria Augimeri, and John Parker. I just sent the following e-mail to all members of the Board.

Dear Councillors:

I am writing to express my support for TTC Manager Gary Webster. Mr. Webster has done an admirable job steering the TTC through some very challenging times, growing ridership in spite of budget pressures, improving customer service, and providing much-needed expert, fact-based opinions to Council as it plans the expansion of the system.

The move to axe Mr. Webster is transparently political, and I have no doubt that it originated in the mayor's office. If successful, it would send a terrible message to this city's senior civil servants, who should feel empowered to offer the best professional advice possible to our representatives. Moreover, it would represent a significant loss to the TTC and incredible disrespect for taxpayers, certainly costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance and possibly exposing the city to further legal liabilities. It pains me to think about how many service cuts are being foisted on the public to make up for this kind of truly wasteful spending.

The TTC Board needs to display professionalism and rise above these ugly politics. I strongly urge you to vote against Mr. Webster's removal.

I sent a separate message to Karen Stintz, with this extra bit urging her to bring to bear the full weight of Council:

Moreover, I believe it is Council's responsibility to ensure that the TTC Board is acting appropriately. If it fails to do so, its membership should be changed. To that end, I encourage you to seek support once again for a Special Meeting of Council at the earliest possible opportunity. All indications are that five members of the Board are ready to act against the city's best interests; however, I think they would be less inclined to do so if they knew their actions were about to be reviewed and acted upon by Council.

Thank you very much for all of your dedication to the TTC, and I hope you will continue to demonstrate inspiring leadership on this file.

CodeBlueTO: Stintz's Position

I received one particularly interesting response to my e-mail yesterday about the Port Lands. It comes from Councillor Stintz, and it lays out her position on the issue. This is of interest because Stintz is one of Mayor Ford's close allies, and up until now, she had not voiced a position publicly. Last night we learned that there is at least one member of the mayor's inner circle prepared to vote against him, and it now appears there is another.

In her e-mail, Councillor Stintz expresses support for Waterfront Toronto and its plan, and my read is that if forced to choose, she would vote against transferring control to the Toronto Port Lands Company. However, her preference is clearly to reach some kind of face-saving compromise for the mayor.

Here is Stintz's text:

Dear Neighbours and Fellow Residents,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me with your concerns about how the lower Port Lands will be developed.

There is a proposal coming to City Council next week that will ask for the Toronto Portlands Corporation to be the lead development agency for the Portlands. The assumption is that the Portlands Corporation can develop the land more quickly and economically than Waterfront Toronto. Over the last few weeks, I have met with the Toronto Portlands Corporation and Waterfront Toronto.

I am convinced that Waterfront Toronto has done a complete and comprehensive plan for the Portlands and has done so consistent with the City's vision and the requirements of Ministry of Environment.

I believe that the current proposal put forward by the Toronto Portlands Corporation should be studied but the proposal departs significantly from the City's current vision that the Portlands would be developed as a neighbourhood community with mixed uses.

I will be working with my colleagues on amendments that will continue to advance the work of Waterfront Toronto while also attempting to achieve of some under lying goals of the proposal by the Toronto Portlands Corporation, such as realizing the vision for this land more quickly.

Thank you for your concerns and interest in this important city issue.

Yours truly,
Karen Stintz
City Councillor,
Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence
City of Toronto
Chair, Toronto Transit Commission

CodeBlueTO: Saving the Port Lands

Toronto lurches toward its next crisis, as our charming and tireless mayors, Doug and Rob Ford, are plotting to upend waterfront development plans for the Port Lands. CodeBlueTO has all the information you need to help protect the people's plans for the waterfront. Ford for Toronto's Matt Elliot has again compiled a list of undecided or potential swing votes on Council. However, in light of mounting opposition, I have decided to write to all members of Council not named Ford. Here is my letter:

Dear Councillors,

I am writing to express my opposition to Mayor Ford's move to transfer control over the development of the Port Lands from Waterfront Toronto to the Toronto Port Lands Company. I urge you to vote against the Executive Committee's recommendation when the issue comes before Council on September 21.

I am strongly supportive of the existing, approved plan for the Toronto Port Lands and of the process of extensive public consultation by which it was created. Waterfront Toronto is doing excellent work, mixing development with unique and engaging public spaces, like Sherbourne Common and Canada's Sugar Beach. The plan to renaturalize the mouth of the Don River and provide expansive green space and public access to the waterfront, along with high-value mixed-use development, is affordable and would meet Toronto's wants and needs perfectly.

By contrast, the mayor's "vision" is stunning and almost comical in its extravagance. We have no need for a monorail, a giant Ferris wheel, or a mega-mall, and the obvious question is, how could we ever pay for them? The mayor would have us believe that the private sector will happily foot the bill, but that is the stuff of pure fantasy. Taxpayers deserve to see concrete plans and a full and proper accounting for this "vision" before any steps are taken that would put the current waterfront plans at risk.

That Mayor Ford and Councillor Ford developed their fanciful "vision" in the back rooms of City Hall, with lobbying from unregistered foreign developers, is a slap in the face to all of the Torontonians who participated in Waterfront Toronto's open process. The mayor's actions demonstrate not only disrespect for citizens, but alarming disrespect for Council as well: Council unanimously approved the current plans just one year ago.

If the mayor is concerned about the pace of Waterfront Toronto's development plans, as he claims, he should engage with the organization and work towards a solution that would accelerate them. The very idea that we can speed things up by throwing away five years of planning and starting from scratch is absurd.

