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Despite Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell’s characterization of the Bus Riders Union as a group of “total losers,” the health and social justice struggle in which the BRU is engaged is a direct response to the targeting of our society’s most vulnerable citizens — parents, low-wage workers, the unemployed, refugees, students, children, seniors, people with disabilities and immigrants. A majority of bus riders are women and disproportionately Aboriginal and people of colour. Inevitably then, policies that negatively impact transit-dependent people are implicitly racist, sexist and unfair.
Higher fares and poor bus service act as a barrier to our independence and mobility, and as a result the health of our community suffers. Some bus riders are forced to choose between taking the bus and other basic necessities, such as food and rent. High fares force transit dependent people to work longer hours to pay for the rising cost, causing intense strain on their own health and the health of their families.
This week in Tech Tuesday, a brief potpourri of items, mostly revolving around PC security issues — everything from the latest security patches from Microsoft to a work-around for Microsoft’s Genuine Microsoft Software Check facility, and the prospect of a catastrophic attack on the Internet. At stake is the exploitation of flaws affecting the once-invincible Cisco router hardware, which currently carries most of the Internet’s traffic on a daily basis. “I admire the guy for being brave,” said Lisa Bickford, president of InReach Internet, and a board member of the California ISP Association. “It’s not easy to quit your job, but he stood by his principles. I think Cisco has some egg on its face.”
In Greater Vancouver, bus riders pay for 50% of Translink’s operating costs through fares, as well as paying through the Hydro levy and gas taxes. High transit fares are, in fact and in practice, a form of regressive taxation that takes more money from those who can least afford to pay.
What can you do to redress the wrong? Start of by visiting the Bus Riders’ Union website. E-mail them at
Tech Tuesday: The Information Highway Is One Scary Road
Critical Windows Patch Arriving Today
Heads up to all Windows users. The monthly patch scheduled for today includes six security updates affecting Windows, one of which is rated “critical.”
In addition, via its Windows Update process, Microsoft plans to release a refresh of its malware removal tool — the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool — to add detection for new virus and worm variants. Microsoft has also reported it will release one non-security but high-priority update. It is already known that a fix for a denial-of-service flaw in Windows XP will be included in the August patch batch.
Bypass Windows’ Genuine Check
Bypassing Microsoft’s automated check for pirated software may be as simple as inputting one line of code. Within 24 hours of Microsoft officially requiring users of its Windows XP software to validate the authenticity of their software, the validation method was allegedly cracked and disclosed in a public blog.
Late last week, the code snippet appeared on popular blog site BoingBoing claiming to be a way to bypass Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage check. A user only needs to paste the code into the address bar of one of the Microsoft update services before pressing either the ‘Custom’ or ‘Express’ button. The code snippet allegedly disables the key check by turning off the code trigger for the check.
Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is an effort to prevent users from running pirated non-licensed versions of Microsoft’s software. When visiting one of Microsoft’s update services, users are prompted to download an ActiveX control, which validates their software. Only validated WGA users have full access to Microsoft’s update services; security updates are still available to non-validated users as well.
A Credible Plan To Take Down The Internet
According to CNET Reviews’ Senior Editor, Robert Vamosi, “a credible threat to the infrastructure of the Internet exists that will give everyone who uses the Internet a rough ride … all indications suggest that the clock is ticking toward some kind of showdown between criminal hackers and the good guys.”
Cisco tried to silence Internet Security Systems Inc. researcher Michael Lynn who was scheduled to reveal a serious flaw in Cisco Systems Inc.’s IOS (Internet Operating System). When Cisco and ISS intervened to prevent Lynn from speaking, he quit his job and gave the speech anyway.
e-week contributing editor David Coursey writes that if “Cisco were doing its job, we might not need Michael Lynn to tell us about the company’s shortcomings. But, because the bad guys already know — or could be presumed to know — about the problems, only Cisco’s customers are out of the loop. Or were, until Lynn arrived on the scene.”
Needless to say, Cisco was far from thrilled with Lynn’s disclosure and quickly filed suit in the Supreme Court. This past week, Lynn and his attorney agreed to a permanent injunction that prevents him from using any Cisco code in his possession for further reverse engineering or security research. The permanent injunction does not prevent Lynn from doing further research on Cisco products provided it is done legally.
No One Is Illegal: Fighting Back Through Struggle and Action
Taking action to combat the racial profiling of immigrants and refugees, as well as discriminatory detention and deportation policies, and the wage-slave working conditions of migrant workers and non-status people — while engaging in the struggle to maintain their own livelihoods and resist war, occupation and displacement — the grassroots anti-colonial immigrant and refugee rights movement No One Is Illegal finds itself very much engaged in the struggle for people’s democratic, social and economic rights.
Most of NOII’s organizers hail from immigrant / refugee backgrounds (South Asian, Persian, Latina/o, Arab and Middle Eastern), and are predominantly women. While taking action to combat racial profiling, detention and deportation, NOII organizers provide political and legal advocacy in defense of families and individuals in the refugee determination process — by drafting legal submissions, organizing multilingual community forums, and fighting against the prospect of deportation through direct action at immigration offices, detention centres and airports.
One of the principle struggles in which No One Is Illegal is engaged is the Campaign for Regularization, the movement to have all persons living without legal immigration status in Canada (non status migrant and immigrants) afforded permanent resident or landed immigrant status.
Restoring Legal Aid Funding in British Columbia is another key campaign that No One Is Illegal has launched. Out of the $83 million that the provincial government cut from the Legal Aid services budget in 2001, 40% came by eliminating legal services to marginalized communities. In 2003 - 2004, Legal Aid funding for immigration cases totalled $4.9 million. In this past year, an agreement between the provincial and federal governments provided only $1.7 million in funding for immigration cases, resulting in the implementation of a profiling-based “merit-screening” process.
Operating an office in Vancouver — located at 714 - 207 West Hastings — the work undertaken by No One Is Illegal comes at an enormous cost. While planning direct action, producing educational materials, and raising emergency funds, No One Is Illegal receives no funding from government, and none of its organizers constitute paid staff.
For more information about No One Is Illegal — or to become a sustaining member, or provide a donation — go to their website, e-mail the organizers directly at
Under The Volcano: Stewards of Our Future Bring Art To Life
