Canada’s federal government should take all steps necessary to ensure he standards and values behind Canadian privacy laws are not diminished as programs to fulfill the Canada-US perimeter security action plan aredeveloped, say Canada’s privacy guardians. Recommendations made by the federal Privacy Commissioner in a June 2011 submission to government are not addressed in the […]

BC FIPA and the BCCLA have sent their comments on proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). In line with BC FIPA’s commitment with transparency, these comments were submitted in lieu of confidential participation in the consultation process. The Ministry of Labour, Citizens’ Services, and Open Government is proposing […]

Updated and corrected March 23, 2012 BCLC Appeals Three of Six FOI Orders to BC Supreme Court The BC Lottery Corporation REALLY doesn’t like to release information to Freedom of information requesters. Of all the 2,500+ public bodies covered by BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy act, it is proving to be the […]

FIPA Denounces Eight Year Battle as Waste of Time and Money The BC government is in BC Supreme Court in Victoria today carrying on its fruitless legal battle to keep FIPA from getting an uncensored copy of its $300 million Workplace Services Agreement with IBM. The battle for disclosure of the full contract is now […]

In this update: Conservatives hit hard by backlash against online spying bill – a privacy issue that has rung the bell with a majority of Canadians. Read the update (pdf).

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC has published guidelines for public bodies considering the benefits and risks of cloud computing. “Cloud computing” refers to the practice of using the Internet to process, manage and store data on remote network services, rather than on one’s own computer hard drives. As the popularity […]

In an investigation report released yesterday, Commissioner Elizabeth Denham shot down the use of facial recognition technology by ICBC for identifying Stanley Cup rioters unless they are responding to a court order. “Facial recognition has the potential to become a technology of surveillance, and we must ensure that public bodies and private organizations using it […]

The federal Conservatives’ online spying bill is back in Parliament and bad as ever … but opposition to the bill has been ferocious, and the feds may have to reconsider some of the most controversial sections. Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act is the latest version of a long string of lawful […]

Canada’s federal and provincial Information Commissioners are urging the federal government to make reform of the Access to Information Act and improved compliance part of the Open Government action plan. The recommendations are included in a joint “Letter on Open Government” sent to President of the Treasury Board Tony Clement on January 20, 2012. The […]

BC FIPA’s response to a petition by Ministry of Citizens’ Services to the BC Supreme Court in relation to a judicial review regarding FIPA’s FOI request for the Workplace Support Agreement between the Province of BC and IBM Canada. Download the response (pdf). BC FIPA opposes all orders sought by the petitioner.  The Ministry is […]

The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association is calling for penalties to be imposed on the BC government for cases where its deliberate cover-ups of embarrassing information amount to an abuse of the freedom of information process. Yesterday the Vancouver Sun reported that the BC government spent 19 months claiming that a pamphlet promoting […]

The BC Civil Liberties Association has issued a timely and comprehensive report on soon-to-be introduced “lawful access” bills to expand police surveillance powers. The federal government has announced that it will soon be introducing legislation to increase the ability of police to intercept private communications and access more personal information stored electronically. The BCCLA’s new […]