The citizens and taxpayers of Toronto are relying on you to do your job and protect us from the mayor's reckless gamble. We have a secure investment in Waterfront Toronto, and the mayor has no mandate to put that at risk. Please vote to safeguard it by rejecting EX9.6.

Special thanks to Jaime Woo for suggesting the wording that I used (approximately) in my concluding paragraph.

The Biggest Ball of Fail

For some reason (or, more likely, no reason), The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota popped into my head this morning. Naturally, I tried singing it to see if I'd remember all the words. The first 5 verses went really well (including all the decals from all the places where we've already been), but I couldn't remember what happened after the kids were so happy they started singing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall for the 27th time that day. And then, it all just kind of fell apart. I was positively crestfallen.

So, this is to refresh your memory and mine. Enjoy!

Glee 3D Highlights

Just got back from seeing Glee: The 3D Concert Movie. Since it's only going to be in theatres for two weeks, I'm sure some unfortunate souls will miss it. For those people, I now present the top three highlights:

3. Heather Morris's in-character backstage Brittany quips.
2. The girl with the "Jew Fro" Born This Way T-shirt.
1. Absolutely zero Matthew Morrison!

Early Thoughts on Google+

I've been on Google+ for almost two weeks now, but it's just starting to get interesting. Two large influxes of new users (I suppose we should still be calling them testers, actually) over the last few days have brought many of my friends to the service. It's still a lot quieter than those other services, but it doesn't feel too soon to give a few early thoughts on Plus.

It seems to me that Google is trying to position Plus in between Facebook and Twitter, and then expand out from there. With its asymmetric relationships, Plus is more like Twitter in providing the opportunity to find interesting new people for purely online interactions. But, with circles, some of those relationships can be privileged, making it more comfortable to do the kind of oversharing common on Facebook. I think the model is meant to provide the best of both worlds, which just makes sense competitively.

Facebook is so firmly entrenched in people's real lives, which is a major challenge to a would-be competitor. Think about it: When was the last time you used a service other than Facebook to invite people to an event? So, I think the Google+ strategy includes providing Twitter-style relationships and interactions while building up the user base to the point where competition with Facebook is possible. I won't even try to predict whether it will work, but here are a few promising observations.

First, circles are cool. Some have argued that they offer little-to-nothing more than friend lists on Facebook, but I disagree. I think their presence from the start and their prominence in the sharing UI, combined with the asymmetric relationships in Plus, makes circles much more useful and powerful. Even with lists, I've never felt comfortable adding acquaintances or coworkers as Facebook friends. But I really do believe that I could use Plus as a single online home for these different types of relationships, without worrying about sharing the wrong kind of information with the wrong people.

Second, the implementation is great, and already beats Facebook in many respects. The Web UI is top-notch, and I love the integration with Picasa Web Albums (a service I haven't used in the past, but plan to now). And on mobile? From day one, Google+ for Android wipes the floor with Facebook's app. Even the mobile Web version on iPhone (the native app is apparently awaiting approval) is better than the Facebook app there.

Third, I'm hearing a lot of people expressing excitement about the opportunity to dump Facebook. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising, and it's a sentiment I definitely agree with. We hand over all kinds of personal data to this company that holds it captive and gives us reason after reason not to trust them with it. Why? Because there doesn't seem to be a viable alternative. What's interesting, though, is that I'm now hearing these anti-Facebook sentiments from people I wouldn't expect to be concerned about issues of privacy or lock-in.

A final couple of thoughts on glaring omissions from Plus. Huddles and Hangouts are interesting new features, but I really don't think they make up for what's missing. Notably, that's some facility for company/organization/brand presence (i.e. Pages on Facebook) and events. Apparently, the former is already a work in progress, but I'd argue that the latter is just as important, if not more so. As I alluded to above, I think Facebook Events connects with people's real lives more than any other feature, so it's vital for any would-be Facebook replacement. Google has the opportunity for another integration, with Google Calendar, which could be very interesting.

Even at this point, well in advance of its official launch, Google+ is an impressive offering. I'm looking forward to seeing where Google takes it next. Happy +ing!

Jarvis Bike Lanes

As you probably heard, the Jarvis Bike Lanes are on the chopping block. The War on the Car is over, long live the War on the Bike.

City Council is set to vote on the issue on July 12 or 13. If you support the bike lanes, please write your councillor (you can find your councillor and his or her e-mail address here). You might consider cc'ing all of the "mushy middle" councillors and the hard-line Ford supporters who previously voted for the installation of the bike lanes in 2009.¹ Their votes will decide this.

Also, give the mayor a call at 416-397-FORD. He claims to be hearing only from people who want the lanes gone, but I doubt that's entirely accurate.

In any case, here is the e-mail I sent to my councillor, Kristyn Wong-Tam, and the others mentioned above:

Dear Councillors,

I am writing to express my concern about the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee's recommendation to remove the Jarvis bike lanes, and to you urge to oppose that measure when it comes before Council. As a driver, a cyclist, a resident of the neighbourhood, and a taxpayer, I strongly believe that such a move would be a big mistake.

I live on Jarvis, so I have seen first-hand the dramatic improvement resulting from the addition of the bike lanes. The reality is that cars and bikes are coexisting much better than they ever had before.

I drive on Jarvis daily, and my observation is that traffic has not become noticeably worse since the centre lane was removed. The recent staff report supports this view, demonstrating that average travel times have increased only slightly. It also makes recommendations for advance left turn signals that could address what congestion does exist.

