RSS FeedGoogle Offers Free Ambulance Chasing Devices
Just like Google’s Street View feature, which followed a Canadian launch after being tested in the American market, Google introduced this month traffic levels for major Canadian cities after almost three years of use in the U.S. In the past week the service was extended from mobile devices to web browsing as well.
Toronto.com has offered much more limited traffic features for several years, but nothing even close to the level of detail or interactivity provided by Google.
Late this summer Google had expanded the service to include arterial roads, which was a major complaint among American users. They also rolled-out a crowdsourcing feature that would track the speed of vehicles using Google Maps on mobile devices to help determine best alternative routes during congestion times.
One bulletin-board user asks,
If I am walking down the street with Google Maps open on my BB, I wonder if this skews the data?
The response he gets from another user appears at first quite simple,
They average out the data… so unless you have a marathon of people all having google maps on for some reason, one or two people walking down a major street most likely won’t affect the traffic readings.
That assumes, like financial markets often do, that people always behave rationally. People do not always behave in rational ways.
Interruption of Question Period this week to raise the issue of climate change is just one of a growing phenomenon of flash mobs that could easily affect crowdsourcing data in the aggregate. Just look at the many flash mobs in tribute to Michael Jackson alone in past months.
Google also launched a mobile service providing GPS with features like 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. The last feature would be especially useful in light of traffic conditions, and alternate destinations can be plotted by voice to comply with hands-free legislation in Ontario and similar laws in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and B.C. Users can also search by voice for services and landmarks along the way. Devices will be able to use the service in the U.S. starting Nov. 6.
In one of those more common moments of more predictable behaviour, the shares for GPS navigation systems fell by 9.5% for Tom Tom and 18% for Garmin on Tuesday alone, dropping further during the rest of the week. Still, many analysts point out that the mobile services available from Google aren’t comparable to GSP systems. Signals often cut out, and don’t reliably provide directions when they are needed. But Google can address this by caching information on devices instead of streaming, and in the long-term this will likely replace the GPS systems entirely.
Given the association between car accidents and traffic jams, litigators may be able to replace their police radio scanners with Google Maps and arrive on the scene before first-responders to offer their services.
They can find alternative routes to the scene through hands-free instruction and use Street View to get an idea of the physical layout before they arrive. They can even do it walking down the street if the traffic is really backed up. And barring a re-enactment of “Beat It!” en route to the accident, it doesn’t seem like anything can stop them.
Defence counsel, be forewarned.
Impact of a Global Temperature Rise of 4ºC
The UK government has published an interactive map to help illustrate the potential effects of climate change.
Act on Copenhagen is the official website in preparation for the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, where governments will meet in December 2009 during the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Meanwhile, developing nations have walked out on Canada’s position on Kyoto in Thailand earlier this month.
Indefeasibility of title? Not that indefeasible in Kenya?
First posted on Commercial Law International on Oct 15, 2009.
By Charles Wanguhu
The caveat emptor rule dictates that an individual seeking to purchase land should ensure that he is dealing with the rightful owner. Therefore upon inspection of the register kept at the ministry of lands, an individual seeking to ensure the ownership of land would request the registrar for an official confirmation of search, the advantage of the official search is that it is given priority registration over all other transactions for a period of 14 days from the issue of the search.
However in the Mau forest in Kenya the government aims to evict thousands of families who are said to be on forest land. This is despite the fact that some of the settlers have valid title for the property which was a result of excision of forest land by the previous administration. A similar operation in 2005 resulted in thousands of people being displaced and claims of human rights violations by the evicting forces.
The new administration however views the issuance of the titles as void as in their view they were illegally obtained from the former administration. However, under the Principle of Indefeasibility the title of an innocent Purchaser cannot be set aside, even by the claims of a previous rightful owner. This is so, because the Register of Titles is conclusive evidence of the Purchaser’s rightful ownership of the land.
