Nelson: Provincial police and pensions are impractical distractions from more serious issues

Chris Nelson, For The Calgary Herald - Yesterday 5

Often, when a relationship sours, those involved engage in endless picayune arguments over minor annoyances, yet steadfastly refuse to tackle that huge, divisive issue lurking at the heart of such conflict.

The UCP proposal to replace the RCMP in Alberta is a distraction from other more pressing matters, writes Chris Nelson. Besides, he notes, it would likely be Mounties who would fill the new provincial uniforms anyway.© Provided by Calgary Herald

And it’s not just once-fervent lovers that engage in bickering over issues barely scratching the surface of what’s actually important. Governments do it too.

Look at a couple of issues here in Alberta, currently paraded as litmus tests of our burning desire to repel the relentlessly expanding grasp of today’s federal government into provincial affairs.

Yes, that would be the blather over replacing the RCMP with a provincial police force and swapping the current Canada Pension Plan for an Alberta model.

Neither issue resonates with ordinary folk, but that’s immaterial. The importance, for those pushing such plans, is what it signals about them — their rock-solid credentials as defenders of provincial rights against Ottawa’s nasty machinations.

In this, they possess the perfect foil: Justin Trudeau’s government.

Come on, was there ever a bunch easier to dislike or a federal government so endlessly disparaging of Alberta? (OK, Trudeau’s dad has a shot, but at least he possessed substance and smarts. The apple fell a long way from that familial tree.)

So, this isn’t about Mounties or retirement money. It’s something else entirely. But, before getting to the heart of that matter, let’s put these two red herrings through some cursory filleting.

First, the RCMP. Alberta already has more than half a dozen civic police forces, including Calgary and Edmonton. Other larger municipalities could join them if they wanted. But most rural areas are happy enough with the Mounties, as a gaggle of rural mayors recently attested

And, if we changed to a provincial force, whom do you imagine would fill the roles of these suddenly much-needed officers? Could it be the same cops that patrolled those same streets the previous week who’d now don an Alberta police force uniform? So, we get the same people doing the same things and, government being government, we’ll probably shell out a few billion bucks for that privilege.

Oh, but that would be chump change compared to what’s at risk switching to an Alberta pension plan.

Look no further than the woeful Heritage Savings Trust Fund to understand why we shouldn’t allow the province to get ahold of our retirement savings. It’s 46 years since Peter Lougheed set it up to provide our grandchildren with a high standard of living when the oil and gas run out.

Today, it stands at a piddling $19 billion. Norway’s nest egg, originally based upon Alberta’s, sits at around $1.5 trillion. Why? Because, whenever things got a tad tight, we changed the rules. Do you want your retirement funds blowing in that particular wind? The CPP runs at arm’s length from government. It currently has about $520 billion in its coffers. Why change that?

So why is oxygen given to such daft ideas? Because it’s virtue signalling from those seeking power and who’d merrily leave you poorer in the process.

Instead, we should concern ourselves with what actually matters.

We live in a huge, federated country, where each region has its own strategic issue. Ours is energy and what we seek is guaranteed future access to global markets. Focus on that and let the Mounties and the CPP slide.

And no, we don’t need any Sovereignty Act to bring this to the fore. We could have done so already if we’d stopped wasting time on ideas only university professors could swallow.

AYE AND HERE IS THE RUB:

Oil and gas remain our resources. So, we can turn off the taps whenever we decide. We should have done it 18 months ago, but, hey, the option remains. It will result in mayhem and widespread anger, reaching deep into the U.S. It will also cost us many billions. But it will ensure Alberta’s issue is everyone’s problem.

All this virtue-signalling stuff is cowardly puffery from those refusing to get to the root of our soured national relationship. Yes, acting just like those once-upon-a-time lovers.

THAT SOURED RELATIONSHIP IS A FANTASY OF THE RIGHT USED AGAINST THE LIBERALS IN OTTAWA

Chris Nelson is a regular columnist for the Calgary Herald.

Temitope Oriola: How we treat women and minorities in public life needs work

The recent harassment of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland by a man in Grande Prairie has led to public conversations about the abuse and threats suffered by women and minorities in public life. The man told Freeland she did not belong in Alberta and called her a “traitor.”


Chrystia Freeland, Canada's deputy prime minister and finance minister, speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was unequivocal in his condemnation of the act and its broad implications. Trudeau notes that “threats, violence, intimidation of any kind, are always unacceptable and this kind of cowardly behaviour threatens and undermines our democracy and our values and openness and respect upon which Canada was built.”

