w w w .w e sterngazette.c a • @uw ogazette
A golden shutout Western’s women’s hockey team defeats Laurier 1–0 >> pg. 8
thegazette Walking down the street since 1906
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
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canada’s only Daily Student Newspaper • founded 1906
Volume 106, Issue 75
Acclaimed TEDx event returns to Western Changing Speaker series to host celebrated local and national speakers Alex Carmona News Editor This year Western will once again play host to TEDxWesternU, an independent speaker series held in the style of the extremely popular TED conferences. TEDx, like TED itself, is committed to disseminating “ideas worth spreading” that will impact their host communities, as well as people around the world. “The purpose, specifically for TEDxWesternU, is two-fold,” Oscar Linares-Leon, co-chair of the TEDxWesternu team, said. “First, to promote or help spread the ideas of local people like professors or any other people, who live in London and are part of this community. The second is to bring speakers from abroad, say, other parts of Canada, so they can have an impact on London’s community.” The event will be held on April 5 at the Paul Davenport Theatre. Tickets will be sold for $30—however, there are only 100 of them, and anyone who wants to attend must complete a soon-to-bereleased application. “By TEDx rules we’re restricted
to only a 100 attendees. So, because of that, we need to pick and choose,” Linares-Leon explained. “Another reason is that one of the best parts of attending a TEDx conference is the conversations the attendees have in between speakers. We want to have a diverse crowd—we don’t want all the students to be engineering students, or all the students to be business students. We also want to make sure we have people who are truly passionate about TEDx to be the ones attending.” A third party will provide the TEDx executives with applicants’ information with names removed, so as to ensure a fair selection process. The event organizers are taking great lengths to accommodate those who cannot attend in person. “We’re going to have a satellite event, in council chambers most likely. We’ll have a huge projector screen and livestream the talks, and try to provide as much as we can with that environment of discussion right after each talk,” Linares-Leon said. “We’re also trying to get some speakers to go to the satellite event
Aaron Zaltzman News Editor
uwo.ca/tedx
after it’s over so the people who attend the satellite event have an opportunity to engage with some of the speakers. Apart from that, as any TED or TEDx event, all the talks are going to be livestreamed on our website—that way anybody can access it.” While the full list of speakers has yet to be released, Richard Ivey School of Business professor JeanPhilippe Vergne is one confirmed speaker. “My talk is going to revolve around the influence of pirate organizations on the evolution of capitalist societies,” Vergne said.
“From the influence that sea pirates had in the 17th century on the evolution of international trade, to the influence of pirate radio on the radio broadcasting industry and, more recently, the influence of online piracy on the development of tech companies and cyberspace. For example, online pirate groups have created alternatives to proprietary software, such as open source or free software that has dramatically changed how traditional businesses operate in this industry. Essentially, piracy is driving the evolution of entire industries by changing the rules of the game.”
Students more likely to overshare online Jeremiah Rodriguez Gazette Staff A survey released by Visa Canada has found Canadians aged 18 to 30 were more likely to recklessly overshare their personal information online through social networking sites like Facebook and were therefore put at a greater risk of fraud. Thirty-two per cent of students have liberal social media settings for public viewing of their personal email and home addresses, birthdays and phone numbers. This same group was much more likely to participate in riskier behavior like sharing PIN numbers, personal data and lending credit cards to others, as well as through Facebook and text messages, or emails. In comparison, 24 per cent of Canadians between ages 31 and 45, 14 per cent of baby boomers and nine per cent of seniors reported these oversharing attitudes. This private information could easily be used fraudulently to perpetuate identity theft, email phishing and other scams, warns the
study. The contrast between the younger and older age groups could be the generational emersion into social networking, online purchasing and the availability of handheld technology. “This might be because younger people are just so used to having social media as a part of their lives and are very active with it—86 per cent of them engage in some sort of social media activity on a daily basis,” Carla Hindman, manager of corporate and public affairs at Visa Canada, said. According to the Visa Canada survey that polled 1,604 adults, there is a direct correlation between the people revealing personal information online publicly to those same people reporting a case of fraud of one form or another. The survey found 56 per cent of all Canadians say fraud is a major concern for them, with 37 per cent of respondents claiming security concerns are the top cited reason as to why they do not shop online. “Common sense is the number one tool students can use when it
tuition fees
comes to their personal information. If it’s not something you want a stranger to know, then don’t post it. Check your privacy settings and use discretion,” Hindman urged. “Payment cards are yours alone, don’t share or lend them—and don’t send card information through insecure channels like email or text. The problem is a lack of awareness of the riskier habits that 18-to30-year-olds unknowingly take online. The study purports that while personal and financial information are strongly
encouraged to be kept private, the survey goes on to stress the need for victims to talk about their experiences with fraud to help others avoid the same fate. However, this stigma of sharing of experiences is seen primarily in seniors, as only half of them were likely to talk about their experiences being defrauded or ask questions about suspected fraud, spyware or identity theft.
Andrei Calinescu Gazette
The time has come for change, at least according to the Canadian Federation of Students. With Ontario’s current tuition framework, first introduced in 2006, set to expire, student lobby groups, CFS included, are looking to have their say in the creation of a new one. “The government has expressed in recent months that they plan on instituting a new framework, presumably to be put in place by fall,” Sarah King, chairperson of CFS, said. “Students need to have a voice in this.” CFS, which represents half a million Canadian post-secondary students, has voiced its opinion in a detailed proposal entitled Changing Priorities. Among the most significant propositions are harmonizing tuition fee payment deadlines, eliminating interest fees on tuition debt and a 30 per cent reduction in tuition fees across Ontario over the next three years.
We’re at a point now where our institutions are funded more by private funding than government funding, which was not the case 30 years ago. —Sarah King
Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students
“Under the current framework, we’ve seen increases of five to eight per cent per year, which means since 2006 students have seen increases of up to 71 per cent,” King explained. “This has put us not only at the highest fees in the country, but has also created drastic increases in student debt, and unfortunately we don’t have a lot to show for it in terms of quality.” According to King, however, this trend could potentially be reversed. “We’ve illustrated before that it’s actually possible to reduce tuition fees with existing funds,” King said, citing the Liberal government’s 30 per cent tuition refund for some students. However, she said that program’s shortfall is it only applies to two out of every nine Ontario students. >> see Reform pg.3