Whipped up this image based on a joke in a livestream. If you've played Minecraft in the past two years, you'll get it.
Read More
The recent ransomware attacks should be an IT security wake up call for all of us. For the healthcare sector, it should be a code blue.
Read my latest for OpenMedia to become terrifyingly informed.
Read More
Time after time, the security infrastructure that all our technologies depend upon has been sabotaged in the name of law enforcement. In my latest article for OpenMedia, I show how governments are moving tech-security policy in the wrong direction, and why soon enough, that's going to bite us in the ass.
Read More
This week at OpenMedia, I explore why data localization can be both a win and a loss for privacy.
Read More
I have discovered fuse beads! Known more often by their brand names (Perler, Hama, and Artkal, to name a few), they're simply coloured HDPE beads used to create 2D art, and enjoying a surge in popularity thanks in part to their being a great medium for recreating sprite art from classic 8 and 16-bit video games.
For my first big project, I decided to create the main cast from the amazing Squaresoft RPG Chrono Trigger. Check out my full gallery on imgur.
Read More
In my latest post for OpenMedia, I underscore the importance of all Canadians having access to reliable, affordable broadband.
My remote Canadian peeps, this one's for you.
Read More
When all our things have little computers in them, companies can make the rules about how and when we'll use our things, or if we can repair them. In my latest for OpenMedia, I go over all the troubling implications this new status quo presents.
Read More
Over at OpenMedia.org, I provide some quick commentary on why customs agents demanding people's passwords isn't just a gross violation of privacy, it also undermines IT security culture, putting users at further risk.
Read More
On Monday, Province journalist Mike Smyth reported that a seemingly private document was freely available on the BC Liberals' public website; a document containing the e-mail addresses and postal codes of about 100 people who took part in a Liberal public-outreach effort.
Read More
A bit of a furor developed this week in BC politics, and to the potential delight of IT professionals like me, it's a story about incorrect file permissions.
Read More
For a post about 2016, I know I'm three weeks too late. Bear with me though, it took a LOT of effort to pull something positive out of that year.
Read More
In my latest for OpenMedia, I weigh into the tech-journalism spitstorm that has recently embroiled The Guardian and WhatsApp.
Read More
It was August 26th, I was browsing the internet during slack time at work. "WTF is on fire downtown??" asked someone in the /r/Vancouver subreddit, posting a picture of black smoke billowing from somewhere near the edge of Strathcona. It soon became clear that a home was on fire in that neighbourhood. As I glanced at my Facebook feed through the rest of the day, something else became clear: that I knew a person who lived in that home.
Read More
Whether you loved it, found it full of problems, or a bit of both (raises hand) Star Wars: Rogue One has made a big splash and inspired lots of punditry. One of the things that has spurred plenty of discussion is the depiction of the Imperial military archives on Scarif.
Read More
Taking a cab ride home from a friend's Christmas party, my friend Nadia and I took some time to chat about the nature of our selves. Nadia wondered to me that perhaps we have preconceived notions of ourselves that we cling to, many years after we've formed them. Are those notions of self still valid, or more delicately, useful, so many years after they were constructed?
Read More
No one's got a crystal ball, but given what we do know, the future of encryption (and all the technology which depends on it) looks grim, thanks to You-Know-Who. Read all about it in my latest article for OpenMedia (header art by yours truly): The Future of Encryption Under Trump.
Read More
Last month, on the same day, several HP printers suddenly stopped accepting 3rd-party ink cartridges.
The cause was more sinister than you might think, and raises the question: What happens when built-in firmware makes your devices work for their manufacturers first, and for you second?
Read More
Today I was lucky to be able to attend a public consultation by The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, a multi-partisan parliamentary committee tasked with examining Canada's national security apparatuses, and related issues such as oversight. I prepared a short spiel on encryption which, I hoped, would pack as much rhetorical punch as possible into about four minutes.
Read More
So today, after being called at on the street by a stranger, I've finally hit my breaking point on the word "ginger"
Read More