This is turning out to be one of those precious moments of genuine collective citizenship and bipartisanship. Several former and current elected leaders across the political spectrum have condemned the incident. Premier Jason Kenney, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and Travis Toews, among others, have condemned the incident.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley captured a perspective that should give us all pause. She said “this incident will discourage good people, namely women, from entering public office.” Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek shared her constellation of experiences with harassment, intimidation and abuse in public life. Mayor Gondek notes on her Twitter page that the incident “brings up too much pain … you need to hear what actually happens to women after something like this.” Gondek’s 17-tweet thread makes for a sobering read on the facticity of femaleness and experience in public life.

This is indeed a long overdue conversation. It appears some of those who scream “freedom” on the streets do not mean liberty for all regardless of gender or background. Several such persons have a narrow view of who has the right to be in elected office, make decisions about governance of society or contribute to public discourse.

Related video: PM condemns harassment of Chrystia Freeland in Alberta

Duration 1:30 View on Watch

On March 10, 2022, I received an email from an investigator at the University of Alberta Protective Services (UAPS). The message stated “we have learned of several voice messages being left on faculty members’ desk lines at both the University of Calgary and here at the U of A which are aimed, in part, at you. The messages did not contain any direct threats and risk was deemed low. However, they certainly came across to me as racist and rather vitriolic. The incidents have been reported to the police in both Calgary and here. I will also be reaching out directly to the EPS Hate Crimes Unit to discuss the messages.” The UAPS staffer went on to state that the identity of the caller was unknown.

I listened to the voicemail on my office phone and realized the caller was an individual with a high level of conscientious hatred. He had clearly been following my public engagement. He did not want my voice in any public discourse. How does anyone hate in such a deep manner somebody they have never met? What manner of socialization have they had to hate so much?

His words were performatively selected and designed to hurt. It seemed he had a script. He told me to go back to the “sh-thole country” I came from. He claimed I was a “parasite” on Canada. There were other words in the message I may never be able to share publicly. I appreciated the promptness of the action of the UAPS, arranged a phone conversation and took several safety measures.

I had been receiving a steady stream of angry-to-hate messages via email but never gave them much thought. For example, one woman copied me on an email to a university administrator in order to get me sacked. One man wrote that “you may be book smart but you are as dumb as brick when it comes to the realities of life … .(Y)ou must be on something.”

I have declined many radio requests because hate emails tend to increase after some of those radio interviews (less so with television appearances though I am not entirely sure why). I have engaged in a range of self-surveillance and borderline censorship to attenuate hate.

To be clear, I do not equate my experience with Freeland’s or Gondek’s. Their experience is on a whole new level. This is a fundamentally gendered issue. Besides, they are elected leaders. Academia is a cocoon. We have work to do as a society on treatment of women and minorities in public life.

Temitope Oriola is professor of criminology at the University of Alberta and president-elect of the Canadian Sociological Association. Email: oriola@ualberta.ca Twitter: @topeoriola

QUEBEC ELECTION

Quebec Liberal blames Conservatives for violence, Legault asks police to be ready

SHERBROOKE, Que. — Liberal candidate Marwah Rizqy blamed Conservative Party of Quebec Leader Éric Duhaime on Thursday for the highly charged political climate in which elected officials are being subjected to threats and violence.


Rizqy says she has been receiving deaths threats and that last week a man was charged with stalking her. The suspect allegedly called police to say he had murdered her and gave them a street name where her body could be found. He was arrested and released, despite the Crown's opposition. And earlier this week, the Montreal riding office of Liberal Enrico Ciccone was vandalized and robbed.

In response to the violence, Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault said he has asked Quebec provincial police to make themselves available to candidates who feel threatened or concerned about safety.

On a campaign stop in Sherbrooke, Que., Rizqy said Duhaime is to blame for the violent political environment because he said last June that his party's objective was to bring voters' discontent into the legislature.

"If your democratic legacy is to channel hatred, anger, it's a very bad legacy; maybe you have to reconsider the reasons you want to enter the legislature," she said.

Later in Montreal, Duhaime said he was disappointed by Rizqy's comments, adding that his party's volunteers have also been threatened at knifepoint and that politicians of all stripes are facing hatred. Duhaime noted he had voiced his support for Rizqy, but he said her comments "crossed a line."

“I understand that it is the election and that things are not going very well with the Liberal party, but I think it is very slippery ground and I urge caution," he said.

On the issue of bringing discontent into the legislature, Duhaime said his party is trying to channel people's anger against the government — particularly around COVID-19 restrictions — into a positive movement. He said people who disagree with Premier Legault and the CAQ deserve a voice in Quebec City.

"They were the victims of some (COVID-19) measures and those people lost their jobs, saw their kids drop out of schools, got mental health problems," he said.

"Those people were forgotten; they were put aside and they had a feeling there was unanimous consent at the (legislature) and their voice was not heard."