The same report shows that, while vehicle traffic has not been reduced at all, bike volume has tripled since the lanes were installed, increasing Jarvis's total capacity by almost 5%. This is great news for everyone: The gridlock problem we face in Toronto will only be ameliorated by using our limited infrastructure more efficiently.

Moreover, I'm very worried that removing the bike lanes will just add that new bike traffic back into the vehicle lanes, slowing them down as a result. Separating bike and vehicle traffic allows both to travel better, keeping bicyclists safe and drivers moving.

What concerns me most is the apparent rush to push through a decision on removing the bike lanes, without due consideration or any kind of consultation with the public. Even my local councillor was cut out of any discussion before the Committee's decision.

Does the proposal to remove the bike lanes even include a plan for what to do with the road space that would be recovered? If it does, the public hasn't been told, and we certainly don't know what it would cost. The indications are that it could be very expensive, indeed. The disrespect for taxpayers, and for citizens of the area in particular, is galling.

Once again, I urge you to please vote against the removal of the Jarvis bike lanes.

---
[1] Thanks to Ford for Toronto for the full list: councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca, councillor_grimes@toronto.ca, councillor_mammoliti@toronto.ca, councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca, councillor_digiorgio@toronto.ca, councillor_colle@toronto.ca, councillor_palacio@toronto.ca, councillor_bailao@toronto.ca, councillor_matlow@toronto.ca, councillor_robinson@toronto.ca, councillor_crawford@toronto.ca, councillor_kelly@toronto.ca, councillor_moeser@toronto.ca

Yet Another CRTC Fail

In January, the CRTC  proposed a change to rules prohibiting false or misleading news broadcasts on radio and television.  Naturally, those changes would weaken the rules, paving the way for more public disinformation. Great, just what we need.

The changes are currently open for public comment, but only for two more days. Here is my brief submission.

1. I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed amendments to the Radio Regulations, 1986; Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987; Pay Television Regulations, 1990; Specialty Services Regulations, 1990; and the Broadcasting Information Regulations, 1993, that would relax the existing prohibition on broadcasting false or misleading news.

2. I am a citizen who is greatly concerned about the quality of news and information in the public sphere, and I fear that the proposed changes would constitute a giant step backward on that front.

3. The new requirement that false or misleading news "endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public" is unduly narrow, failing to account for other important societal harm that such reporting can cause. The existing prohibition without qualification is certainly more appropriate. If there are particular exceptions that require special consideration, such as satire, those should be enumerated specifically.

4. I am appalled that these changes have been proposed without any apparent justification and without a significant public consultation. They have the potential to damage Canadian society and our democratic institutions, and as such warrant significantly more attention and input than they have received.

***End of document***

I'd encourage you to submit your comments using the online form. Note that you must number your paragraphs and end your submission with the line ***End of document*** (to indicate that the document has not been truncated).

Check out posts from Michael Geist's and the Green Party for more information.

Not Dead, Resting

It's no secret that this blog, like so many others, doesn't get the attention from its scribe that it once did. However, let me reassure you -- and it -- that it's not dead.

And on that note, I've done a bit of updating. Most notably, I've enabled a mobile view, which the good folks at Blogger finally got around to implementing a couple of weeks ago.¹ I also updated to a matching "new" template² and tweaked it to my taste. Finally, I couldn't help but notice that all my links were ancient and most are now defunct. So they're gone, and replaced by an index of my posts by label. I may, when I have a few spare minutes, post some new ones. Or not.

Oh, and I have now, almost four years later, made good on my expressed will to start using footnotes.

Happy New Year!

---
[1] Blogger users can enable it via Blogger in Draft.
[2] "New" in quotes because these were actually introduced back in June.

Transit City II

I just accepted an invite for the the Facebook "event" Support Transit City, send a quick email. If you care about public transit in Toronto, you should, too.

I'm not really one to send a form letter, so here's what I ended up sending to Rob Ford and the new TTC Chair, Karen Stintz.

Dear Mayor Ford,

I am writing to express my support for Transit City and my concern about your plans to scrap it. In particular, your statement Wednesday that "Transit City is over" seems premature, ill-considered, and entirely disrespectful of council's authority.

You have frequently claimed that people want subways, and I have no doubt that is true. However, there is no denying that subways are extremely expensive. The TTC estimates that your proposed Sheppard subway extension would cost 3-4x as much as the planned LRT line, despite being only two-thirds its length. Wanting something doesn't mean you can afford it.

As a citizen of Toronto and a taxpayer, I believe we cannot afford to see the tax dollars already been spent on Transit City go to waste. Contracts have been signed, work has begun, LRT vehicles have been ordered, and the city of Toronto will be on the hook for costly fines and penalties if we change course now. Scrapping this plan would also represent the loss of billions of dollars of federal and provincial infrastructure money for Toronto.

I am both a driver and a public transit user, and I do not believe that Transit City represents "a war on the car." Only by rapidly improving public transit options can we begin to reduce congestion on the roads and make things better for everyone. Throwing out almost a decade's work on an affordable city-wide rapid transit plan would be the height of irresponsibility.

Mr. Mayor, you promised respect for the taxpayer. Abandoning Transit City would demonstrate exactly the opposite.

My Favourite Android Apps

I was recently asked for a list of the Android apps I use. I figured, why not do it as a blog post? So here, for anyone who's interested, is my list of favourite Android apps, compiled after about four months of Nexus One ownership. These are the apps that assist me, inform me, delight me, and keep bringing me back, day after day.

