2 posts tagged “toronto”

Sometime two weeks ago I was driving to work on Lakeshore when I noticed a large set of double T's. It took me a day or two realize what was going on; I finally realized where I had seen this logo before. Audi had vandalized our public space, the beaches that line Lakeshore Drive. My first concern was that Toronto would let a corporate sponsor pollute our public spaces with their propaganda. I was quickly reminded that perhaps the City didn't know about it, but that really doesn't put me in a better frame of mind. Doesn't being "The Good" include being proactive about cleaning up our city spaces?

Reading up on some of the blog services, it turns out that the City did know what was going on, at least to some degree. Audi applied for filming permits and is parking their statues in the locations even tho no filming is going in. It's a sleazy move and Audi definitely gets a growl of disapproval for that, but where is the city's responsibility in this. When assigning filming permits, especially long term ones, shouldn't a city inspector come by and actually make sure they are within the confines of the agreement? Advertisers manage to skirt around Toronto laws, and reaction from the City was painfully slow.

Upon the heels of this stumbling, today I noticed parking ticket printers on what used to be the free parking lots along the beaches lining Lakeshore. Toronto, in past years, has had enough issues with making it's public beaches available due to pollution issues in the lake; by removing free parking they are making it even harder for many people to enjoy the area. Having biked out to the area in question, I can say for those of us living downtown, this is not the most pleasant news. Even TTC is quite a bit aways from, and a long ride.

In short I wonder about how the City's doing. The home of innovators like ATi and Redhat. A city that obviously feels a strong sense of community, both online with half a million Facebook users and offline with city wide events that take place throughout the year. In this city of people supporting and caring for people, where does the government stand? Apparently, behind money and corporations, not the residents. While I feel saddened to say, I think "The Good" needs to be temporarily removed from Toronto until city councilors can get their acts together and think about the people.

Technorati Tags:
Toronto, Audi, Do no evil

Referance:
http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2007/05/audi_vandalizes.php
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/19/audi_defrauds_toront.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/19/audi-tees-off-toronto-residents-with-botched-tt-ads/
http://www.nowpublic.com/audi_tricks_toronto

As many of you may remember last week Toronto is now considered the Facebook capital with nearly half a million users within the city.  I am fairly certain that just means the network and not necessarily all people. Facebook is in the local news again, as City Hall has banned Facebook from city workers while working, following suit with the Ontario provincial government and several local schools. Surprisingly, exempt from these blocks are City councillors, workers of the mayors office and (according to some reports) various services such as the police and fire dept. 

While the surge in numbers has made quite a far reaching impact, the increased censorship of facebook only seems to have been heating up inthe local news. For months now we've been hearing of school children being banned from Facebook by their schools at home or school. Some have even been suspended, one even expelled under cyberbulling allegations.  Of particular interest is that while Facebook is joining the ranks of pornography, gambling, and other redlight sites in many Toronto area cyber-filters; MySpace is considered ok. At the same time, councillors are still treating it as a valid communication medium to reach their constituents.

One might speculate, in the end, that it is this constent attention trying to censor Facebook that is driving up the Toronto community numbers; much like trying to kill the recent AACS hex key was a PR disaster for the HD-DVD crowd. Censorship is obviously not the way to get ideas across, and as long as large bodies try this method as opposed to actually communicating I think we are going to see more backlashes like this.

For any other group who is thinking of totallitarian actions against something they don't like, I leave you with these words from an insightful princess from a long, long time ago ... "The more you tighten your grip, Tarken, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Technocrati Tags: Facebook, AACS,Toronto, HD-DVD, mafiaa, DRM