Later on Thursday, Legault released a 15-second video on social media calling for calm. "Unfortunately, we have seen threats over the last few days against candidates. It's not the Quebec we want. And we all have a responsibility not to stir up anger. So, please, let's be careful."

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said he's concerned the political climate is looking more and more like the one in the United States. “I see ideas circulating in Quebec that scare me,” he said.

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he is open to collaborating with the other parties to ensure a “respectful and safe” democracy.

Rizqy, meanwhile, called for elected officials to be outfitted with an electronic panic button for emergencies. And she said she feels unfairly penalized as the provincial police have advised her not to campaign and for her staff to stay away from her constituency office.

“To attack a member (of the legislature) is to attack democracy," she said. "Enough is enough."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2022.

— with files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal.

Patrice Bergeron, The Canadian Press

FOUND MONEY
Auditor general raises doubts about B.C.'s books, saying surplus was $6.5B higher

VICTORIA — British Columbia's auditor general has raised doubts about the accuracy of the province's public accounts, saying the $1.3-billion surplus announced by the government this week should have been about six times bigger.

The audit office says in a news release that its qualified opinion is "unusual and should not be taken lightly."

Auditor general Michael Pickup's office says there were three departures from generally accepted accounting principles in the books that were released Tuesday, including the way B.C. records payments from other governments and non-government sources.

It says if the financial statements followed Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards, the 2021-22 surplus would have been $6.48 billion higher, and liabilities would have been lower by the same amount.

The office says a second problem meant there were incomplete disclosures of future expenditures, resulting in the understatement of contractual obligations of $708 million in 2023 and $315 million in 2024.

The third issue relates to the BC First Nations Gaming Revenue Sharing Agreement, resulting in what the audit office says is a $91-million understatement of both revenues and expenses from the deal.

Pickup says in the news release that the government's method of accounting in relation to the gaming agreement "lacks transparency."

"It does not accurately reflect how they've structured the agreement and the underlying transaction," says Pickup.

Pickup's office has had long-standing concerns with the way B.C. does its books, particularly in the way that funding for capital projects is reflected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2022.

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

B.C. club hands out hard drugs in bid to save lives, despite Health Canada rejection

VANCOUVER — Organizers of a Vancouver compassion club say they will continue to distribute tested cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine despite a rejection from Health Canada, calling it the only way to save lives in the face of a toxic drug supply.


B.C. club hands out hard drugs in bid to save lives, despite Health Canada rejection© Provided by The Canadian Press

Eris Nyx, co-founder of the Drug User Liberation Front, said regulating the illicit supply is the answer to stopping drug toxicity deaths, which have topped 10,000 in British Columbia since the province declared a public health emergency more than six years ago.

"These people are our friends, our community members, people we love, people we care about very deeply and we're losing them every day. And the driving cause of these deaths is the deregulated and unpredictable illicit drug market," Nyx said Wednesday.

Nyx spoke at a press conference marking International Overdose Awareness Day, saying the groups are also seeking a judicial review of the Health Canada decision on the basis that it didn't consider Charter rights to life and equality.

DULF and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users requested the temporary Criminal Code exemption from Health Canada to operate a compassion club model for hard drugs last year and it was rejected July 29.

Nonetheless, Nyx said the Cocaine, Heroin and Methamphetamine Compassion Club and Fulfilment Centre has operated for one month, distributing 201 grams of drugs with no overdoses or deaths.

The group is pursuing a "do-it-yourself" model of community regulation that Nyx said could be scaled up across the province.

"What we have is a failure of the regime of prohibition. And that failure does not make it a criminal issue or a medical issue, that failure makes it a political issue," Nyx said.

Health Canada said in a statement that it rejected the exemption application because it would have allowed the purchase of illegally produced controlled substances from illegal vendors.

"Supplying drugs from illegal vendors is not a viable option for advancing the objectives of the (Controlled Drugs and Substances Act), namely the protection of public health and the maintenance of public safety," it said in a statement.

The federal government has invested $73.5 million to support 25 safer supply pilot projects, in B.C., Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. It's working to learn from experts and people with lived experience, it said.

"There is a consensus that there is no one solution to address the overdose crisis. Safer supply pilot projects are one of the many important tools to help save lives."

However, the authorization of purchases of controlled substances over the dark web is not under consideration, it added.

Last year was the worst year on record for opioid-related overdoses in Canada, with about 21 people dying every day, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Carolyn Bennett, minister of mental health and addictions, said in a separate statement.

"Still more needs to be done to protect the health and safety of Canadians," their joint statement said.

"We remain committed to reducing stigma and continuing to work with all levels of government, people with lived and living experience of substance use, stakeholders, and organizations in communities across Canada to help prevent overdose, save lives, and help all people in Canada live their healthiest lives."

