Access and Privacy Online

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, November 7th.  This week: surveillance powers, environmental records, and the Crime Stoppers breach. Plus, military data gathering, American transparency battles, and AI’s growing influence on access to information.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20261107-access-and-privacy-online  Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 31.  This week: the Crime Stoppers breach, Canada’s digital regulator, and student aid under scrutiny. Then, AI safety, American transparency battles, and the global scam industry.  With municipal and provincial elections across the country, the dust is still settling around newly elected leadership.  In the days and weeks ahead, F...

We’re taking the week off, but here at FIPA we just wanted to let you all know we will be back next week for more access and privacy stories, as well as an analysis of the BC municipal election. So, look out for that. We look forward to digging in and sharing our insights on this election and getting back to reporting on these important stories. Support these efforts by subscribing or donating . ...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 17.  This week: election privacy, public records, and a university data breach. We’ll examine AI oversight, American accountability gaps, and international disputes over information and personal safety.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20261017-access-and-privacy-online Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episo...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 10.  This week: voter privacy, a stalled citizenship guide, student-aid spending, workplace AI, a U.S. court-system breach, and Norway’s proposed smart-glasses restrictions.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20261010-access-and-privacy-online Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-41   Voterprivacy.ca : www...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 3rd.  This week: campaign apps test voter privacy, a health chatbot connects care and commerce, AI agents breach digital boundaries, and public records expose hidden detention practices.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20261003-access-and-privacy-online   Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-40   Voterp...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 19th.  This week: banking without answers, access rights upheld, privacy lessons in classrooms, data-centre secrecy, America’s ballot battles, and new safeguards for students using AI.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260919-access-and-privacy-online   Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-38   Voterp...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 12th.  Today: B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner announces consultation and a new approach to access delays; migrants defending their right to protest; courts confronting secrecy; expanding police surveillance; and U.S. whistleblowers warning about dangerous shortcuts.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/202...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 5th.  This week: Ontario’s student-aid warning signs, a court fight over the right to be forgotten, a whistleblower warning that a rushed U.S. Postal Service system could put mail ballots at risk, and Meta’s new rules for young users. Let’s dive in.  Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260905-access-and-privacy-online   Individua...

Canada’s Privacy Act was created for a very different technological era. Today, federal institutions can link datasets, automate decisions and use artificial intelligence to make inferences about people. What should the law require before government collects, shares or reuses personal information?  In this Access and Privacy Online commentary, host Patrick Farnsworth speaks with FIPA Executive Dir...

Canada’s Access to Information Act gives people a legal right to request federal government records. But delays, unclear duties, inconsistent service and gaps created by outsourcing can make that right difficult to use in practice.  In this special commentary, host Patrick Farnsworth speaks with Pascale Grenier, a UVic Law Co-op Legal Researcher who contributed to FIPA’s submission, and FIPA Execu...

How do we know whether a freedom-of-information system is actually working? Counting closed files and measuring response times tells only part of the story.  In this Access and Privacy Commentary, host Patrick Farnsworth speaks with FIPA researcher Spencer Izen, author of Drawing Access Together, alongside FIPA Executive Director Jason Woywada and President Mike Larsen.  The report draws on approx...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, August 1st.  This week: Alberta’s referendum costs and voter-file concerns; access records exposing hidden delays and historic mistreatment; municipal AI safeguards; and, internationally, the growing struggle over surveillance, public records, and platform control.  Show Notes:  https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260801-access-and-privacy-online Indi...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 25th.  We are into the news doldrums of summer right now; that said, there are still stories hitting our radar. This week: bridge records, surveillance pricing, paid priority access to Truth Social, and Vatican secrecy all hit the FIPA radar.  Show Notes:  https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260725-access-and-privacy-online   Individual Stories: ...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 18th.  This week: FIPA calls for stronger federal privacy law; provinces narrow access to records; AI expansion tests energy, consent, and political accountability; and U.S. investigations raise new concerns for public records and press freedom.  Show Notes:  https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260718-access-and-privacy-online   Individual Storie...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 11th.  We’re back after a brief holiday break. This week: a lawsuit over the exposure of nearly three million Alberta voters, unanswered questions about overdoses inside B.C. hospitals, expanding surveillance in the United States, and a serious threat to Germany’s freedom of information law.  Show Notes:  https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/2026071...

The team here at Access and Privacy Online is taking the next week off for the holiday. We’ll be back July 11th with more coverage. We’ll also be putting together some commentaries over the summer on the developing access and privacy stories we have been covering here on the podcast. Take care, and we’ll see you then. Support these efforts by subscribing or donating .  Send comments to FIPAOnline@...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 20th.  This week: transparency systems under scrutiny in B.C., new federal privacy and online safety proposals, whistleblower concerns from Montreal police, and major U.S. stories on public records, voter data, and law enforcement accountability.  And as another reminder: House of Commons petition E-7237, calling for stronger voter pr...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 20th.  This week: Ottawa moves on privacy, online safety, and surveillance powers; FIPA releases new work on access rights and transparency systems; and New Brunswick’s review of its access and privacy law points to familiar questions about timeliness, recordkeeping, voter privacy, and independent oversight.  Show Notes:  https://fipa...

Join us for FIPA's Annual General Meeting held on June 25, 2026, at 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time via Microsoft Teams.   FIPA’s 2026 AGM is an ideal opportunity to hear highlights of the Association’s work over the past year and our key priorities going forward. We will conduct regular AGM business and elect Board members.   We look forward to seeing you there!  AGM Notice  https://fipa.bc.ca/2026-...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 13th.  This week, voter privacy returns to the spotlight—with a major Senate report and fresh court developments in British Columbia.  We’re also tracking Canada’s new AI strategy, proposed online safety rules for children and chatbots, access-to-information fights in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and international concerns over AI-generat...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 6th.  This week, we begin in Alberta, where new FIPA-Ipsos polling shows strong public support for enforceable privacy rules after the exposure of voter information for 2.9 million Albertans.  We’ll also look at Alberta’s new combined ID cards, the federal lawful access bill, connected vehicle data, and several access-to-information s...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 30th.  This week, we begin in Ottawa, where a number of major files moved forward.  The federal government says it will amend parts of its contentious lawful access bill, while civil liberties groups continue warning that Bill C-22 could expand state surveillance without the safeguards Canadians need.  At the same time, senators are st...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 23rd.  This week, privacy and transparency are colliding with some of the biggest political and public policy questions in the country.  We begin with a network update on Bill C-22, the federal lawful access bill that civil liberties groups are warning could expand surveillance powers and weaken online privacy protections.  Then we tur...

In last week’s News Summary for May 16th, we at FIPA spotlighted the fallout from a cyberattack on the online learning platform Canvas, the inherent risk of education systems relying on outside platforms for essential functions, and that when one is compromised, the impact can spread across thousands of schools almost instantly. We really wanted to highlight that story, and so we’re presenting it...