Note that I'm using the latest version of Android (FroYo, or 2.2). Some of these apps may not run on older versions. You won't even see unsupported apps when you search in the Android Market.

Swype

Swype is an amazing replacement for the default Android virtual keyboard that makes typing easy and fast! The idea is that you can quickly swipe your finger around over the keys, and it traces the shape to guess what word you wanted. It works very well, and keeping your finger on the screen for each whole word makes it possible to type while walking or riding in a moving vehicle (as a passenger, of course). Unfortunately, it's not in the Android Market yet, but you can sign up for the beta. It will take some time before you're invited to join, so register now.

FourSquare

With FourSquare, you can share your location with friends, find out who else is wherever you are, and earn mayorships and badges in the process. Who cares about privacy, anyway? I'm going for the Super Mayor badge!

Chrome to Phone

This was a tech demo for FroYo's push messaging this year at Google IO. But, it's also a super handy little app that I use all the time. With Chrome to Phone, you can send Web pages from Chrome or Firefox on your desktop or laptop directly to your phone. Google Maps links open directly in the Maps app, and other pages are opened in the browser. Imagine this: You receive an e-mail on your desktop with the address of an event you'd like to attend. Find it on Google Maps, click a toolbar button, and the address is pushed to your phone, opening right in Maps automatically. With just two presses on your phone, you can get turn-by-turn directions in Navigation.

This should be the stuff of ads, but for some reason I can't even begin to understand, Google never even bothered to put this app in the Market. So, you'll have to download it from its Google Code site. The Chrome extension is available from the same place. You can get the Firefox extension, called Send to Phone, from the Firefox Add-ons site.

Twitter

The official Twitter app was released just a couple of months ago into an already crowded field of clients for the popular service. It distinguishes itself with its beautiful, playful UI and its widgets, which, in my opinion, are the best available by far. It doesn't have all of the advanced features that some others do, most notably multiple account support. Power users may need to look elsewhere (for them, I'd recommend Seesmic).

One caveat: I had a significant problem with the official Twitter app around the time I upgraded to FroYo, though I'm not certain whether or not the upgrade was the cause. Automatic refresh stopped working, so tweets in the app and the widget wouldn't update unless I manually hit the refresh button. That was a major pain, and the lack of response from Twitter on the issue was disappointing. In the end, just clearing data for the app (in Settings > Applications > Manage applications) resolved the problem.

Shazam

Shazam identifies the music you hear. Just hold up your phone and it records a snippet, analyzes it, and it tells you what song it is. Seriously, how cool is that?

Places Directory

Places Directory lists nearby places in categories like Restaurants, Bars, Shopping, Movie Theaters, and Hotels. See photos, reviews (from multiple sources), and location/contact information. There are certainly other popular apps of this sort out there (notably Yelp), but I prefer Places Directory for its clean UI and its slick integration (Dial, Map, Share, and Add to Contacts).

3G Watchdog and APNdroid

If you have a limited data plan, 3G Watchdog will help you to avoid going over your quota. It can even use APNdroid to automatically shut data off when you've used too much. I said a whole lot more about these apps previously.

My Tracks

My Tracks uses GPS to record your hiking, cycling, running, and climbing trips. It plots your tracks and reports stats including time, speed, distance, and elevation. You can even share your tracks on Google My Maps and upload them to Google Spreadsheets.

Barcode Scanner

Barcode Scanner photographs and decodes barcodes and QR codes. It can automatically open links in the browser, add contacts and calendar events, and configure wi-fi settings based on the information encoded in a QR code. A great way to exchange information with the outside world.

Squeeze Commander

If you have a Logitech Squeezebox, you'll love Squeeze Commander, the best Squeezebox remote control app out there. It fully controls your Squeezebox server, plays Internet radio, and is packed with delightful surprises, like volume control via your phone's volume buttons and auto-mute, pause or volume down on incoming calls. It can even download songs from your Squeezebox server to your phone.

Note: this is a paid app, costing €2.99 and well worth every penny.

ES File Explorer

Yup, there's really a file system in your phone. You can use EStrongs File Explorer to see and manage the files on your SD card and, if you really feel the urge, in your phone's internal memory. You can also transfer files with remote systems via SMB, FTP, and Bluetooth.

Astro is another popular file manager, but I do find EStrongs' UI to be a little bit cleaner and more friendly.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a service that automatically synchronizes files across multiple computers and even lets you share folders with other users or the Web at large. The Dropbox app lets you download files from your Dropbox to your phone and upload files to be synchronized across your computers.

Movies

Movies provides listings, trailers and Rotten Tomatoes ratings, all courtesy of Flixster. Never wonder what to see again.

Google Earth

Google Earth lets you explore the globe in 3D, right on your phone. Just wow.

NewsRob

NewsRob is an RSS/Atom feed reader that syncs with Google Reader. Perfect for keeping up with your daily reading while on the go. It offers really nice synchronization features, including the option to only sync while on wi-fi.

TripIt

TripIt allows you to easily access travel plans. You just forward your itineraries TripIt, and it creates trip plans, including flight and hotel information, maps, and weather forecasts. You can that access all that information, and other people's trips that they've shared with you, via the app.

OI Shopping List

OI Shopping List is, unsurprisingly, a simple shopping list app. It supports multiple lists, as well as quantities, prices, and tags on items. You can remove crossed out items from the view by shaking the phone, and then later pick them again to add to your next list.

AK Notepad

AK Notepad is a really simple notepad app. You can set reminders on notes, share them, and sync them with Snaptic.com.