British Columbia is set to become the first province in Canada to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs in January, after receiving a temporary federal exemption in May.

It means those 18 and over will not face criminal penalties for possessing a total of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

However, speakers at the virtual press conference Wednesday said the amount is insignificant and means those who work to distribute safe supply will still be criminalized.

Fred Cameron of SOLID Outreach Society in Victoria said the skyrocketing deaths since the 1990s show the problem is with the supply.

"What's different about then and now — there was not better abstinence supports or better consumption services. The dope was not poisonous," he said.

People will always use drugs, he said, so the priority should be ensuring the drugs are as safe as possible.

The press conference was one of many events across B.C. and Canada acknowledging Overdose Awareness Day. Metro Vancouver landmarks were set to be lit up in purple to mark the day, while lost lives were to be memorialized at Holland Park.

Sheila Malcolmson, British Columbia's minister of mental health and addictions, issued a statement saying it was a day to mourn with families and friends who have lost loved ones.

"That loss is shared by peer workers, paramedics, firefighters, police officers and all those on the front lines of this terrible crisis," the statement said.

Increasing toxicity is outpacing the addition of overdose prevention services, despite an unprecedented number of new treatment and harm-reduction services, it said.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association called for the full decriminalization of all drug possession for personal use, as well as the sharing or selling of drugs for subsistence, to support personal drug use costs or to provide a safe supply.

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs noted that First Nations people were 5.4 times more likely to fatally overdose than others and said the crisis is a symptom of unaddressed, long-term problems.

"We call for safe and affordable housing, mental and physical health systems free from racism and discrimination, accessible socio-economic services to support people in crisis, and a full spectrum of culturally appropriate substance-use services to meet the needs of all people who use drugs," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2022.

Amy Smart, The Canadian Press

Twitch streamer and transgender activist doxxed in Northern Ireland after leaving Canada

Ahmar Khan and Amy Simon - Yesterday 

After being doxxed in her hometown of London, Ont., Clara Sorrenti, a transgender woman and streamer, said she has been doxxed again in another swatting attempt in Northern Ireland.

Clara Sorrenti, known online as Keffals, was doxxed and swatted by online trolls leading to an arrest by London Police Service at gunpoint© Keffals / Youtube

“I feel like the only reason this happens to me is because people don’t want to see me be successful in the activism that I do,” she said.

Read more:
Doxxed Twitch streamer and transgender activist leaving Canada amid ongoing harassment

After announcing last week that she would be moving to Europe to escape continuous harassment, Sorrenti, who goes by "Keffals" online, told Global News that on Tuesday evening, she was warned by a friend that someone was outside her home.

Images posted to online forums showed 28-year-old Sorrenti’s residence in Northern Ireland with a letter labelled with her incorrect name and gender, otherwise known as a “deadname” and is considered harmful.

“It is scary,” she said. “I don’t have privacy or any normalcy because there is always a risk that someone is going to stalk or swat me.”

Red flags aplenty in London police’s swatting of Twitch streamer Clara Sorenti, expert says

Swatting involves reporting a false crime in the hopes of sending a large number of armed law enforcement to a person’s address. This is commonly used as an intimidation tactic.

Read more:
Red flags aplenty in London police’s swatting of Twitch streamer Clara Sorrenti: expert

Sorrenti said that police showed up at her door telling her that they had been notified that someone in the residence was going to shoot themselves in the head. She said it happened shortly after she finished streaming online.

“Two days ago, someone had called in that someone in the flat had a firearm, but they dismissed it as a prank call,” she said.

Global News contacted Northern Ireland police who said they “do not comment on named individuals and no inference should be drawn from this.”

Sorrenti noted that she was shaken up about the most recent incident considering she had left Canada to travel to the U.K. until she could secure a safe home.

Earlier this month, Sorrenti was at the centre of a previous swatting attack after being doxxed by harassers who sent false death threats with her name and address to London city councillors, leading to her being arrested at gunpoint.

Video: Clara Sorrenti details being swatted, arrested at gunpoint

Read more:
Twitch streamer and trans woman, Clara Sorrenti allegedly doxxed again

Last week, Sorrenti told Global News that she believes the majority of the harassment she and her family have received stems from her speaking against an online forum known as Kiwi Farms, which describes itself as a “community dedicated to discussing eccentric people who voluntarily make fools of themselves.”

But despite ongoing harassment, Sorrenti said that she refuses to be scared and intimidated.

“I feel like I should be scared, but I’m not,” she said. “I don’t think they had any intent on hurting me. I think what their intention was to intimidate me, and I don’t plan on letting that happen.”

