ssues & ideas EDITOR EDRICK DUDANG THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCT.23, 2014 7 Online privacy not fully secure MEL EDGAR photo A student browses Langara Confessions, a popular Facebook site that publishes confessions from Langara students anonymously Confession not really private Langara Confessions moderator admits to knowing your secrets By MEL EDGAR ous, and embarrassing confessions from Langara! They will be posted ANONYMOUSLY on our page.” This is the siren call of Langara Con- fessions, a Facebook community launched in 2013, imitating similar sites at UBC and SFU. An unknown person moderates what is posted on Langara Confession’s site. The Voice has agreed to maintain the moderator’s unknown identity, but this person, or persons, knows exactly who is behind the confessions. “T see my role at Langara as an enter- tainer and kind of like a gossip girl,” said the moderator in an interview conduct- ed with Facebook messenger. “It’s anonymous, so I don’t think it’s that much of a concern,” said the mod- | / nbox us your most heart felt, hilari- erator. First year nursing student Kathleen Jocson said she would never post on the site herself, but trusts the moderator be- cause he or she promises confidentiality on the site. Although the site is mostly for enter- tainment, the moderator said some posts might have had real world repercus- sions. The moderator said he or she has con- cerns that a security guard featured in several love or crush confessions might have left Langara as a result of the atten- tion from the site. Kabir Madan, a second year nursing student, learned the hard way that not all posts are anonymous. “T thought if you posted on the wall it would just mask my identity, I didn’t know I had to send in a message to the page,” he said. Instead, Madan posted a confession di- rectly on the page sharing both his and his crush’s identity with the many people who fre- quent the page KABIR MADAN Madan has Nursing student since deleted the post, but said he wants students to be aware. “My advice is just be careful at what you post out there because things like this can happen,” he said. Langara Confessions has over 1,900 likes and continues to post confes- sions three nights weekly, on Mon- days, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 66 I see my role at Langara as an entertainer and asa gossip girl MODERATOR OF LANGARA CONFESSIONS Cyberbullying bill poised to pass Crime bill causes concern; more powers to law enforcement may infringe on citizen privacy rights il GIS details Crime bill makes it illegal to transmit an “intimate” photographs without that owner's consent. 2 Police have easier access to ask ISP's for the phone calls and emails of suspects. 3 The bill gives immu- nity to telecommu- nicators who have given personal information to law enforcement. By MARY BEACH bullying bill, is set to pass in the House of Commons, despite road- blocks with privacy experts and the Supreme Court. Don Davies, NDP member of parlia- ment for Vancouver Kingsway, said most MPs, and many Canadians, sup- port legislation that will make non-con- sensual sharing of intimate photos a crime. However, he said that the Con- servatives expanded the bill to include new broad powers for the police. “Tt should be a criminal act to make and distribute intimate images of any- body without their consent,” Davies said. “[However], there’s no point in passing a bill that not only people ob- ject to, but someone’s going to chal- lenge legally.” B: C-18, known as the anti-cyber- Under the new law police will be able to obtain basic information from people online, such as name and address — without a warrant from a judge. The Supreme Court of Canada de- scribed that kind of power as excessive, in a June 2014 ruling. In a police inves- tigation of an alleged child pornogra- pher, information was gained from the Internet service provider without a warrant. The Court upheld the convic- tion but stated in the judgment that “the conduct of the search in this case therefore violated the Charter.” Davies, who visited Langara College Friday added, “If the bill is ruled un- constitutional, which we have every expectation it will be at the end of the day, the law will be struck down and it won't be of any assistance to anybody.” However, many students say that they have mixed views about the bill. “T guess I’m con- flicted,” said Tani- ka Charles, Langa- ra English student. She would like to see a law that of- fers protection without a loss of privacy. ” . DON DAVIES Just like you NDP MP for can’t search some- Vancouver one’s house with- Kingsway out a warrant, maybe you shouldn’t be = al- lowed to search someone’s Internet ac- count without having a warrant ei- ther,” Charles said. The bill was, in part, a response from the suicide of Amanda Todd who was a victim of cyberbullying. She died on Oct. 10, 2012. UBC breach may affect Langara Langara students should take extra caution with their information online By SANDY POWLIK about a two-year-old computer bug in the university’s system that may have breached students’ per- sonal information. The bug was allegedly not detected until this September and fixed within two days of detection. According to UBC registrar Kate Ross, the bug af- fected 0.1 per cent of transactions, such as electronic funds transfers, making individual risk very low. There is currently no legal require- ment under the B.C. Information and Privacy Act to report privacy security breaches, yet UBC took the responsi- bility to tell students. Vancouver police Sgt. Randy Fin- cham said no one should enter “any personal information into a device that they don’t want to share publicly.” Langara general arts student Adam S°" at UBC were recently told Huizinga knows how to keep his in- formation secure while online. Huiz- inga, who works at an Apple — store, said to make sure every password is unique. “There’s always risk,” Huizinga said. He typically doesn’t use Wi-Fi, and when it comes to doing anything per- sonal he uses his phone. Huizinga said there is a lot more se- curity in transmitting data from a phone to a cellular tower than with Wi- Fi in a public place like Starbucks. He recommended two-step verification as a way to ensure personal online secu- rity. Langara associate director of IT op- erations Justin Yau said the campus has systems in place “to monitor for malicious activities and to provide se- cure access to information.” He recommended only providing personal information electronically when absolutely necessary, and to be familiar with privacy settings on social media sites. ADAM HUIZINGA Arts student Strong Password Generator Don't expose your sensitive accounts and waste time with weak passwords. 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