Slashdot Mirror
Privacy Breach In Canadian Passport Application Site
Joanna Karczmarek sends us news of a massive privacy breach in the Government of Canada passport website. "A security flaw in Passport Canada's website has allowed easy access to the personal information — including social insurance numbers, dates of birth and driver's license numbers — of people applying for new passports. ... The breach was discovered last week by an Ontario man completing his own passport application. He found he could easily view the applications of others by altering one character in the Internet address displayed by his Web browser."
As a fourth generation Canadian, I too have met a large number of Canadians. While I have no intention of defending the AC, I resent the absurd generalization that Canadians are uneducated and racist. With any large sampling of people, you will encounter the good and the bad. I am sorry to discover that you have clearly encountered only the bad, yet you are a sample of one.
I work at a company with fifteen employees, representing eight distinct nationalities and we operate in perfect harmony. This place is not anomalous; I have lived through several similar situations at other companies.
However, I am also a sample of one. Let us look at statistics. Immigration accounted for two-thirds of Canada's population growth in 2006/2007 (http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070927/d070927a.htm/) and has always been a significant contributor to our population (http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo03.htm?sdi=population%20growth/).
Does this trend pose difficulties? Certainly. However, were such a policy not embraced by the majority of Canadians, it certainly would not persist. The tolerance is real. Join us and see for yourself.