Venice: Trace Lysette Is First Trans Actress to Lead a Film at the Festival

Scott Roxborough - Yesterday 

Fans of Transparent will recognize Trace Lysette. For five seasons on Amazon’s groundbreaking gender- and genre-breaking series, she played Shea, a transgender yoga teacher who helps Jeffrey Tambor’s character — and the non-trans audience — understand trans lingo and culture.

It was also Lysette who came forward, in 2017, with claims that Tambor had sexually harassed her on the Transparent set, one of several allegations that led Tambor to exit the show after its fourth season.
More from The Hollywood Reporter

Her performance as Shea helped get Lysette the role of Tracey in Lorene Scafaria’s 2019 blockbuster Hustlers alongside Jennifer Lopez, one of the first times a trans actor had a starring turn in a major Hollywood film.

And then, nothing. Aside from the occasional guest appearance, voice work on Netflix’s short-lived LGBTQ animated series Q-Force and a supporting turn in Ty Hodges’ Venus as a Boy, Lysette’s burgeoning career appeared to come to a halt.

“Besides Hustlers, there really wasn’t much movement for me personally, in my career,” Lysette tells THR. “As a transgender actor, I don’t have the luxury of rummaging through a handful of scripts every week, saying, ‘Oh, I’d like to play this one or try to read for this one.'”


Lysette (right) with Alexandra Billings on the Amazon series ‘Transparent.’© Provided by The Hollywood Reporter

One script that had come through, in December 2016, was for Monica, a family drama from Andrea Pallaoro, the Italian director of Medeas (2013) and Hannah (2017). Lysette was up for the eponymous lead, playing a trans woman, estranged from her family, who returns home to care for her sick mother (Patricia Clarkson), whom she hasn’t seen since before her transition and who doesn’t recognize Monica as her child.

“Here was a transsexual protagonist, the movie was centered around her, seen from her lens,” Lysette recalls, “and that’s rare. It’s also rare that it’s done well. And I think they [Pallaoro and co-screenwriter Orlando Tirado] wrote a really good script, centered on family, and survival, without being too in-your-face.”

Lysette read for the role, going through several rounds of auditions. But it wasn’t until last year that the project finally secured funding, got the green light and gave Lysette her first leading role. Monica will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, making it the first movie with a trans lead to grace the Lido.

While the actor says she always tries to find a personal link to roles she plays — “I get a parallel in my own life and then sort of tai chi it into the character” — Lysette found much of the film’s story to be autobiographical.

“I don’t want to dive down the rabbit hole of my trauma, but I think Monica’s story — being rejected from your biological family when you are young and queer or, you know, assigned as male at birth — is pretty typical,” she says. “And so, spoiler alert, her having to go survive on her own was something that a lot of trans folks identify with. I think that grabbed me.”

Not that Monica is a message movie. As in Hannah, which also premiered in Venice (winning the best actress prize for Charlotte Rampling), in his latest feature, Pallaoro favors the slow burn over melodrama, the subtle over the explicit. There is no screaming confrontation between Monica and her mother, no big reveal. Instead we see Monica go through a series of struggles — learning to be a caregiver to her mother, reconnecting with her brother (Joshua Close) and playing auntie to his children, maneuvering the online hookup scene — both poignant and mundane. In the end, her victories, too, are understated and conditional.

“It would have been easy to make it more shiny, more Hollywood, but I think that the way we did it was extremely true to life,” says Lysette. “You don’t always get the black or white answer or revelation that you’re seeking. A lot of times life is just this gray area where you have to find the good and find the happiness and your contentment in that.”

The core of the film’s story — Monica’s reconnecting with the mother who once rejected her — was something Lysette said she “could definitely relate to in my life.” The actor has spoken publicly about how she was estranged from her family for a period of time when she transitioned, but how she has reconnected with her mother, who has become her “biggest cheerleader.”

For the film, it didn’t hurt that Patricia Clarkson manner “reminded me a lot of my own mother,” Lysette says. “I kind of grabbed onto that. She was so warm and welcoming and complimentary of my work, which really helped me feel even more comfortable.”

Hollywood, Lysette says, has become a bit more comfortable with trans actors since Transparent. But true equality is still a ways off, she says, as she continues to push for more, and faster, change within the film industry.

“There has been progress, there has been change, but it’s been slow, if I’m being honest,” she says. “I feel so honored to be able to play trans characters, and I think there are so many more trans stories out there that deserve to be told. But at the same time, I don’t want to have to limit myself in the same way that other leading ladies don’t have to limit themselves. It would be awesome if I could be in the Marvel Universe or play somebody’s friend or auntie in another indie film that tugs at your heartstrings…. I just hope people seeing this film, and knowing that a trans actress is leading a film at Venice, will shake things up. And when people watch this film and see that the transness is very understated, and that the role could be any leading lady, they’ll see that maybe being a trans actor doesn’t have to be this niche thing. It’s so weird that Hollywood sometimes boxes us in, and I think we just want to kind of get past that.”

