We experienced a network outage from approximately 13:30 April 22nd, to 06:00 Monday April 23rd. Even though our systems were online and working, they were no longer connected to the Internet.

I reported the problem promptly to the data center provider, and they assured me that they were already working on it. At this time I have no information as to the causes of the outage. For a while last night, I did have 2 out of 4 systems still online, unfortunately most of the critical functions were on the other two. I was able to get dial-up authentication working on one of the other systems, but it too was affected by the network glitch later on.

I apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate everyone’s patience. I will be looking at options to prevent this sort of problem from happening again this coming week.

Update – Monday 4:30PM

The problem was traced to the unlikely failure of 3 out of 4 power supplies failing at once, which is very rare.

I was interviewed on Wednesday, February 14th on the subject of Bill C-30 “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act” by Chris Walker on CBC’s Daybreak South.

For CBC listeners new to Secure by Design – Welcome!

The issue of C-30 is more complex than 5 minutes of airtime permits.

The most important thing is for citizen’s to take get involved and informed about this and other legislation that will regulate the use of the Internet for our children and grand-children. The good news is that the Government appears to be listening to Canadians, and has indicated that C-30 could be changed. We need to keep raising awareness and talking about this and other legislation.

Also worthy of scrutiny are Bill’s C-11, the “Copyright Modernization Act”, and Bill C-12, ironically named “Safeguarding Canadians’ Personal Information Act”. Bill C-12 contains amendments to PIPEDA to allow for ISP’s to turn subscriber identity over to Government authorities. Here are some links on the subject:

• Online surveillance bill opens door for Big Brother – CBC News (added Feb 17, 7:45am)
• Online surveillance bill could change – CBC News
• Online surveillance bill may breach privacy law, charter – CBC News
• CIPPC – FAQ on Lawful Access
• Michael Geist’s articles on Bill C-30 and on Bill C-11
• OpenMedia.ca – a grassroots organization that safeguards the possibilities of the open and affordable Internet

Feel free to share your thoughts using the comments (below). Registration is required and moderation is used to prevent link spam.

Our office hours during the holidays are:

If you get an email that looks like the following, do not click on the link. There’s nothing wrong with our webmail, and we never need to email you and ask for your password. Our spam filter has been picking this up, so not many people will actually see it.

Regards,

Kirk

Thanksgiving 2011 Office Hours

Our office will be closed Saturday October 8 through Monday October 10.

We will re-open 9am, Tuesday, October 11, 2011.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Long Weekend!

At some point September 11, 2011 our antivirus program for our mail servers suffered a severe failure.  As a protection measure, all inbound email was not processed until antivirus functions were restored.  Antivirus function was restored on September 11, not long after, however, due to the shear volume of mail that had accumulated, our servers have become overloaded as they work to process all the incoming mail.  As load average becomes high, we detect it, and then shunt the data away from the overloaded system to return the load back to normal.  When load average becomes high, services such as sending mail, and webmail become inactive.

If it is not essential for you to check your email, please hold off until noon, September 12.  Otherwise, we are working hard to ensure all mail services can operate as best as possible.  We apologize for the inconvenience.  This should resolve after  our systems fully catch up, and we expect full function to be restored at noon, September 12.

Our office will be closed on Monday, September  3rd, 2011 for the Labour Day weekend.

We hope you have a great long weekend!

As of 10:30 am Wednesday, August 24, 2011 our dial up outage has been resolved.

Since 11:30 am Monday, August 22, we have been experiencing a dial-up outage due to an equipment failure on our upstream provider’s network. This outage affects all our dial up numbers in the BC interior, including Vancouver.

Replacement parts have been shipped and should be installed later this afternoon.

We will update this bulletin as we receive new information.

We appreciate your patience during this outage.

Our office is closed Friday, July 1st, and will reopen Monday, July 4th. Enjoy your long weekend!

To our valued clients,

Due to the lockout of Canada Post employees, and subsequent suspension of postal service, you may need to make alternate arrangements to mailing in a cheque.   The vast majority of our subscribers receive your invoice via email. If you normally receive an invoice by mail, we will also be emailing a copy to you.

Here are three options:

1. Use Pre Authorized Payments

Sign up for our pre-authorized payment service and have your monthly payment deducted automatically from any chequing account, or from your Visa or Master Card. Simply fill in this form, and fax it to our office.

2. Pay Using Online Banking

We can accept Online or Telephone Banking with the following financial institutions:

• BMO (Bank of Montreal)
• CIBC
• Credit Unions
• Scotia Bank
• RBC (Royal Bank)

3. Pay by Phone or Online using Visa or Master Card

Call 1-877-373-6121 with your invoice and credit card ready and we will be happy to process your payment.  Our online bill payment page is also available for credit card payments.

Thank you for your support.