The BC Government plans to roll out its new “e-Health” system of integrated electronic healthcare records as early as June 2009. The system is being launched without the basic privacy protections that were promised by government and poses a serious threat to every British Columbian’s constitutional right to privacy. Because the government has failed to […]

BC FIPA presented its submissions to the House of Commons Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) regarding Information Commissioner Robert Marleau’s 12 reform proposals. FIPA’s view [is] that we now have in this country a consensus that Commissioner Reid’s draft bill, with the addition of full Order making power for the Information […]

The B.C. government is getting ready to contract out its computer nerve-centre to a U.S. company, says B.C.’s biggest public-sector union. EDS Advanced Solutions, a B.C. subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard-EDS, is negotiating with the province to operate the mainframe computer servers at the government’s Victoria facility. The plan concerns FIPA because the USA Patriot Act enables […]

Vancouver – A non-partisan coalition, including FIPA, the BC Civil Liberties Association, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has come together to warn British Columbians that it is not just big spenders who are at risk under the new BC Election Act. The Election Act’s third party advertising restrictions have opened a nightmare of arbitrary enforcement, […]

A ruling handed down on January 13 by the Ontario Court of Appeal is “a landmark decision that upholds the principles of openness and transparency as applied to electronic records,” said Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. The Court allowed appeals by the Commissioner and a Toronto Star reporter from a Divisional Court ruling […]

The suspension of Parliament in the ongoing political crisis is not likely to interfere with a much-needed anti-spam bill tabled earlier this year. Bill S-202, the Anti-Spam Act, which received its second reading in early December before Parliament was prorogued, would crack down on spam by prohibiting the sending of commercial emails to Canadians without […]

Weekly privacy news briefs from around the world Privacy News Highlights – 7 Jan 2008 Privacy News Highlights – 21 Jan 2008 Privacy News Highlights – 31 Jan 2008 Privacy News Highlights – 14 Feb 2008 Privacy News Highlights – 28 Feb 2008 Privacy News Highlights – 20 Mar 2008 Privacy News Highlights – 31 […]

B.C., ONTARIO PRIVACY COMMISSIONERS ISSUE GUIDELINES AFTER SUICIDES OF TWO STUDENTS The reluctance of two universities to disclose information that might have saved two lives has prompted the B.C. and Ontario privacy commissioners to issue guidelines clarifying when schools may release personal information without violating the law. “Life trumps privacy,” was the message Thursday from […]

In an effort to protect and advance the human rights of freedom of expression and privacy, a diverse coalition of leading information and communications companies, major human rights organizations, academics, investors and technology leaders today launched the Global Network Initiative. From the Americas to Europe to the Middle East to Africa and Asia, companies in […]

Here is the Fall Update for our members. In this Issue: FIPA joins with newspaper and taxpayer groups to challenge federal Conservatives on failure to fulfil Access to Information promises Campaign for Open Government pauses to prepare for 2009 push Electronic health records in BC no cause to rejoice! All-party review of BC’s Personal Information […]

FIPA and the office of BC’s Information Commissioner are bringing the world’s leading commentator on freedom of information issues to Vancouver during Right to Know Week. Right to Know Week starts on Sunday, September 28, 2008 and runs until October 3, 2008. During the week, events are held to focus public attention on the vital […]

The Information and Privacy Commissioner, David Loukidelis, has filed his decision regarding the impact of third party requests for review in the ongoing IBM contract disclosure dispute. BC FIPA was the original applicant in the FOI request. “The Ministry and the third party, IBM, argued that IBM’s request for review of the Ministry’s decision to […]