Decentralized security provider Silence Laboratories raises S$2.4mil in seed funding

Business Announcement

SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN

 

IMAGE: LEFT TO RIGHT: CO-FOUNDERS PROF TONY QUEK , CTO DR ANDREI BYTES AND CEO DR JAY PRAKASH. view more 

CREDIT: SUTD

Silence Laboratories, a cybersecurity firm headquartered in Singapore, has closed a US$1.7 million (about S$2.4m) round in seed funding, led by pi Ventures. The round also included participation from imToken ventures and prominent angels like Daniel Ari Friedman, Mahin Gupta, CK Vishwakarma, Priyeshu Garg, Ashish Tiwari, and others. The start-up company plans to use this funding to further widen its product offerings towards decentralised security and enrich the technology stack, strengthen its team and scale its go-to-market operations to help enterprises adopt state-of-the art authentication and authorisation techniques.

The founders, Jay Prakash and Andrei Bytes earned their doctorate degrees at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), where the company was incubated. Silence Laboratories (SL) is on a mission to provide business friendly solutions for distributed digital signing and authentication through a unique fusion of multi-party computation (MPC) based cryptographic algorithms with threshold signature schemes (TSS), and intelligent multi-modal signal processing. SL offers a secure technology stack that provides its customers with a layered system of proofs: proof of proximity, co-location, legitimate possession, liveliness via activity, unique identity, and many others.

The security concerns are growing for digital wallets, institutional asset management agencies and online exchanges and have amounted to loss of billions of dollars. Silence Laboratories identified various common key vulnerabilities in digital wallets and exchanges, as well as flaws in management of private keys that put the financial assets at risk. They also demonstrated how some of the most used authentication solutions, Push-based Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which are provided to industries by leading Identity and Access Management providers are prone to several attack vectors and can be abused for phishing. To protect businesses from these risks, the team offers their flagship products: Silent Auth (MFA) and Silent Shard (key and access management) that have their roots in multiple patents. (See brief video blog for how Silent Auth works: https://silencelaboratories.medium.com/2fa-has-a-new-name-silent-auth-df308f8e943f)

Silence Laboratories’ vision is to enable a secure, developer-centric cryptographic infrastructure that enterprises can rely on to adopt best in class key and access management technology, reduce implementation costs and focus on their core business.

To develop Silent Shard and Silent Auth, SL has been working closely with several leading industry players, in particular in the Web3 ecosystem. The solutions are designed to support varied demands of authentication and authorisation with a very high degree of contextualisation, be it for digital asset custodians with high risks, non-custodial digital wallets, semi-custodial phone based wallets, exchanges with high expectations on usability, mobility providers, sensitive government or medical institutions or cloud service providers.

“Among others, SL’s team integrated Silent Shard with MetaMask’s Snaps which in itself is a great example of how MetaMask has opened the wallet design ecosystem. The Snap based designs will help to enhance wallet security and set benchmarks for MPC based wallets," said Jay Prakash, CEO and Co-Founder of Silence Laboratories.

“Account takeover due to single point of failure of the private keys and absence of necessary forms of MFAs is on unparallel rise and have been affecting enterprises in both Web2 and Web3 businesses. Hence, we are witnessing a growing push towards the need of distributed authentication protocols and signature schemes to address multiple recent attacks across different wallets and chains. Silence Laboratories is at the forefront of this revolution,” he added.

“Our solutions are targeted against the critical attack vectors prevalent in the industry today,” said Andrei Bytes, CTO and Co-Founder of Silence Laboratories. “In our pursuit to facilitate the smooth adoption of our technology, and promptly react to needs of the businesses, we recently joined premier global alliances such MPC Alliance and Decentralised Identity Foundation.

“Issues with private key management have led to loss of billions of dollars in 2022 alone. The holy trifecta of ironclad security, great user experience and developer-friendliness for Web3 is yet to be cracked and we believe the team at Silence Laboratories is best placed to solve this. Jay and Andrei bring complementary skill sets with PhDs in signal processing and security respectively and their early traction is testament to their innovative solution. We’ve been extremely impressed by the team at Silence Laboratories and are excited to back them in these times of constant hacks,” said Shubham Sandeep, MD pi Ventures. 

Silence Laboratories is also working on setting up its Applied Cryptography R&D centre in South Asia, with local and international collaborations in the field. The centre will attract some of the best talents globally to contribute in solving niche problems in usable security and MPC algorithms and form a backbone for upcoming businesses and products. Silence Laboratories is proudly supported by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) through its Venture, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VIE) Office and the ARISE programme throughout its commercialisation and funding.