In the case of Maathai & 2 others v City Council of Nairobi & 2 other 1994 a case in which the Nobela laureate Waangari Maathai sought to stop the sale of a piece of land by the city council the court in its deliberations held that:
Registration of Titles Act Cap 201 of the laws of Kenya which provides inter alia, that the certificate of Title issued by the Registrar to a purchaser of land upon a transfer shall be taken by all courts as conclusive evidence that the person named therein as proprietor of the land is the indefeasible owner thereof …. and the title to that proprietor shall not be subject to challenge.”
The Kenyan government while well intentioned in conservation of forests has opened a pandoras box and thereby creating uncertainty in dealings in land. By ignoring the indefeasibility of first registration land transactions have become a gamble. A commission of inquiry into illegal/irregular allocation of public land revealed that a number of foreign embassy and consulates are actually built on former public land. It would be interesting to see whether the government would take similar measures against these missions as they are attempting to do with the families in the Mau forest.
An AFRICOG report available here looks at some of the recommendations of the Commission of inquiry and looks at the possibility or impossibility in implementing the recommendations.
Bill C-300
A single gold ring leaves in its wake, on average, 20 tons of mine waste.
Bill C-300
Purpose
| 3. The purpose of this Act is to ensure that corporations engaged in mining, oil or gas activities and receiving support from the Government of Canada act in a manner consistent with international environmental best practices and with Canada’s commitments to international human rights standards.
Barrick Gold Corporation, the largest Gold Mining Corporation in the world, and Canada’s largest publicly traded company put a lot of heat on the Canadian Government in the last year when Norway’s Ministry of Finance back in January of this year, sold shares of Barrick Gold from Norway’s pension fund for ethical reasons. Norway is the best place to live. They must be doing something right. Norway’s Council on Ethics conducted a fairly comprehensive investigation spanning four years regarding the use of a natural river system to transport and dispose of mine waste in Papua New Guinea. The council established “the mining operation at Porgera entail[ed] considerable pollution.” The 2008 report went on to condemn the heavy metals contamination, particularly mercury, produced by the tailings. It concluded that severe and long-term environmental damage is likely to continue, and that it represents a serious health hazard for residents of the mining area and for the indigenous peoples living downstream from the mine. As Marie-Claude Poirier of CCODP writes, in 2008 Canada was a base for 75% of the world’s exploration and mining companies. And Canadian mining companies accounted for 43% of all global exploration spending. And at most, the Canadian government promotes mining companies to voluntarily conduct their activities in a socially and environmentally responsible manner that companies have failed to undertake. The Canadian government does nothing more than endorse current CSR standards and create administrative mechanisms, rather than legal ones, within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and at Canadian offices abroad. This is where Bill C-300 comes in. On April 22, 2009 Bill C-300, sponsored by Hon. John McKay PC, MP, passed second reading in the House of Commons with a vote sending it to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development for further study. C-300 passed by a close margin – Yeas: 137; Nays: 133. http://www.johnmckaymp.on.ca/newsshow.asp?int_id=80507 Marie-Claude Poirier, notes that Bill C-300 doesn’t include provisions for an ombudsperson and independent investigation into complaints from overseas, since private member’s bills cannot require the support of a budget. However, what the Bill does do is directly forward complaints to the Minister of International Trade and Foreign Affairs. Investigation ensues as to the alleged violations of the CSR standards. If any evidence of violations is found, then the stick of bad PR for those that are caught. The companies would be required to submit annual reports, which would fall under scrutiny of the House of Commons and Senate for review. Bill C-300 has baby teeth, but it’s better than no teeth. Even baby teeth are sharp. |
The Disparity Between our Perceptions and our Actions
Chris Hedges is the author of Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, released this summer. He wrote the book before the economic meltdown, but foreshadowed some of the challenges Western society faces in its permanent economic decline and our attachment to materialism.
