The Case for Canadian Digital Sovereignty

Mathew Ingram wrote, for Be Giant, an interesting profile of Gander and other digital sovereignty efforts in Canada and the E.U., which I think is an evenhanded exploration of the excitement and pitfalls. For example, Gander’s founder Ben Waldman notes the de facto requirement to use U.S.-based payment systems on iOS: There have been some major hurdles along the way, he concedes, which helps explain why Gander didn’t meet its initial goal of launching last October. One challenge was the idea of verifying users. It was suggested that they be asked to send a toonie to the company via the Interac network, but there was a risk that Apple might not approve the new app if payments were made outside its App Store. So the current plan is to have users verify their identity using Interac or Canada Post, both of which allow you to do so without sending your personal information over the internet. I am not anti-U.S., but I am in favour of identifying singular dependencies. ⌥ Permalink