BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
20250802 Access and Privacy Online
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: parents being targeted by AI-driven scams.
From there, we head south of the border for our regular check-in on the erosion of access and privacy rights in the United States. This week’s roundup includes presidential directives shaping artificial intelligence and disturbing political influences on search results.
And finally, we wrap with international headlines, including the legacy of Hulk Hogan’s privacy lawsuit—and how one dating app’s security flaws put its users at risk. Plus two troubling stories that provide evidence of the US republican party putting their thumb on scale of artificial intelligence and a potential example of big tech attempting to export US laws into Canada.
Also available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, ListenNotes, Podchaser, Boomplay.
Writing: Shaun Fisk | Production: Patrick Farnsworth | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder
Send comments to: FIPAOnline @ fipa.bc.ca
You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.
Full Show Links
Canadian Access to Information
- Advocate hopes review of N.B. right-to-information law strengthens weak legislation
- FIPA Leading Language 2024
- Auditor general to study hiring, promotion of public servants with disabilities
- Manitoba government poll suggests concerns over health care, crime and immigration
- ‘System in crisis’: Edmonton EMS overtime up 81 per cent since 2021
- Alberta spent $30M on unpaid land rent for delinquent oil and gas companies in 2024
- https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/alberta-spent-30m-on-unpaid-land-rent-for-delinquent-oil-and-gas-companies-in-2024/
- The Narwhal – https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-oil-and-gas-unpaid-rent-2024/#:~:text=Alberta%20spent%20%2430M%20on,and%20gas%20companies%20in%202024&text=Oil%20and%20gas%20companies%20are%20supposed%20to%20compensate%20landowners%20for,the%20money%20is%20rarely%20recouped.
- Bexte advocates for ‘principled and practical’ trade deals
- In Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, legal challenge fails to stop contentious floatel — but affirms women’s rights
Canadian Privacy Stories
- Scams getting more sophisticated due to AI, and Calgary parents are being targeted
- 30 measles cases in ‘low-vaccine’ communities in northern Nova Scotia
- Prince Albert Sexual Assault Centre troubled by intimate partner violence stats reported by Saskatchewan RCMP
United States: Erosion of Access and Privacy
- Why isn’t he paying?’ Trump’s golf visit to cost Scottish taxpayers
- Trump’s onetime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is well-known – and also documented in records
- The House is looking into the Epstein investigation. Here’s what could happen next
- Senate confirms Trump lawyer Emil Bove for appeals court, pushing past whistleblower claims
- Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system with Big Tech’s help
- US wants back millions in COVID relief from local governments over missing reports
Global Privacy and Information Stories
- Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit had a lasting effect on cases involving celebrity privacy
- Los Angeles County seeks ordinance preventing law enforcement from concealing their identities
- Tea app takes messaging system offline after second security issue reported
- The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
- Cyberattack on Russian airline Aeroflot causes the cancellation of more than 100 flights
- Allianz Life confirms data breach affecting majority of 1.4M US customers
Chilling AI and Legal Impacts
- Trump’s order to block ‘woke’ AI in government encourages tech giants to censor their chatbots
- Google Canada claims pregnancy is not a protected ground under Ontario’s human rights code in defence of lawsuit
To Protect your rights, ask MPs to:
- Stop Bill C-2
- Amend Bill C-4
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: parents being targeted by AI-driven scams.
From there, we head south of the border for our regular check-in on the erosion of access and privacy rights in the United States. This week’s roundup includes presidential directives shaping artificial intelligence and disturbing political influences on search results.
And finally, we wrap with international headlines, including the legacy of Hulk Hogan’s privacy lawsuit—and how one dating app’s security flaws put its users at risk. Plus two troubling stories that provide evidence of the US republican party putting their thumb on scale of artificial intelligence and a potential example of big tech attempting to export US laws into Canada.
Also available through: PodBean, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, ListenNotes, Podchaser, Boomplay.
Writing: Shaun Fisk | Production: Patrick Farnsworth | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder
Send comments to: FIPAOnline @ fipa.bc.ca
You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.
Full Show Links
Canadian Access to Information
- Advocate hopes review of N.B. right-to-information law strengthens weak legislation
- FIPA Leading Language 2024
- Auditor general to study hiring, promotion of public servants with disabilities
- Manitoba government poll suggests concerns over health care, crime and immigration
- ‘System in crisis’: Edmonton EMS overtime up 81 per cent since 2021
- Alberta spent $30M on unpaid land rent for delinquent oil and gas companies in 2024
- https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/alberta-spent-30m-on-unpaid-land-rent-for-delinquent-oil-and-gas-companies-in-2024/
- The Narwhal – https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-oil-and-gas-unpaid-rent-2024/#:~:text=Alberta%20spent%20%2430M%20on,and%20gas%20companies%20in%202024&text=Oil%20and%20gas%20companies%20are%20supposed%20to%20compensate%20landowners%20for,the%20money%20is%20rarely%20recouped.
- Bexte advocates for ‘principled and practical’ trade deals
- In Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, legal challenge fails to stop contentious floatel — but affirms women’s rights
Canadian Privacy Stories
- Scams getting more sophisticated due to AI, and Calgary parents are being targeted
- 30 measles cases in ‘low-vaccine’ communities in northern Nova Scotia
- Prince Albert Sexual Assault Centre troubled by intimate partner violence stats reported by Saskatchewan RCMP
United States: Erosion of Access and Privacy
- Why isn’t he paying?’ Trump’s golf visit to cost Scottish taxpayers
- Trump’s onetime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is well-known – and also documented in records
- The House is looking into the Epstein investigation. Here’s what could happen next
- Senate confirms Trump lawyer Emil Bove for appeals court, pushing past whistleblower claims
- Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system with Big Tech’s help
- US wants back millions in COVID relief from local governments over missing reports
Global Privacy and Information Stories
- Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit had a lasting effect on cases involving celebrity privacy
- Los Angeles County seeks ordinance preventing law enforcement from concealing their identities
- Tea app takes messaging system offline after second security issue reported
- The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
- Cyberattack on Russian airline Aeroflot causes the cancellation of more than 100 flights
- Allianz Life confirms data breach affecting majority of 1.4M US customers
Chilling AI and Legal Impacts
- Trump’s order to block ‘woke’ AI in government encourages tech giants to censor their chatbots
- Google Canada claims pregnancy is not a protected ground under Ontario’s human rights code in defence of lawsuit
To Protect your rights, ask MPs to:
- Stop Bill C-2
- Amend Bill C-4