 Good morning! This is Hanna Lee.
We have a new Pope: Robert Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. More on that below. Then, we'll get into a service that makes it even harder to believe what you see online, and a study that found millions of Canadians' health-care data is available for sale. | | | N.J. firm made misleading websites in names of multiple Canadians and an alleged CRA scammer
| | | More than 100 people — including multiple Canadians — have had their online presence modified by a reputation management firm operated by a New Jersey man, a Fifth Estate investigation has found.
What happened: David Rosenberg, of Lakewood, N.J., operates cleanyourname.com, a service that says it can "delete online negative info fast" by creating new content. His company then pushes the negative information further down in search engine results.
What that means: Practices like these make it even harder to believe what you see online. People who've been convicted of fraud or had legal action taken against them can effectively hide the issues by flooding search results for their name with different content. For example, one person convicted of fraud and named in several U.S. civil lawsuits had his results "tweaked" to portray him as a prolific scientist. If Google Scholar is to be believed, he contributed to a PhD dissertation on the automotive industry before he turned nine. | | | | | | | | | | | POPE WATCH
| Cardinal Robert Prevost is elected Pope
| | |  | Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost of the U.S., appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on May 8. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)
| Conclave watchers finally got the news they were waiting for yesterday. Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was elected Pope by two-thirds of the 133 cardinal electors, which was the largest college in history. He chose Pope Leo XIV as his name.
What we know: Leo is the first Pope from the United States — Chicago, in fact. He is a dual U.S.-Peruvian citizen; he spent most of his career as a missionary in the South American country and only became a cardinal in 2023. He's a firm supporter of Pope Francis's papacy, especially of his commitment to social justice issues. To that end, his X account shows some criticism of the U.S. president and vice-president. This story has more about Pope Leo XIV.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Millions of Canadians' health data available for sale to pharmaceutical industry, study shows
| | |  | As the health-care system moves toward more electronic records, often managed by private companies, researchers say updated privacy laws are needed to better protect patient information. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
| A new study has found that, in some cases, private companies are accessing part of people's health-care data and selling it to pharmaceutical companies.
What's happening: The study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at how the medical industry works in Canada and how patient data flows between private entities. It found that private companies, like for-profit primary care clinics, worked together to convert records into commercial assets.
The concern: Through this practice, the pharmaceutical industry could have more influence over patient care in Canada. And while most provinces and territories have privacy laws around health records, they're often outdated, and were created in a time when records primarily existed as stacks of paper sitting in doctors' offices. Some laws also don't address what happens if data changes hands. Even if it's had personal identifiers removed, like names, that information can be re-identified through big data and AI, and laws don't offer much protection for that. | | | | | | | | | | | And how much does it hurt to call the '90s "vintage"...
| | | These high schoolers weren't even born in the '90s, but they're bringing back the hits
| | |  | Smells Like the '90s is a musical tribute taking place at Clarke Road Secondary School in London, Ont., from May 8 to 10 and includes songs by the Spice Girls. (Submitted by Clarke Road Secondary)
| The '90s are back — for the week, anyway — at one London, Ont., high school. "Smells Like the 90s" is a musical tribute by the musical theatre students at Clarke Road Secondary School.
Running until Saturday, they're taking to the stage to perform hits from groups including Nirvana, the Spice Girls and Metallica.
"It was just interesting bringing songs back and having the nostalgia of everything," said Brooklyn Taitt, a student who stayed an extra year at the school just to perform in the show.
"Even though I wasn't there in the '90s, it just feels like so much energy from everybody." | | | | | | | | | | | Today in History: May 9
| | | 1860: Writer J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, is born in Kirriemuir, Scotland.
1960: The United States becomes the first country to legalize the birth control pill.
2015: The World Health Organization declares Liberia free of Ebola transmission.
| | | (With files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters)
Thanks for reading! Have a good weekend.
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