Access and Privacy Online

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 18th.   We’ll start on Canada’s national front with some big examples of access providing insight into this government’s reaction to international pressures. There are troubling actions from the nation's intelligence agency as they act without regard to privacy, plus one federal minister who seems prepared to give police even great...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 11th.   It’s another big week on the privacy and access front.  We have important legislative updates—from Ottawa’s ongoing border bills to new reforms in New Brunswick and consumer protections in Quebec.  Across the provinces, the fallout continues over Ontario’s Greenbelt scandal, while privacy and surveillance make headlines fro...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 4th.   It’s another big week on the privacy and access front. Nova Scotia has introduced new legislation that its commissioner warns may actually weaken transparency. We’ll follow that with access stories from across Canada, many powered by the Local Journalism Initiative.  On the privacy side, we’ll look at cases ranging from a hi...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 27th.   We hope everyone’s had a great Right to Know Week.  It’s been a big one—with privacy commissioners at both the national and provincial levels releasing major findings and a wave of stories that give us plenty to dig into.  We’ll begin here in British Columbia, where an unprecedented audit of one of the province’s largest...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 20th.   This week we have a lot of stories from both the Canadian Press and the Local Journalism Initiative informed by access to information—including new details on Canadian military procurements, RCMP body cameras, and whistleblowers raising alarms about New Brunswick Power.  On the privacy front, in a move that seems almost u...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 13th.   We’re back after a late-summer break, and while we were away, the news didn’t stop. In today’s review, we’ll cover major Canadian access-to-information and whistleblower stories, a worrying update on the Nova Scotia Power cyberattack, and a hard-hitting Associated Press investigation into how American tech companies helpe...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, August 23rd.   We start with a flip-flop from Alberta, where public backlash has forced Premier Danielle Smith to walk back plans to stop disclosing government expense receipts.  Our access and privacy scan across the country brings us stories ranging from the everyday challenges Canadians face trying to get information about local service...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, August 16th.   We start with our privacy scan—from a major airline cyberattack exposing sensitive travel documents to new scam alerts and an urgent warning about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  Then it’s our scan of access to information stories, including commitments for greater transparency from newly declared Grand Chief of the Cree N...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, August 9th.   Even with a light news week as Canadians get back from the August Long Weekend, there are privacy and access stories of note. The federal privacy commissioner is now investigating the WestJet cybersecurity breach. Access to government documents continues to fuel headlines and provide new insights—including a broken promise fr...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, August 2nd.   We start with a scan of access to information stories across Canada that touch on many recurring issues—including a legislative review in New Brunswick that could strengthen the province’s Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.  Then, as back-to-school season begins, we look at a troubling new privacy trend: pare...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 26th.   We start with a solid reminder for Canadians crossing the U.S. border and some important changes in the Canadian privacy landscape.  There’s our regular scan of access to information and privacy stories across Canada, with an interesting group of stories from Maggie Macintosh at the Winnipeg Free Press.  Plus, we see the settl...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 19th.   In Canadian access news, records reveal the Alberta Government literally following the lists of most banned books in the United States to create their own book bans. Plus there’s evidence of shortfalls in Indigenous procurement and failures in emergency response.  In Privacy and whistleblower news, we see Irish Rappers in the...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 12th.   We’re heading into the full summer season here, and while you’re hopefully enjoying the sun where you are, we’ll start with the access to information and privacy scans across Canada. There are some troubling environmental impacts as one oil company breaks a deal and another has documented ties to a provincial government. Plus,...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 5th.   While there are national holidays in Canada and south of the border this past week, there are still lots to consider in the news.  We’ll start with a few Canadian stories intersecting privacy, including an Ontario data breach, the Government of the Northwest Territories making changes that impact privacy in missing persons case...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 28th.   We have some updates on Bill C-2 and Bill C-4 as the House of Commons rises for the summer.  We’ll have our regular scan across the country with a surprising group of stories in Alberta echoing influences from south of the border—including moves by the provincial government to ban books and access to information showing how on...

In this Commentary, we discuss Bill C-4, titled An Act respecting certain affordability measures for Canadians and another measure. That “other measure” is a series of amendments to the Canada Election Act creating serious impacts on people and their personal information. FIPA is conducting its first joint podcast with Michael Geist and The Law Bytes Podcast.  Join me, FIPA Executive Director Jaso...

Canada’s federal C-2 Strong Borders Act is a sweeping and controversial bill that is currently moving through Parliament. The bill includes ‘lawful access’ provisions, unrelated to borders, that expand state powers to access personal information held by electronic service providers. This is not the first time that lawful access powers have been proposed, and privacy advocates across Canada have ra...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 14th.   We’ve got stories from across the country shaped by access to information—from national defense funding to local integrity issues, wildfire preparedness, and controversial provincial actions.  We’ll follow that with a scan of cybersecurity incidents, data breaches, and surveillance concerns that are hitting public institutions...

We've had a busy week with lots going on, and we plan to be back with our regular show next week. We will certainly be covering Bill C-4  and its impact on Canadian Privacy and political parties. Given FIPA’S intervenor status with Liberal Party of Canada v. The Complainants, we will be watching closely and reporting on that in the coming weeks. Learn more about Bill C-4: https://fipa.bc.ca/bill-c...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 31st.   Nova Scotia is back in the privacy and cybersecurity spotlight as a sophisticated ransomware attack triggers a probe and fallout from Nova Scotia Power’s data breach.  We have our regular summaries of privacy, access to information, and whistleblower stories from Canada and across the world.  And we’ll wrap up with FIPA’s revie...

There’s trouble in Alberta's access and privacy landscape. Recent investigations found the Alberta government is not complying with freedom of information laws, with the Information and Privacy Commissioner confirming significant non-compliance in processing access requests. Additionally, a court ruled portions of Alberta's Personal Information Protection Law unconstitutional, spotlighting ongoing...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 24th.   Off the top, an American hacker pleads guilty in the PowerSchool data breach, while a controversial Trump-backed snitch line raises alarms as it can collect information on Canadians.  We also cover significant data breaches and cyber incidents affecting global companies, including a major development concerning your genetic dat...

FIPA President Mike Larsen recently delivered a lecture focusing on Surveillance & Privacy.  It’s something we thought our regular listeners would be interested in, and we’ve recorded a version for this week's commentary.   Let's take a look at 'why Privacy matters, and why it matters right now'.   Support these efforts by subscribing or donating .  Send comments to FIPAOnline@fipa.bc.ca   Acc...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 17th.   Off the top we’ll look at the latest wave of impacts on privacy and access coming from legislative changes in Alberta, with the Government at odds with the courts and independent offices.   We have a cluster of stories in BC spanning privacy and access to information, in addition to a troubling instance where the government app...

This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 10th.   With major national and international events, from the new pope to the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, grabbing the spotlight, there are still plenty of other stories to highlight.  We’ll start with stories from Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative and the continued fallout from this past winter’s school data breaches. W...