Canada – Page 52 – a sibilant intake of breath

Bell, usage based billing, and TekSavvy

It seems the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has let the dominant internet service provider (ISP) Bell largely ruin the smaller ISP Teksavvy:

From March 1 on, users of the up to 5 Mbps packages in Ontario can expect a usage cap of 25GB (60GB in Quebec), substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC’s decision to impose usage based billing…

We encourage you to monitor your usage carefully, as the CRTC has imposed a very high overage rate, above your new monthly limit, of $1.90 per gigabyte ($2.35 per gigabyte in Quebec).

Forcing big companies like Bell to lease capacity to companies like Teksavvy seems very smart, as it helps prevent dominant monopolies from forming. Unfortunately, such arrangements don’t have much meaning if you also allow the big company to force their own policies on the smaller companies that are leasing from them.

Consider the case of a customer using 100 GB a month – half of Teksavvy’s previous low cap. Before, they would have paid $44.30 with tax. Under the new rules, they would pay that plus another $142.50 in additional data usage fees.

Fun, and also educational

Here’s a question that I think a lot of Ottawa-area Anglophones would appreciate an answer to:

Are there any good French television shows or films available via Netflix streaming?

For one reason or another, a few of us could benefit from some revision and practice.

I think most people watch at least some television as a guilty pleasure (HBO doesn’t count as television, does it?). Maybe we could just do that in French and kill two birds with one stone – get in one’s vegging time, and maintain French language skills.

Electricity sources in Canadian provinces

As discussed before, one reason why it is so challenging politically to put a price on carbon is because there is large regional disparity in how energy is produced.

This chart – taken from part three of Canada’s latest National Inventory Report to the UNFCCC – shows how each province generates its electricity:

Clearly, it is easier for some provinces to make use of low-carbon options like hydroelectricity than it is for others. Also, much of that hydro capacity was built before policy-makers were seriously concerned about climate change.

That being said, the science is now very clear and the period in which people can justifiably claim ignorance about the climatic consequences of their actions is over. Places that made their energy choices before humanity was aware of all the implications of climate change can make a legitimate case for some adjustment time. That said, the defence of ignorance no longer holds and the clock on that adjustment time is ticking.

Ethics and CAPP advertising

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) have a new advertising campaign for the oil sands that is all about personal credibility: the ads feature the faces, names, and signatures of oil company employees who argue that the environmental impact of the oil sands is manageable and shrinking.

Since CAPP made the ads personal in the first place, it seems appropriate to do the same and ask about the ethics of appearing in these ads.

The Warrior’s Honour

It is strange to read Michael Ignatieff’s The Warrior’s Honour now, when he is leader of the official opposition rather than a journalist. Back in 1998, Ignatieff described the purpose of the book:

I wanted to find out what mixture of moral solidarity and hubris led Western nations to embark on this brief adventure in putting the world right.

Ignatieff is making reference to the whole notion of ‘humanitarian intervention’ and the ‘responsibility to protect’ which emerged strongly after the scale of both killing and western inaction in the 1994 Rwandan genocide became apparent. The book is certainly dated in some ways, which can be a liability. At the same time, it has value insofar as it does express one perspective of that time, and facilitates consideration of what has changed since.

The central concept of Ignatieff’s book is the ethics of warriors themselves – the internal moral forces that sometimes help to constrain behaviour within the most limited bounds of ethics, even in wartime. He explores the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as special representatives (‘enforcers’ is too strong a word) of the Geneva Conventions. He explains how Henry Dunant – founder of the organization – established a continuing tradition in which delegates of the ICRC have “made their pact with the devil of war” and “accept[ed] the inevitability, sometimes even the desirability of war” while “trying, if it is possible, to conduct it according to certain rules of honour.” Ignatieff also describes the consequences when warriors abandon honour, as he alleges took place during and after the breakup of Yugoslavia, when former neighbours destroyed their collective homeland driven by “the narcissism of minor difference.”

