One of my favourite parts of working for OpenMedia is being on our Privacy team. Strong privacy rights are so important in a democratic society, and we cannot have an open Internet without them. In my view, it’s never been more important to stand up and defend privacy than it is right now. That’s why I was excited when OpenMedia was invited to participate in a stakeholder discussion with the Office of the federal Privacy Commissioner, Daniel Therrien. Given recent reports about spy agency CSE warrantlessly monitoring 10 to 15 million visits to popular file sharing websites every single day, and the recently tabled sweeping new surveillance Bill C-51, I knew I would have a lot to say to the Commissioner. One of our core goals here at OpenMedia is to use the Internet to insert citizen comments into policy-making processes that are often closed and inaccessible. This meeting provided me a unique chance to deliver citizen voices directly to Canada’s Privacy Commissioner - so before I flew to Edmonton, we made sure to ask you, members of our community, what you thought I should tell the Commissioner.

Every year since OpenMedia’s founding we’ve organized a major push to sign up new monthly donors in December. It’s the success of this drive that keeps our campaigns running all through the year, and the people who have signed up have played a critically important role in protecting the possibilities of the open Internet. Today, December 2nd 2014, is “Giving Tuesday”. You might not be familiar with it, but Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 as an altruistic response to the commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The day encourages people to think selflessly by donating or volunteering for a cause they care about, and always falls on the first Tuesday of December. This year, Giving Tuesday happens to fall on the official start of OpenMedia’s December Monthly Allies Drive, so I thought I would take the opportunity to write a bit about how awesome our monthly donors are.

This week, the latest Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) round began in Ottawa, Canada. In what is becoming a disappointingly familiar story, the talks have been shrouded in near-total secrecy. Only a week ago, the venue changed mysteriously from Vancouver to Ottawa, leading your OpenMedia team to wonder whether TPP organizers were keen to dodge criticism from the many civic interest groups, including ourselves, that call Vancouver home. Despite the snap location change, we’ve been working hard to shed light on how this reckless deal could make the Internet more expensive, censored, and policed. Here’s what we’ve been up to: Shining a light: our “Bat Signal” at work

This week, the latest Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) round began in Ottawa, Canada. In what is becoming a disappointingly familiar story, the talks have been shrouded in near-total secrecy. Only a week ago, the venue changed mysteriously from Vancouver to Ottawa, leading your OpenMedia team to wonder whether TPP organizers were keen to dodge criticism from the many civic interest groups, including ourselves, that call Vancouver home. Despite the snap location change, we’ve been working hard to shed light on how this reckless deal could make the Internet more expensive, censored, and policed.

Right now, there are 18 hours left in our monthly donors drive, and the response from the OpenMedia community has been heartening It’s always humbling watching people step up to defend their rights online. In fact, one of the things I love the most about the open Internet is the way it gives people power to effect positive change. Power to choose what content to view, power to connect and share with other people all over the world, and ultimately, power to decide what to use the Internet for.

Right now, there are 18 hours left in our monthly donors drive, and the response from the OpenMedia community has been heartening It’s always humbling watching people step up to defend their rights online. In fact, one of the things I love the most about the open Internet is the way it gives people power to effect positive change. Power to choose what content to view, power to connect and share with other people all over the world, and ultimately, power to decide what to use the Internet for.

My name is Jason Hjalmarson and I’m OpenMedia.ca’s Grassroots Development Coordinator. Part of my job at OpenMedia is to lead our December Fundraising Drive. Since joining the team last summer, I have been humbled and inspired by my colleagues’ dedication to defending the free and open Internet. A fierce commitment to crowdsourcing and horizontal decision making is part of our core operating principles. Putting these values into practice isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it. We believe important decisions should be made by many voices, drawing upon the wisdom and support of our community. Frequently, we solicit, collect, aggregate, and present the opinions of citizens and Internet users to political leaders in an effort to positively influence policy decisions.