Hedges has a Masters of Divinity from Harvard, and currently contributes to Truthdig.com. In a recent article there, Celebrating Slaughter: War and Collective Amnesia, he says,
A war memorial that attempted to depict the reality of war would be too subversive. It would condemn us and our capacity for evil. It would show that the line between the victim and the victimizer is razor-thin, that human beings, when the restraints are cut, are intoxicated by mass killing, and that war, rather than being noble, heroic and glorious, obliterates all that is tender, decent and kind. It would tell us that the celebration of national greatness is the celebration of our technological capacity to kill. It would warn us that war is always morally depraved, that even in “good” wars such as World War II all can become war criminals. We dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Nazis ran the death camps.
A prolific writer, he provides some interesting commentary on society and culture in an interview with C-Span, and how it affects our approach to international law:
We are the most deeply illusioned society on the planet…
Here we were, a country that not only under international law waging… a doctrine of pre-emptive war, which under post-Nuremberg laws are defined as illegal wars of aggression, we were running offshore penal colonies where we openly tortured people detained without any rights, we had a Banana Republic seizure of the electoral process in 2000, and yet we talked about our virtues. “The greatest country on earth,” “the greatest democracy on earth.”
The disparity between what we were doing, and the perception of who we are.
This is just written large throughout the culture, and it plays to a very pernicious fantasy: we as Americans can have everything we want, if we just dig deep enough within ourselves, if we tap our hidden potential, if we grasp that we are truly exceptional.
Reality will never be an impediment to what we desire.
…new humility is needed for what is coming.
He describes his vision for enlightened leadership,
Half of all discretionary spending since WWII has gone into defence, and much of our deficit, which are the largest recorded deficits in history, are caused because we are maintaining a defense establishment we can no longer afford.
Meanwhile, we are crumbling from the inside. Read the reports about American infrastructure, whether it’s sewage disposal or anything else…
This is how empires usually implode. They expand outwards to such an extent that the very heart of the empire collapses, internally. And that’s the danger we face.
So if we can recognize that this period of our history is over, and I don’t think this is a negative – living with a new kind of simplicity, not producing 25% of the world’s greenhouse gasses, learning to speak to the rest of the world in a language other than the language of force – these actually many not improve our lives in terms of consumption or power, but they would certain improve the quality of life in terms of moral integrity and meaning.
GreenTech War: Japan, China, Lithium, Batteries and Bolivia
First Posted on Commercial Law International on July 6, 2009
Bolivia: The Saudi Arabia of Lithium
A potential GreenTech war is brewing between Japan and China, location Bolivia.
The salt flats of Bolivia´s Salar De Uyuni, where most recent James Bond movie was shot (Quantum of Solace) seems like the most unlikely place for a green technology war, much less one between Japan and China. However, it very much is. Both countries through official diplomatic overtures and through its multi-nationals have sought to secure stable supplies of lithium.
Why lithium?
Well, given current technology, lithium is the key to battery power. And while batteries power all kinds of devices, it is the key to the electric car – I think you are seeing where I am going with this. Whoever control´s the lithium, controls the electric car.
Currently Chile is the world largest producer of the metal; however Bolivia has half the world´s proven reserves. According to the Times, ¨Bolivia is to lithium what Saudi Arabia is to oil.¨
It looks like the Salar De Uyuni could soon become much more than just a 007 film location, to being a linchpin in the world´s effort to curve carbon emissions. Let´s hope along with this the people of Bolivia see some true developmental benefits and the reduction of poverty from this greentech war.
Did protectionist fears water down celebration of Canadian-U.S. cooperation?
This past weekend Canada & the U.S. celebrated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Canada-U.S. Boundary Waters Treaty, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced with Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon that the countries would be “updating” the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. While this was fairly good news for fresh water enthusiasts, the announcement was overshadowed by recent trade and border concerns.
“The friendship between Canada and the United States is a model for the world,” said Cannon.
In actuality, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement has little to do with “Buying American”. Although the Treaty was intended to prevent and help resolve border disputes between Canada and the U.S., the Agreement is primarily aimed at issues of water quality. Originally signed in 1972, the Agreement has already been amended in 1978, 1983, and 1987 in order to address emerging environmental concerns such as municipal sewage, toxic discharges, and phosphorous runoff.