The Warrior’s Honour is not an especially practical book. The tone is more mournful and ambiguous than certain or persuasive. It doesn’t offer much guidance to those trying to decide how to respond to the humanitarian emergencies of today. Ignatieff’s book does more to describe the predicament than to suggest paths out of it, though that is a valuable undertaking in itself. In the conclusion, he explains:

The chief moral obstacle in the path of reconciliation is the desire for revenge. Now, revenge is commonly regarded as a low and unworthy emotion, and because it is regarded as such, its deep moral hold on people is rarely understood. But revenge – morally considered – is the desire to keep faith with the dead, to honour their memory by taking up their cause where they left of. Revenge keeps faith between generations; the violence it engenders is a ritual form of respect for the community’s dead – therein lies its legitimacy. Reconciliation is difficult precisely because it must compete with the powerful alternative morality of violence. Political terror is tenacious because it is an ethical practice. It is a cult of the dead, a dire and absolute expression of respect.

One has to wonder whether it wouldn’t be better for humanity to simply forget the outrages of the past, given the tragic way in which they perpetuate conflict into the present and future. Like feuding gangs, human beings feel this constant compulsion to respond to every slight with a larger slight, and pay back every rape and murder with two more.

Given the course of Michael Ignatieff’s life, the book also highlights the tragic theatrical character of government and opposition. As a journalist, Ignatieff could grapple with major political and ethical questions with a kind of integrity and with acceptance that the answers derived from history are usually imperfect and uncertain. As a politician, he must engage in a much less sophisticated slinging back-and-forth of accusations. One of many unfortunate facts about political life is that proximity to power tends to be accompanied by a cheapening of discourse.

CBC documentary on geoengineering

Like it or not, an increasing amount of attention is being given to geoengineering – the idea of deliberately modifying the climate system to counteract the warming effects of greenhouse gases.

On November 25, the CBC documentary series Doc Zone is broadcasting the premiere of Playing God With Planet Earth: Can Science Reverse Global Warming? According to the promotional materials, the documentary:

explores the last ditch efforts of scientists and engineers trying to avert a planetary meltdown.

As the threat of climate change grows more urgent, scientists are considering radical and controversial schemes to rehabilitate the climate. Since none of these wild—and possibly dangerous—ideas have ever been tried before, the filmmakers used a distinctive “painted animation” technique (like a “graphic novel”) to explore these futuristic scenarios.

“Human ingenuity could temporarily roll back the effects of global warming. At the same time, it could cause catastrophic damage and spark deadly political conflict,” says director Jerry Thompson. “We’ve interviewed some of the world’s leading scientists, engineers, environmentalists, lawyers, and disaster-relief workers about the possible consequences of intentionally manipulating the climate—versus the risk of doing nothing.”

In addition to the Thursday screening on CBC television, it will be possible to watch online on the show’s website.

If readers do end up watching it, please consider leaving a comment about it here.

Montreal Port

One interesting thing about ports is the way in which they accumulate obsolete vessels and buildings. In Montreal, there is a stretch of waterfront in the old port area which has been enhanced for tourists, but which is nonetheless situated alongside old grain elevators and other bits of industrial refuse.

70mm 1/130″ f/8 100ISO

Here, light reflecting off parked cars was illuminating the shadowed side of the motorway.

200mm 1/130″ f/8 100ISO

This prominent sign has a dedicated art project online. Since 2006, the ‘Farine Five Roses’ brand has apparently been owned by Smuckers.

200mm 1/250″ f/8 100ISO

The City of Montreal has gone to considerable lengths to exclude urban explorers from these old grain elevators. That’s probably quite sensible, given the hazards that are almost certainly inside. Nonetheless, I did see some urban exploration photos from inside this complex during my weekend in Montreal.

70mm 1/200″ f/8 100ISO

In particular, I would be anxious about using any of these rusted overhanging walkways.

70mm 1/320″ f/8 100ISO

I have always enjoyed the interesting textures that are produced by rusting metal.

70mm 1/200″ f/8 100ISO

Similarly, the contrast between the increasingly oxidized iron and the blue sky is attractive, when these old towers are viewed on a clear day.

120mm 1/100″ f/8 1600ISO

Between two of the moorings for large passenger vessels, a pair of old steamships are currently tied. Quite possibly, they are destined to be sent off for scrap.

93mm 1/80″ f/8 800ISO

Whenever I see a catenary, I am reminded of the various ‘Connections’ television series’ hosted by James Burke. Like making pigments from coal, the caternary form is a connection that arose again and again on the show.