• END     -

For media enquiries, please contact:
Deborah Quek
Office of Marketing & Communications
Singapore University of Technology & Design
M: +65 9796 4221
Email: deborahquek@sutd.edu.sg

 

About Silence Laboratories:

Silence Laboratories enable enterprises to adopt multi-party computation and multi-factor authentication through a unique fusion of cryptography and signal processing IPs. Their mission is to build a developer focused cryptographic stack, motivated to democratising non-trivial libraries, which would facilitate a plethora of new applications and business cases by other enterprises.
Learn more about their work: https://silencelaboratories.com

About pi Ventures:

pi Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund pioneering AI and deep tech investments in India. The fund backs disruptive tech ventures solving global problems thus creating 10x differentiated businesses. The VC fund portfolio includes world leading technology companies like Wysa, Pixis, Locus, Agnikul and Niramai among others.

For more information, visit http://www.piventures.in/

About the Singapore University of Technology and Design

The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is one of the first universities in the world to incorporate the art and science of design and technology into a truly holistic interdisciplinary education and research experience that culminates in real-world design innovations. SUTD seeks to advance knowledge and nurture technically-grounded leaders and innovators to serve societal needs. SUTD also topped a list of emerging engineering schools in the world in a study commissioned by MIT.

A research-intensive university, SUTD is distinguished by its unique East and West academic programmes that incorporate design thinking, human-centred innovation, entrepreneurship, coupled with local and international industry collaborations. SUTD’s key focus areas are Healthcare, Cities and Aviation, with Artificial Intelligence/Data Science and Digital Manufacturing capabilities across all of them. Multiple post-graduate opportunities are available. Skill-based professional education and training courses are also available at SUTD Academy. www.sutd.edu.sg

Additional Materials

According to IBM, the average cost of a financial services data breach is $5.85 million. In 2028, the information security market worldwide is forecast to reach $366.1 billion.

Silence Laboratories, headquartered and incorporated in Singapore, currently employs a lean engineering and business team in APAC, Europe and USA. 

How SL Started and the Team: SL comes from multiple years of research and development conducted by the core team and partners with incredible industry and academic pedigree. While CEO Jay Prakash, IIT BHU (Varanasi), India and SUTD, Singapore alumnus holds PhD in design of authentication protocols, the CTO Andrei Bytes has deep expertise in application and critical infrastructure security (area of PhD) with SUTD, Singapore. SL advisor Professor Tony Quek from SUTD, with a PhD in Computer Science from MIT, USA, is a globally renowned expert in wireless networks design and algorithms who leads the scientific strategies at SL.

Findings suggest new omicron BA.2.75 is as susceptible to antibodies as the currently dominant variant

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

In a recent study, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and others, have characterised the new omicron variant BA.2.75, comparing its ability to evade antibodies against current and previous variants. The study, published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, suggests that BA.2.75 is not more resistant to antibodies than the currently dominating BA.5, which is positive news. 

In May 2022, a new variant of omicron, BA.2.75, was detected, which is driving a wave of infections in India, and has spread internationally. In the last few weeks, BA.2.75 has also been detected in Sweden.

”Identifying how vulnerable the population is, right now, to emerging variants is crucial,” says Daniel Sheward, researcher at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, and the study's first author. “By producing a pseudovirus for BA.2.75, we were able to test its sensitivity to antibodies present in blood donors.”

Tests were carried out using 40 random blood samples taken in Stockholm, both before and after the first omicron wave.

”Our study shows that omicron BA.2.75 has approximately the same level of resistance to antibodies as the dominant variant BA.5, which is reassuring news if we were to suffer a BA.2.75 wave in Sweden”, says Ben Murrell, assistant professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, and the study's senior author.

The researchers from Karolinska Institutet, University of Cape Town, South Africa, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, Karolinska University Hospital, and Imperial College London, Great Britain, have also investigated whether antiviral monoclonal antibodies, which are used clinically to treat already infected patients, lose their effect against omicron BA.2.75, compared to BA.5. Here, too, the researchers found no alarming differences. 

Ben Murrell's lab will continue to monitor new mutations that are arising in omicron sublineages that may undermine vaccines.

The study was funded by the SciLifeLab's Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness program, the Erling Persson Foundation, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Daniel J. Sheward, Gunilla B. Karlsson Hedestam and Ben Murrell have intellectual property rights associated with antibodies that neutralise omicron variants.

Publication: "Evasion of neutralising antibodies by Omicron sublineage BA.2.75". Daniel J. Sheward, Changil Kim, Julian Fischbach, Sandra Muschiol, Roy A. Ehling, Niklas K. Björkström, Gunilla B. Karlsson Hedestam, Sai T. Reddy, Jan Albert, Thomas P. Peacock, Ben Murrell. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, online September 1 2022, doi:10.1101/2022.07.19.500716.

