Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 3, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba b2 Winnipeg free press thursday August 3, 2006 City internet continued from Page b 1 Ben Veenhof of statistics Canada said the study found heavy internet users spend an average of two and a half hours online in addition to computer use at work or school. But while the Survey detailed activities which heavy inter net users Cut on including face to face Contact with people it also showed they were still interacting with people albeit through their computers by email or in Chat groups. We live in a very interesting time with All the technology available Veenhof said. Depending How it is used it can effect How we interact and How much time we spend on other Gregory Homichuk said he qualifies As a heavy user of the internet but its not because he spends a lot of time on Chat rooms. A lot of people tend to use the internet for simple things but there is a vast amount of information on the internet Homichuk said while using his computer in bar italia. I spend Zero time on the inter net chatting. If anything it cuts Down on my use of paper Media. I Check the news on but statistics Canada found that even though they spend a lot of time on computers most heavy internet users do remain interested in traditional Media. The Survey found both heavy and non internet users spend about two hours watching television every Day while heavy users spend More time Reading books than non users. Moderate internet users those who spend from five min utes to an hour on the net spend More time Reading newspapers than non users. Homichuk said he sees the internet As simply a tool that people can use differently. Some people have a lot of tools in their garage and some build a Bird House while others build a Cabin it depends on what you use the tools for he said. People have to recognize the internet can do More than just talk to your friends and find out fashion Barry Wellman a sociology professor at the University of Toronto acknowledges that online social networks do occasionally displace family interaction but said such a trend is to be expected with society a increasing Reliance on technology. We re All becoming heavy internet users Over time Wellman said. We Lead somewhat different lifestyles now that include the computer.?. ? with files from Canadian press tool to protect kids from web predators by Wency Leung Vancouver ? a Scotland based company has launched a new tool in Canada aimed at protecting children from online predators by allowing them to verify the Ages and identities of online chatters. Neti me Ltd. Provides subscribers with a virtual id card they can Swap with each other when using instant messaging social networking Sites and Chat rooms. The company touts its net id As the worlds first online age and identity verification system for children. The service does to work unless both parties Are registered with neti me and it does to prevent sexual predators from making Contact with children. Rather it allows children to deter mine whether other registered users Are who they say they Are. It removes the anonymity of the internet and prevents predators from masquerading As kids to gain their Trust neti me a managing director Alex Hewitt said in a state ment. Hewitt said he developed the system because he was concerned when he discovered his daughter could Only verify the age and identity of less than one third of the people on her list of online friends. The company says the process of applying for a net id is similar to applying for a passport. Children Register on its website ? and their parents pay for the service by credit card at a Cost of $19.99 per year. The company then mails an application form which must be completed by the Parent and child and be countersigned by a professional such As a teacher or doctor. Neti me itself also runs checks using its own software. When registered users encounter strangers on Chat rooms or social networking Sites they can request to see each oth ers net ids by swapping registered neti me nicknames and logging on to the company a website. They can then View each others first name age sex and general location. Neti me also launched the service in the United kingdom Australia and the United states yesterday. Driskell continued from Page b1 when talks started in March of 1991 with the mounties who ran the witness Protection program the ramp would not agree to what Miller had promised Kovnats said. It was nothing like what or. Miller had told us. The ramp were saying its our program its our Way or the High Way Kovnats told the inquiry. When he had talked to Miller in december of 1990, Kovnats said there would be no prosecutions period end of Story Here or anywhere else Kovnats testified. Or. Miller is a Crown prosecutor he gave me his word i relied on it. If he offered it i take it he has the authority to do so Kovnats said. Kovnats said Miller had agreed to Janidean a list of conditions to go into the witness Protection program which included a new identity a move to b.c., a comparable Job in b.c., and equity for his House in Winnipeg. When Driskell a trial was starting Kovnats was still negotiating with the province for either witness Protection or a Cash relocation payment. He had agreement for compensation for Janidean a Winnipeg Home but still no written immunity for the arson charge. Police witnesses have testified that they told Janidean immediately after he testified june 11, 1991, that he would not face arson charges in Saskatchewan. Kovnats said yesterday that Janidean did not pass that on to him. Winnipeg police association lawyer Richard Wolson served the inquiry notice prior to Kovnats testimony that he objected to the witness on the basis that much of what Kovnats has to say about Janidean would be hearsay of what Janidean told Kovnats. Or. Janidean is not being called. I understand Why he a not being called ? this would turn into a sideshow Wolson said. Kovnats will be on the witness stand again this morning. Earlier yesterday retired Winnipeg police sergeant Tom Anderson a key investigator into harder a 1990 murder declared repeatedly that he made full disclosure of All information and never withheld any evidence. Wolson told Anderson that extensive testimony and Cross examination by lawyers for eight other parties have inferred that Anderson withheld information from More senior police officers the Crown and Driskell a lawyer. Wolson said there has been inference that Anderson was not truthful about his dealings with Swift current ramp const. Ross Burton and the decision not to charge Janidean and Driskell in a Swift current arson. That a just nonsense Anderson told the hearing. Anderson said that he disclosed All information to his superiors and to Miller even if he saw no reason in 1990 and 1991 to report that in his notes or in formal written reports. Anderson said that he assumed Miller would pass on that information to George Dangerfield the Crown attorney prosecuting Driskell a murder trial. It would to be my place to Tell Bruce Miller what he tells to his subordinates.?. ;