Canadian company to photograph every house in America to build database for sale

Arizona Daily Star: "Photographers from a Canadian company are going house to house, shooting pictures of the roughly 300,000 houses in metropolitan Tucson. It's part of an effort to photograph and appraise every house in the country, creating a database that can be sold to banks and insurance companies. While the city attorney says the activity is perfectly legal, it has officials and some residents concerned about privacy rights."



Their FAQ says they don't go on private property. Their 'leaflets' for concerned residents say it's for law enforcement and first responders (not true, according to law enforcement and first responders). Unsavory that a foreign company is using photos of other people's stuff for profit without permission. Not illegal. Just distasteful. Like real-estate paparazzi.

So we have two solutions:

1. Compose an original poem large enough to be seen from the street, and affix it to the front of your house. If your house ends up in the database, sue for copyright infringement and illegal distribution (using arguments made popular by the RIAA and MPAA), issue a DMCA take-down notice to their hosting providers, and Bob's your uncle.


2. Someone please track down the home addresses of executives and investors so we can start collecting and publishing photos of their houses on these Internets. Please observe all local laws in photographing the executive's houses, do not trespass, and do not attempt to photograph people or attempt to collect additional personal information. Follow the same criteria they have published for their own photographers.




Link via /.

Canadian currency bugged with RFID

CBC News: "Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters have mysteriously turned up in the pockets of at least three American contractors who visited Canada, says a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense."

Canada apparently took the idea of following the money trail a bit far... RFID in money.. interesting. Might be more efficient than the foil strip the US uses, but wouldn't range be an issue? Not clear that Canadians have RFID readers every 60-70 feet... Not sure what this is aboot.

Russians spying on (wait for it...) Canada?

AP: "MONTREAL: A man arrested on espionage charges is an elite Russian spy who had been collecting intelligence on Canada for more than a decade, Canadian authorities say in court documents released Tuesday.

The man was taken into custody by the Canada Border Services agency on Nov. 14 after authorities said a man identified as Paul William Hampel was in fact a foreign national suspected of engaging in acts of espionage that threatened Canadian security."


Was this guy lost? Doesn't he know that Canada is just America's hat? Eh?