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Infectious Diseases

DOI

10.1101/2022.07.19.500716. 

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Sep-2022

Doctoral thesis studied factors supporting dual careers of young athletes

Reports and Proceedings

ESTONIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

 

IMAGE: THESIS AUTHOR KRISTEL KIENS view more 

CREDIT: TALLINN UNIVERSITY

Stemming from holistic ecological approach, to better understand and support student-athletes development, a variety of factors and their interactions need to be considered (including both individual and environmental factors in and outside of sports). Because of this, Kristel Kiens' doctoral thesis focused on analysing the unique dual-career environment in the Estonian context, both in terms of structure (i.e. key components and their inter-relationships) and success factors (preconditions, processes, philosophy, development and competencies of student athletes). In addition, Kiens investigated the systematic application process of sports psychology and its effectiveness both at the group level, in the form of a mental skills development programme and at the level of individual cooperation.

Based on her research, the main success factors of supporting dual career development were the environment’s philosophy focused on long-term holistic development, open communication, mutual feedback and being demanding when it comes to effort and task-focused attention. Inconsistencies between the common philosophy and the behaviours of the people working with student-athletes could hinder improvement. On the applied side of sports psychology, season-long mental skills development program based on acceptance- and mindfulness approaches had some positive effects on student-athletes holistic skillset and knowledgebase. Key aspects, which need to be considered when working with adolescents, emerged from her dissertation were: flexibility, encouragement of autonomy, playfulness, involvement, reinforcing their skills, patience and, as a practitioner, the supervision and support of colleagues.

The doctoral thesis contributed to enhancing the international knowledge base in terms of dual career development support and context-based applied sport psychology. The doctoral thesis could also be an inspiration for creating change in sports in Estonia, both in terms of the philosophy and improving various development environments, as well as systematically applying sports psychology.

Kristel Kiens defended her doctoral thesis „Applying sport psychology in Estonia: holistic ecological perspective in understanding dual career development and applying acceptance-based approaches when working with student-athletes” on 31 August in Tallinn University School of Natural Sciences and Health. Supervisors were Tallinn University professor Eve Kikas and associate professor at South Denmark University Carsten Hvid Larsen. Opponents were associate professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technol Stig Arve Saether and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Vana Hutter.

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

Disclaim

Variation matters: Genetic effects in interacting species jointly determine ecological outcomes

Utah State University geneticist Zach Gompert is lead author of NSF-funded study published in PNAS

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: ZACH GOMPERT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN USU'S DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY CENTER, IS LEAD AUTHOR OF A PAPER INVESTIGATING GENETIC EFFECTS IN INTERACTING SPECIES IN THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. view more 

CREDIT: M. MUFFOLETTO/USU

LOGAN, UTAH, USA - The greatest diversity of life is not counted in the number of species, says Utah State University evolutionary geneticist Zachariah Gompert, but in the diversity of interactions among them.

“It’s often unclear if the outcome of an interaction, such as whether a microbe can infect a host, is the same for all members of a species or depends on the genetic makeup of the specific individuals involved,” says Gompert, associate professor in USU’s Department of Biology and Ecology Center.

For example, he says, one might ponder why a particular butterfly either can or can’t feed on a particular plant.

“Is that affected by the specific genetic makeup of the butterfly or is it the specific genetic makeup of the individual plant?” Gompert asks. “Or is it affected by genetic interactions between the butterfly and plant species?”

Gompert and colleagues from University of Nevada, Rice University, University of Wyoming, University of Tennessee, Texas State University and Michigan State University address this knowledge gap through a series of experiments using a recent host-range expansion of alfalfa by the Melissa blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa). The team reports its findings in the Aug. 29, 2022 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

“We show that genetic differences among Melissa blue caterpillars and alfalfa plants account for nearly half of the variability in caterpillar growth and survival,” says Gompert, a 2019 NSF CAREER Award recipient. “Our results suggest individual variation matters, and the outcome of this plant-insect interaction is affected by many genes with mostly independent — or additive — effects. Moreover, genetic differences among alfalfa plants have consistent effects on caterpillar growth in multiple butterfly populations and species, making such effects predictable.”

Collecting extensive data over several years at field plots in Utah and Nevada, the team’s results support the hypothesis that both plant and insect genotypes matter, and about equally so for caterpillar growth and survival.

Beyond issues specific to insects and their host plants, genetic variation within species could also be important for other host-parasite interactions, Gompert says. “Including, for example, susceptibility to parasitic diseases in humans and other animals being a function of both genetic variation in hosts and among pathogen strains. But the generality of this hypothesis remains to be tested.”

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2206052119 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Additive genetic effects in interacting species jointly determine the outcome of caterpillar herbivory

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Aug-2022