New amendments to the Agreement have long been anticipated, and are likely to draw on reviews from two Canadian-U.S. international institutions: the International Joint Commission (a dispute resolution body created by the Boundary Water Treaty) report, completed in 2006; and the Binational Executive Committee (an executive committee composed of federal, state, provincial and tribal agencies created by the 1987 Protocol) report, completed in 2007.
Both reports recommend revising the Agreement to reflect more recent environmental concerns in the Great Lakes. For example, both reports recommend joint recognition and provision for action against aquatic invasive species (AIS).
Michigan (currently promoting AIS Awareness Week), and recently New York, have both enacted strict regulation on the discharge of ballast water in the Great Lakes that has been fought by industry but upheld in U.S. courts. In both states, ballast discharge permits for commercial cargo vessels require mandatory technology to treat and prevent AIS spread.
Transport Canada Ballast Water Control and Management regulations however are less stringent:
Obviously, from an ecological perspective it makes sense for policy against AIS in the Great Lakes to be the same. Now that some Great Lakes states have adopted strict technology regulations, it also makes sense from the perspective of cargo operators to have homogeneous regulations rather than a patchwork which may be confusing and/or contradictory.
If the sentiment to continue to improve the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in accordance with ongoing scientific and technological development, regulations by Canada and by the U.S. Great Lake States regarding ballast discharges – among other things – may soon become more uniform.
Some More Climate Change Science
This time from Jonathan Patz, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
He was kind enough to share his slides.
Obama Win Might be a Boon for Law Firms
Carolyn Elefant thinks that some law firms are going to see a major increase in business as a result of this week’s election.
Obama is expected to increase regulation in a number of areas, including health and banking, and might provide incentives for green technologies.
Larry Bodine and Zack Needles identify several of growth:
- regulatory law and enforcement work
- litigation
- “green” law
- real estate
- labour law
- bankruptcy
- government contracts
Lawyers with expertise in these areas can expect an increase in work.
Confessions of an Obamaniac in Canada
Obamania… Mania.. in the House
With the U.S. presidential elections only days away now, it seems we might just have a president that is more popular abroad than he is at home for the first time in many years.
The French are ecstatic, and have high hopes of reverting back to their name for fried shreds of potato.
Other Europeans offer more succinct explanations. Simon Heffer of the Daily Telegraph says,
Many Britons will feel it would be rather nice to have a vote, too. Well, maybe not a whole vote: I would settle for one worth 50 per cent of those cast by American citizens.
Canada is no exception, with “Obamania” sweeping the country. Some Canadian commentators attribute this to an anti-Bush sentiment – frustration with unilateralism and naked self-interests at the rest of the world’s expense.
But Thomas Walkom offers a word of caution,
Which U.S. presidential candidate talks of expanding the war on terror by attacking more countries? If you answered John McCain, you’re wrong. The correct response, of course, is Barack Obama.
Green Party Website Hacked!
The website of the Green Party of Ontario was hacked last Friday. Malicious hackers have put up a blog post mocking GPO leader Frank de Jong, by impersonating him and putting ridiculous words in his mouth. I am, of course, assuming that this is what happened. Obviously Mr. de Jong would never say something as inane as:
Greens should never vote strategically. Even if your vote was the one vote that would elect another Harper Conservative you should still vote Green. Even if that additional Conservative MP meant Harper would get a majority, you should still vote Green.
I hope that once the Green Party webteam returns from the Thanksgiving holiday they will swiftly remove the work of these hackers and attempt to track them down. Our website has also been hacked, you have our sympathies, Green Party.
(h/t Macleans)
May v. Duffy
It’s one of the few times when a title like that won’t be a legal case.
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, took on television journalist Mike Duffy.
Duffy suggests that May can say whatever she wants because she would never be in power. Some Liberals envision a Dion cabinet with May as Minister of the Environment.
But May doesn’t take issue with that swipe and instead objects with Duffy’s characterization of her quote, questioning his journalistic integrity.
h/t Deb Prothero
Updates
