Frederick Ghahramani

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Frederick Ghahramani
Alma materSimon Fraser University
(Electronic Engineering)
Occupation(s)Founder of airG Inc.
CEO of Just10
Chairman of Braintest Ltd.
Years active2000–present
Board member ofairG Inc.
Just10
Braintest Ltd.

Frederick Ghahramani is a Canadian businessperson.[1]

Education[edit]

Frederick Ghahramani studied electronics engineering at Simon Fraser University.[2][3] In 2001, Ghahramani was awarded the BMO Bank of Montreal First Place Prize in the New Ventures B.C. Competition.[4][5] In 2005, he then received the Business Development Bank of Canada's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.[6][7]

Career[edit]

Ghahramani is the founder and Managing Director of airG Inc.,[8] a Canadian software company headquartered in Vancouver.[9] He formed the company in April 2000 with his university classmates Bryce Pasechnik and Vincent Yen.[3] Gharamani was also the founder of Just10, an advertising-free private social network where users are limited to having just 10 friends, and all content, posts, and messages are strictly private, and are permanently deleted in 10 days.[10]

Philanthropy[edit]

In 2012, Ghahramani purchased at auction the controversial[11] oil on canvas painting Emperor Haute Couture by Canadian artist Margaret Sutherland, in order to provide pro bono public viewings of it at educational institutions.[12][13][14]

In 2015, Ghahramani donated $1 million to groups fighting to repeal Canada's Anti-terrorism Act, 2015. Recipients of the donation included the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, OpenMedia.ca, and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law.[15][16][17]

In 2016, Ghahramani along with the Open Society Foundations funded a 130-page report written by Canadian privacy experts at the University of Toronto and University of Ottawa calling for the government to acknowledge and constrain the use of portable surveillance devices that indiscriminately dredge data from people's smartphones.[18][19][20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Entrepreneur donates $1 million to fight anti-terror law C-51" (XBRL). CBC Radio. October 14, 2015.
  2. ^ Aberle, Katherine (September 6, 2001). "SFU STUDENTS ADVANCE TO FINAL ROUND IN NEW VENTURES BC COMPETITION". Simon Fraser University News. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Engineers Seek Top Prize" (XBRL). Simon Fraser News. September 6, 2001.
  4. ^ Luckow, Diane (October 18, 2001). "Engineering students win $50,000". Simon Fraser University News. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  5. ^ "2001 Competition Winner" (XBRL). New Ventures BC. September 27, 2001.
  6. ^ "Frederick Ghahramani and Vincent Yen win BDC's Young Entrepreneur Award" (XBRL). BDC Bank of Canada. October 18, 2005.
  7. ^ "BDC to honour young Canadian entrepreneurs for outstanding accomplishments" (XBRL). The Globe & Mail Globeinvestor.com. October 18, 2005.
  8. ^ Thomson, Clive (August 30, 2002). "Are cellphones meant to save time -- or waste it? These days, mobiles re the new Game Boys". The Globe & Mail. Retrieved August 30, 2002.
  9. ^ Lewis, Rob (February 8, 2011). "Vancouver's airG - the world's largest mobile social network". Tech Vibes. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  10. ^ Cuthbertson, Anthony (February 1, 2016). "Just10: Privacy Advocate Launches Social Network for 'Real Friends'". Newsweek. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  11. ^ Coles, Terri (October 6, 2012). "Harper nude painting sells to B.C. buyer". CBC Canada News.
  12. ^ Quan, Douglas (December 1, 2015). "Vancouver CEO tells why he bought controversial nude painting of Stephen Harper". National Post.
  13. ^ Jake, Kivanc (November 30, 2015). "The Guy Who Bought the Stephen Harper Nude Painting is a Legend". Vice Media.
  14. ^ Coles, Terri (November 30, 2015). "Harper nude painting sells to B.C. buyer". Yahoo! News.
  15. ^ McQuigge, Michelle (October 14, 2015). "Tech founder donates $1 million of own money to overturn Bill C-51". Toronto Star.
  16. ^ Yanyu, Liang (October 14, 2015). "企業家擬捐100萬 圖推翻新反恐法". Sing Tao Daily.
  17. ^ Jaune, Marie (October 14, 2015). "Un homme d'affaires promet 1 M$ pour lutter contre C-51". TVA Nouvelles.
  18. ^ Freeze, Colin (September 13, 2016). "Government use of surveillance devices must be restricted: privacy experts". The Globe and Mail News. Archived from the original on January 21, 2020.
  19. ^ "Report Calls for Greater Transparency, Proactive Control of IMSI Catchers". Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC). Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  20. ^ "Gone Opaque? An Analysis of Hypothetical IMSI Catcher Overuse in Canada" (PDF). Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC). Retrieved September 13, 2016.