URLy

URLy is a simple but handy URL shortening app. It supports 38 URL shortening services, including bit.ly, is.gd, and tinyurl.com, and integrates nicely for easy use from any other application.

Wikidroid

Wikidroid provides friendly formatting of Wikipedia content for your phone.

Honourable Mentions

The following five apps sound like great ideas, but in all honesty, I haven't had much opportunity to use them yet. Still, I think they're worth mentioning.

Google Sky Map

Google Sky Map is an augmented reality app that displays the planets, stars, and constellations as you point your phone around the night sky.

Carrr Matey

Carrr Matey is a parking app that helps you keep track of where you've parked and, optionally, how much time is left on the meter. It seems like a good idea, especially for really big lots.

Open Spot

Open Spot is another parking-related app, but to help you find parking spots in the first place. As you leave a spot, you use the app to report it (you can also report spots that you just happen to notice are empty). Then, when you need a spot, you can search for open spots that others have reported.

I love the idea of Android users banding together to help each other. Who knows if it will actually work, though!

Bump

Bump lets you exchange contact information, photos, and apps with others just by bumping your phones together. This is a cross-platform app, allowing you to share with both Android and iPhone users.

Key Ring Reward Cards

Key Ring creates a digital copy of all your customer loyalty and membership cards on your phone. You can scan the barcodes from your cards, or just enter the numbers manually. When you retrieve a card, the barcode is displayed so that it can be scanned right off the screen. This seems like a nice way to lighten your wallet, but to be honest, I haven't had the guts to ask anyone to scan my phone yet.

Without question, there are huge numbers of fun and useful apps available for Android. I've listed my faves, but I'm sure there are some great ones I haven't discovered yet. Did I miss a great app? If so, please let me know!

Finally, don't forget to support Android developers. If you can afford it, I think it's a great idea to show your appreciation for apps you like by buying or donating. It's the best way to ensure a steady stream of great apps to come!

Bill C-32

The Conservatives are taking another kick at the Copyright can. This time, they've come up with Bill C-32. Here is my letter to the Minister of Industry, Tony Clement. Please get informed and speak out!

Dear Mr. Clement,

I am writing to express my concerns with the recently introduced copyright bill, Bill C-32. Professionally, I am a software developer and a published author, so I am dependent upon copyright to make my living. I am also an enthusiastic consumer of copyrighted works, particularly music and software, so I view the issue from both sides.

The bill represents a significant step forward from your government's previous attempt at copyright reform. In all areas but one, it appears to take a balanced approach. Unfortunately, the one exception, the digital lock provisions, destroy that balance by giving producers of content a final technological veto over any and all rights that would otherwise fall to consumers. Thus, in its current form, Bill C-32 is critically flawed.

The inclusion of such strict protections for digital locks is surprising, to say the least. They appear to have survived, virtually unchanged, from the failed Bill C-61, in spite of the outpouring of opposition during last summer's Copyright Consultation. Indeed, the most commonly heard opinion throughout the Consultation was opposition to C-61-style anti-circumvention provisions (expressed in 6641 of 8306 submissions). One cannot help but wonder what purpose the Consultation was meant to serve when its strongest message has been ignored, no doubt in deference to the wills of a powerful American corporate lobby. As one Canadian who made the effort to have my voice heard, I am deeply upset by this result.

The DMCA-style hard line that has again been offered in Bill C-32 is clearly not supported by Canadians, and it is not necessary for Canada to meet our obligations under the WIPO Internet treaties, which require only “adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies” for digital locks. In other countries, including India and New Zealand, WIPO implementation has been achieved with more balanced approaches to digital locks.

A copyright balance requires that consumers' rights be protected in all cases, not left to the whims of the dominant media corporations. Circumvention of technological measures can be necessary to exercise those rights, so it is simply unacceptable to criminalize such circumvention for non-infringing purposes. I strongly urge you to amend Bill C-32 to make the anti-circumvention provisions applicable only to circumvention for the purpose of copyright infringement.

Android Data Diet (Postscript)

Last week, I blogged about how, after accidentally burning through my monthly data allowance in one day, I configured my Nexus One to use minimal data, and how I started using a couple of apps to measure and limit that usage. Yesterday was the beginning of a new billing cycle, so I was able to see the damage from my excesses and gauge how successful the ensuing diet was.

My extra data charges for this month: $5.60. Phew, not too bad!

At 5 cents/MB, that means I used 112 megs beyond my 500 meg limit. But 87.6 megs of that was on the day I exceeded my limit and the day after, before I realized what had happened. Once I put my phone on the diet, it only used 24.4 megs over 20 days (1.22 MB/day on average), costing me just $1.22.

I'd say the diet was a resounding success! I managed to keep my data usage very low while still staying relatively well connected. I was manually syncing my mail and contacts, but at least I could check them when I wanted to and look up things on the Web. I did miss having my Twitter and Facebook feeds kept up to date, though.

Now that I have a full month's data available again, I have happily re-enabled all my data-hungry settings, like auto-sync and Twitter notifications. I did leave the unfortunate Wi-Fi sleep policy disabled, and I'm continuing to use 3G Watchdog to monitor my data usage. I have increased my daily quota to 30 megs, which should give me lots of room to do whatever I want, but prevent any more runaway data use in the future.

On an unrelated Android note, Google has rolled out free turn-by-turn navigation to Canada, along with 10 other countries. This is a killer feature of Android, and it's great to have it available here. It also gives us something new to play with while we're waiting for the FroYo update.

