INTERNAL POLICE HACK TARGETS ABORTION WORKERS Some healthcare workers at Vancouver's Everywoman's Health Centre (a freestanding clinic providing abortion services) are likely reviewing their home security this week after reports that a confidential police computer database had been used to match their car license plate numbers with their home addresses. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have launched at least one internal investigation into the alleged misuse of the national Canadian Police Information Computer by an officer at a suburban Vancouver detachment with ties to the anti- abortion movement. The privacy compromise came to light following an access-to-information request that was placed with the provincial car insurance agency after an anti-abortion activist bragged in court that he regularly cataloged the license plates of cars parked outside the clinic. The report is even more chilling given the recent anti-abortion murders in the US and last fall's attack on a Vancouver doctor who performed abortions - Gary Romalis was shot and critically wounded at his home by a still at-large gunman.

SMILE! YOU'RE ON RADAR CAMERA! In other news of license plates and privacy, the BC provincial government is hoping to install automated roadside camera systems that will clock and photograph cars exceeding the speed limit; police will then mail a ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle, along with a souvenir photo of the leadfoot in action. Radar cameras have already proven to be a tremendous revenue generator in the Canadian province of Ontario, where the lenses are in regular operation, but the devices are raising questions here about issues of privacy and safety. One critic on the Usenet newsgroup bc.general notes that the program's emphasis is on revenue, not safety: the vehicle owner is fined, reducing the accountability of the individual actually at the wheel. "Dad, can I borrow the Beamer?"

BYTES ACROSS THE BORDERS The largest computer trade show to hit Western Canada and the US Pacific Northwest (a mythical trade region known in some circles as "Cascadia") will run at the splashy Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre on the Vancouver waterfront 17 - 19 January. Comdex/PacRim will address the tremendous boom in information technology on both sides of the border - expect big booths from Seattle-based Microsoft and Vancouver-based Electronic Arts Canada among the 150 exhibitors on the floor. On the hype list: a "Crystal Ball" plenary session of five leading theoreticians from across the Canadian computer industry. For more information call +1 (416) 283 3334.

DINO DOLLARS FOR ANIMATION GEEKS Interested in what Alias Research manager John Barry calls a "ridiculously high salary?" Check out the Vancouver Film School's multimedia program, which has allied with the animation software firm behind Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and The Mask to crank out 3-D rendering specialists who might easily pull in US$100,000 straight out of school. Toronto-based Alias Research is supplying the school with seven Silicon Graphics workstations, PowerAnimator software packages, and instructor training in an attempt to bring more specialists into the ranks at shops such as Industrial Light and Magic, where tremendous demand boosts the bargaining power of mouse pushers into near-Microsoft-scale salary ranges.

By James Glave (jglave@wimsey.com)