190mm 1/160″ f/8 2500ISO

Most of these photos were taken using Canon’s 70-200mm f/4L lens. Nearly all were shot at f/8, with the ISO setting and shutter speed adjusted to take into consideration the amount of ambient light, the degree to which I could brace the camera, and the relative brightness or darkness of the subject.

180mm 1/200″ f/8 400ISO

The original purpose of both ships was obscure to me, though they were clearly designed for some industrial use, rather than the transport of passengers.

200mm 1/200″ f/8 640ISO

Despite that, some details of the ships provide insight into how their crews would have experienced life aboard them.

185mm 1/40″ f/8 800ISO

Perhaps something about the redox interactions between the different structural elements of the ship explains this pattern of rusting.

110mm 1/60″ f/8 800ISO

I suspect these are bow thrusters, used to manoeuvre ships in relatively tight quarters.

Remember

Perhaps we honour the war dead better by declining to participate in nationalistic and militaristic state-sanctioned displays. Wars always involve at least some moral ambiguity; even if the cause for going to war was unambiguously just, innocents end up being victims during virtually all wars. Perhaps if we had really learned from the massive and numerous tragedies of the 20th century, we will feel more included to a solemn recognition of all those who have suffered from war, rather than a patriotic salute to those who participated in wars (willingly or not, justly or unjustly) while they happened to be wearing our flag (or the British ones we fought under before).

Governments have an interest in spreading the general belief that someone who takes up arms for their country, regardless of the cause, is making an honourable sacrifice and worthy of respect. Those reflexes help to keep a state alive across the centuries, by maintaining an ability to rally to their own defence when necessary. Countless people who carried that belief were sent out of the many trenches of the 20th century, straight at the barrels of the machine guns of those conflicts. Much of that was senseless, or served dubious ends. At best, war is a tragic undertaking, necessary when someone wants to impose the intolerable upon us. When collectively contemplating war, perhaps it would serve human ends most if we collectively accepted that war is almost the worst among all things, and should only be undertaken to eliminate a still-greater evil.

Blackberry PIN security

One popular feature of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry communication devices is PIN messaging – a communication protocol involving fewer steps and servers than email.

Interestingly, the Communication Security Establishment (Canada’s codebreakers) has guidance online about the security of BlackBerries in general and PIN messages specifically. They draw particular attention to the very limited protection generated by the encryption system used for PIN messages:

PIN-to-PIN is not suitable for exchanging sensitive messages. Although PIN-to-PIN messages are encrypted using Triple-DES, the key used is a global cryptographic “key” that is common to every BlackBerry device all over the world. This means any BlackBerry device can potentially decrypt all PIN-to-PIN messages sent by any other BlackBerry device, if the messages can be intercepted and the destination PIN spoofed. Further, unfriendly third parties who know the key could potentially use it to decrypt messages captured over the air. Note that the “BlackBerry Solution Security Technical Overview” document published by RIM specifically advises users to “consider PIN messages as scrambled, not encrypted”.

The document identifies other vulnerabilities, such as the potential bypassing of spam filtering and the risk that a BlackBerry that has been passed along to a new user will receive a sensitive PIN not intended for them.

The document goes on to say: “Due to the aforementioned security issues, GC departments should refrain from using PIN-to-PIN messaging and the disabling of his functionality”.

While that is probably good advice, I doubt many departments will be sacrificing this popular feature. That is probably welcome news for anyone who is intercepting these messages. As mentioned before, British Embassies and High Commissions have been conducting signals intelligence interception against friendly countries since the second world war. No doubt, other embassies in Ottawa are actively monitoring traffic between BlackBerries.

The same may well be true for more sophisticated private companies, hoping to get some inside information on upcoming policies and regulations.

Massive climate change art in Vancouver

On November 21st, 350.org is organizing the creation of a massive art piece in Vancouver, which will be photographed from space. The piece is meant to be about the Athabasca oil sands, and their contribution to climate change.

The 350 movement is named after the maximum concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere they consider safe:

Scientists told us the bottom line three years ago this fall: any amount of carbon greater than 350 parts per million is not “compatible with the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.” We’re already too high—our air is now 390 ppm CO2—and we’re already feeling the effects.

Please leave a comment if you are planning to attend the Vancouver event.