Android Data Diet (Part 2)

Yesterday, I described how I curbed my Nexus One's appetite for tasty (but pricey) mobile data. But what's a diet without a scale? I still needed a way to monitor just how much data I was using and warn me or, better yet, stop me if I used too much.

Cue the apps.

As I mentioned yesterday, Android doesn't do this out of the box, but fortunately there are at least a couple of great, free monitoring apps available. I tried NetCounter and 3G Watchdog. I think NetCounter has a really nice UI, and it provides the ability to monitor both mobile data and Wi-Fi, but I ended up choosing 3G Watchdog for its excellent quota features.

You can use it to set a daily, weekly, or monthly quota, and then have it warn you when you exceed a given percentage of that quota. Moreover, you can have it shut the mobile data right off if you exceed another given percentage.

I have set an extremely low daily quota of 2 MB, with a warning at 50% and auto-disable at 99%. I'll keep this setting until the end of the billing cycle -- recall from yesterday that I've already exceeded my data limit for the month and am now paying for each meg I use. The idea is to try to keep below 1 meg a day (which only costs me five cents), and cut myself off at 2 megs. That should keep my extra data fees for the remainder of the month under a couple of dollars.

So far, this approach is working: With the changes to my settings that I described yesterday, I'm finding it easy to stay well below 1 meg most days, and on the couple of occasions where I have exceeded 2 megs, auto-disable has worked like a champ.

Once my monthly data usage resets, I'll re-enable auto-sync and my Facebook and Twitter updates, and I'll increase my daily quota to something like 40 MB. That should give me plenty of room to stay connected and use lots of data when I want to, but will prevent any further disastrous 450 meg days.

By default, 3G Watchdog permanently adds a notification indicating the current state of your data usage relative to your quota. I find that quite intrusive, but fortunately it has an option to disable the notification. I did, and added its attractive little widget to my home screen instead. Even that may not stick around once my data diet month is over.

You can install 3G Watchdog by scanning the following QR code with an Android device (or just by touching it if you're reading this on one):


Finally, I should point out that to use 3G Watchdog's auto-disable feature, you'll also need to install another app: APNdroid. It's a handy little app that simply disables mobile data by appending a suffix to your active APN. It also has a widget that can be placed on the home screen for easy access.

Here is the QR code for APNdroid:


Thanks to Richard Fruet and Martin Adamek, the creators of these great apps. They're life savers...or at least money savers!

Android Data Diet

A couple of months ago, I got myself a smartphone. No, not that one; something better. I got a Nexus One, Google's flagship Android phone. Though younger, Android is already significantly more capable than iPhone OS. It's also open source, Linux-based, and uses Java as its primary development language. Throw in the top-notch development tools based on Eclipse, and it was a total no-brainer for me.

Oh, and did I mention it's dead sexy?

I actually got my Nexus One while I was in California for EclipseCon at the end of March. Google sells the phone directly online (though they recently announced they're ending that experiment and pursuing more traditional sales channels), but I saved myself the costs of international shipping and customs duties by having it delivered to my hotel in Santa Clara and bringing it back with me after seven days in the US.

Since then, I've been absolutely delighted with it, but for one most unfortunate incident: A couple of weeks ago, my phone allegedly decided to eat through my entire month's data allowance in one day. My Telus bill shows over 450 megs of data on one Sunday, and I have no idea how that could have happened. Telus was, of course, completely unhelpful, refusing to share any information about which specific hosts or domains my phone was supposed to have accessed. That information could have helped me determine if and how that kind of data usage actually occurred, but Telus wouldn't even confirm whether or not they actually keep such information (even though Canadian privacy law requires them to, on request, inform an individual of the existence of all personal information and give him or her access to that information). Unfortunately, Android doesn't report data usage out of the box, and I hadn't even thought of installing an app to do that.

So, it's impossible for me to go back and find out what happened that fateful day, but it was immediately clear that I couldn't let it happen again. I was only about a week into my monthly billing cycle and was suddenly being charged 5 cents per megabyte of data. So, the first priority was to severely restrict my data use for the rest of the month. Beyond that, I'll need to put in place a strategy to prevent me from getting into this situation again.

The first thing I discovered was alarming, and it's my only real complaint about Android so far: by default, Android is configured to put Wi-Fi to sleep whenever the phone's screen shuts off, in order to save battery. So, while the phone is sitting at home, unused, it falls back to mobile data, instead. But just because the screen is off, that doesn't mean the phone's not doing anything. I had it configured to automatically sync my Gmail, calendar, and contacts, and to constantly refresh my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Though I wouldn't ever expect this kind of activity to result in 450 megs of traffic in a day, megabytes or even tens of megabytes are certainly quite possible.

So, the first thing to do was to disable this Wi-Fi sleeping behaviour, but for some reason, the setting is very well hidden. From the home screen, you'll need to navigate to Settings > Wireless & networks > Wi-Fi settings to find it. Then, you'll need to hit the menu button, and finally select Advanced. Only then can you switch the Wi-Fi sleep policy to Never. I would highly recommend every Android user do this, as unintentional data use can cost you money. I haven't experienced any noticeable effect on battery life, either: I'm still easily able to get through a day on a single charge. I really think Google selected a poor default, and I've told them as much in this bug. Hopefully, it will be remedied in the future.

Since I'm not always in a location where Wi-Fi is available, my next step was to try to disable all background data usage. All account synchronization can be turned off in one place, which is most convenient: Settings > Accounts & Sync > Background data. Once this is done, you'll need to synchronize manually, such as by selecting the Refresh menu item in the Gmail app. Also, this setting must be re-enabled temporarily in order to use the Android Market. I currently do both of these things only when I'm on Wi-Fi.

Finally, I went through all of my apps and looked for any settings related to background data use or notifications. For example, Seesmic has a notifications feature that relies on polling the Twitter server to update the feed. I disabled all such features, and now my data use has slowed to a trickle.

Still, there was something missing: I needed a way to track my data and be notified if it gets too high. Fortunately, there are at least a couple of great, free apps for data usage monitoring available on the Android Market. I'll talk about those tomorrow...

Transit City

I just wrote the Premier in support of restoring provincial funding for Transit City. Please take action to help, too. Here is what I wrote.

Dear Premier McGuinty,

I am deeply disappointed by your recent decision to delay previously promised funding for the Transit City Light Rail plan. Delaying funding now will only compound Toronto's severe transportation woes, and could very well kill this vital project altogether. It would be most unfortunate if your lasting legacy was undoing all the work and collaboration that has already gone into developing this plan.

In December 2009, as construction began on the Sheppard East line, Minister Bradley was quoted as reaffirming your government's commitment to quickly building a comprehensive public transit network in Toronto. He said, "By providing more convenient, affordable, faster rides on public transit, we are tackling congestion, creating jobs, stimulating the economy and improving the air we breathe." He was corrrect: Transit City will allow Torontonians to make a contribution to the critical cause of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, provide desperately needed transit access to Toronto's inner suburbs, and stimulate the economy with thousands of jobs.

Although the province's budget deficit is unfortunate, public transit funding is not the cause of this deficit, and cutting this funding is not the solution. Nothing has changed since Minister Bradley's statement last December.

As a long-time Liberal supporter, I am also concerned about the impact of this about-face on your government's prospects for re-election. If another party campaigns on a promise to restore Transit City funding in the next election, I fear that I will have to give them my vote. I cannot think of another issue that is more important than this one.

I ask you to please deliver on your promise and return the $4 billion to the Transit City budget to keep this plan on track. Transit City is too vital to the health of our city to be put on hold.

Squeezebox Server

I just upgraded from SqueezeCenter 7.3.3 to Squeezebox Server 7.4.1. I bought my Squeezebox in early 2006, and this is the second major update to the cross-platform, GPL'ed server software since then. Both times, the capabilities of the Squeezebox were expanded, and the experience of using it improved. Now that's what I call value!

This isn't as big an update as the switch from SlimServer to SqueezeCenter, which overhauled the browser-based UI and added the ability to synchronize playback across multiple players. Indeed, at first glance, it appeared to me that not much had changed in Squeezebox Server.

However, looking a bit closer, there are a few really nice improvements. The most prominent new feature is the introduction of applications (everyone's got to have apps, right?). For example, there's a CBC app that helps you easily find their radio streams and podcasts, and a Facebook app that lets you browse your news feed and post updates about what you're listening to (check my profile to see what I'm listening to as I write this!).

Also impressive is a major improvement to Internet radio support. The listing and organization of stations is great. You can see a very complete listing of local stations (66 for Toronto, all classified and with icons) with just a couple of clicks of the mouse or remote control, and easily browse or search thousands of stations from all around the world. One more click adds the station to your favourites, for easy access from the main menu.

Big kudos to the Squeezebox team and to Logitech. I never would have expected such great things when Logitech bought Slim Devices in 2006. It's all enough to make me pine for one of their newer devices.

My Copyright Consultation Submission

The Copyright Consultation wraps up on Sunday, September 13, so there's just over a week left to make your submission! I finally finished mine today. Here it is.

Thank you very much for receiving this submission, and for holding this consultation in the first place. I hope that hearing the views and concerns of all Canadian stakeholders will lead to new copyright legislation that is more balanced and forward-looking than the deeply flawed Bill C-61.

The primary reason for this submission is to express, in the strongest terms possible, my opposition to the DMCA-like anti-circumvention provisions of Bill C-61. Banning all circumvention of technological measures (as opposed to just circumvention for the purposes of infringement) and banning technologies that can be used for circumvention are extreme measures that destroy all balance in copyright.

We do not achieve balance by allowing copyright holders to decide for themselves exactly how their works may be accessed and then legally protecting the technologies that enforce those decisions. If a consumer has purchased a copyrighted work and a technological measure attempts to, for example, override Fair Dealing, protect the work beyond its copyright's expiration, or revoke access on the whim of the distributor, the consumer must be allowed to circumvent that measure to access the work.

The DMCA has been wholly ineffective in preventing widespread copying in the USA. The realities of modern computing and communication -- that copying and distribution now have essentially zero cost -- have led to an explosion of file sharing in that country, just as they have here in Canada and in the rest of the world. The anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA didn't stop DVD-CSS or FairPlay from being defeated. Rather, they have been used and abused to limit interoperability, deny access to persons with disabilities, disrupt security research, and slow innovation. The American situation is absolutely not one we should be trying to recreate here.

Instead, I believe we should take a wider view on modernizing copyright, as I will explain in my responses to the five specific questions posed for the consultation.

1. How do Canada’s copyright laws affect you? How should existing laws be modernized?

I am affected by copyright law both as a producer and a consumer of copyrighted materials. Professionally, I am a software developer and a published author. Like most members of the general public, I am a consumer of music, movies, and the written word. I am a strong supporter of Canadian artists.

In both my professional and personal lives, I am a user of, contributor to, and advocate for Free and Open Source Software. While this type of software is usually distributed without charge and without any restrictions on end users, it relies on copyright law to control distribution and use in derivative works. Free and Open Source software thrives in open environments, and it is vulnerable to abuse of copyright law to restrict compatibility and interoperability with other software and hardware.

Canadian copyright law is in need of modernization. In particular, I believe it should be simplified and brought into line with current technological realities and public sentiment.

Copyright law currently just doesn't feel relevant to most individuals, especially younger people. Millions of Canadians engage in file sharing, without believing that they're really doing anything wrong. For most people, sharing feels good. Sharing music tends to build communities of fans and promote the artist whose work is being shared.

The overall effect of a decade of file sharing on the music industry has been most decidedly negative, but in the last few years, we have seen dramatic growth in online music sales beginning to offset the losses. It is hard to pinpoint the reasons for this change, but the music industry's long-overdue move to abandon DRM could be one of them. It is also too early to tell whether, given enough creativity and technical savvy on the part of artists and the industry, this could mark the beginning of a turnaround.

What is abundantly clear, however, is that file sharing is not at all comparable to commercial, for-profit copyright infringement. If non-commercial copying is to be outlawed, this should be specified expressly in copyright law and the punishment must fit the crime. In the USA, individuals have faced multi-million dollar lawsuits for sharing a handful of files. This is an unreasonable and disproportionate response. Statutory fines on the same scale as a speeding ticket (total, not per file or per transfer) would seem much more appropriate.

Moreover, copying for one's own personal use (and for the use by other members of one's household) should not be subject to any copyright restrictions at all. Once a consumer has legitimately purchased a work, he should not be prevented from making a backup copy or transferring the work to another format or device. Any restrictions only undermine the credibility of copyright and artificially diminish the value of new technologies that could otherwise help users enjoy the content they have purchased.

In the not-too-distant past, copying and distributing creative works was difficult and expensive, which meant that these acts were generally only carried out for commercial purposes. If someone was going to make money from copying the work, it certainly made sense to ensure that it was the creator, so as to provide an incentive to create. Today, copying and distribution is effectively free and instantaneous, making personal and non-commercial copying commonplace. Copyright law should reflect this reality.

2. Based on Canadian values and interests, how should copyright changes be made in order to withstand the test of time?

Technological neutrality and flexibility are key to ensuring that copyright law can withstand the test of time. Rights and exceptions can be specified without ensorsing or banning particular technologies, leaving the courts with sufficient flexibility to apply the principles to the relevant technologies of the day. Bill C-61 was very poor in this regard, attempting to carve out exceptions for specific uses of specific technologies, many of which were already obsolete.

3. What sorts of copyright changes do you believe would best foster innovation and creativity in Canada?

I believe that all of the changes I have described so far would have a positive effect on public perception of the credibility and relevance of copyright law. If fewer Canadians are inclined to violate copyright law, then creators will be better able to receive the benefits that the law intends.

Beyond that, the best way to foster creativity is to ensure that copyright law does not negatively affect people's ability to create new works based on existing ideas. Creative people have always built on what has come before, and with the help of technology that is now more true than ever. More flexible Fair Dealing, most especially including parody and satire, would be helpful in this regard, and certainly the public domain must be protected by not extending the current term of copyright.

4. What sorts of copyright changes do you believe would best foster competition and investment in Canada?

Once again, I believe that technological neutrality in copyright is key to fostering competition and investment in Canada. Banning particular technologies would be damaging to the software and electronics industries.

5. What kinds of changes would best position Canada as a leader in the global, digital economy?

Certain large players in the content industries are having trouble adapting to the new, digital economy, and they are pressing for extreme changes to the copyright balance. It is worth noting again that these changes have not had the desired effect in other jurisdictions that have adopted them, and that artists and creators, themselves, are not at all convinced.

I believe that the more reasonable proposals described so far in this submission would be much more effective in helping position Canada as a leader in the global, digital economy.

Thank you again for receiving and considering this submission.

Perform and be Glamorous!

What better time to write on one's long-neglected blog than when trying to shamelessly plug something?

That time has come! (And, no doubt, it will come again soon.)

Swingin'OUT, Toronto’s queer swing dance group, is holding a fundraiser to for The 519 Capital Campaign, and we're looking for performers. Our fundraiser, Glamorous: A Tribute to the Jazz Age, will be an incredible evening of glitz and glamour, with a 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s theme.

Dance, drag, burlesque, cabaret, or any other performance style...if you can work with our theme, we'd love to hear from you! Check out our Call for Performers for all the details.

My Letter to the Governor General

I just sent the following e-mail to the Governor General. It's not too late to have your voice heard. Write to info@gg.ca to express your opinion.

Excellency,

I am writing to encourage you to allow Parliament to express its non-confidence in the government and, if it does so, to ask the Liberal-NDP coalition to form a new government.

As I am sure you know, the concept of Responsible Government forms the basis of our democracy. Yesterday in Question Period, the Prime Minister faced repeated demands to allow Parliament to express its lack of confidence in the government with a vote. I was shocked to hear our Prime Minister dismiss these demands as an attempt to "hide behind parliamentary niceties."

Such profound disrespect for this defining principle of our democracy is appalling.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the Prime Minister plans to seek prorogation of Parliament for no reason but to avoid facing a confidence vote. But without the confidence of Parliament, the Prime Minister lacks the authority for this action. The use of such tactics to hide from a confidence vote would set a profoundly troubling precedent, severely damaging our parliamentary democracy. I urge you to deny such a request.

You have been entrusted with the great responsibility of upholding Canada's parliamentary tradition, and I am confident you will act appropriately.