BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
20251129 Access and Privacy Online
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, November 29th.
This week, the national spotlight is squarely on children’s privacy and online safety. Advocates are renewing calls for federal action as harms escalate, from AI-driven manipulation to tragic failures in youth mental health information practices. And as families head into holiday shopping, experts warn that AI-powered toys may be creating new risks inside the home.
We’ll then turn to whistleblowers exposing accountability gaps inside universities and provincial systems… significant cyber findings from Alberta and Nova Scotia… and a series of access-to-information stories that show how transparency continues to reveal mismanagement across the country.
Internationally, a major court ruling against Meta could shape digital privacy across Europe. And in the United States, a sweeping investigation into predictive surveillance, AI regulation, and the pressure to release the Epstein files is raising urgent questions about civil liberties.
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
FIPA Update
- FIPA Bill C-4 Part 4 Dashboard
- Bill C-4 Part 4 line-by-line and brief
To Protect your rights, ask MPs to:
- Stop Bill C-2
- Amend Bill C-4
Children’s Privacy
- Child advocates urge government to bring back online harms legislation
- Concerns raised about AI-powered toys and creativity, development as holiday shopping peaks
- Maya, 17, got mental health records by FOI, then killed herself. Her mom wants reform
Canadian Whistleblower Segment
- Ontario to strengthen dangerous driving laws in honour of father killed this year
- Former Brandon University dean accused of ‘mathematically impossible’ grade change
- University of Winnipeg hunts for new leader after president removed
- Winnipeg Free Press – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/25/u-of-w-president-removed
Canadian Privacy Cyber Security
- CBE has done enough to combat data breach, still will take recommendations into consideration
- LRSD reviews policies as archived data accessed in PowerSchool breach
- Shootin’ the Breeze – https://shootinthebreeze.ca/
- Nova Scotia Power executive believes Russia-based actor was behind cyberattack
Canadian Access to Information
- Major N.L. healthcare report contains errors likely generated by A.I.
- Union leaders in Quebec denounce proposed labour law they say will unleash chaos
- Solutions are slow to come for water crisis plaguing Quebec’s Nunavik region
- City of Brampton redacts documents related to secretive $11M deal with private transit operator
- NHPL CEO presents draft budget to Faraday
- Bancroft this Week – https://www.bancroftthisweek.com/
- Amid rising user rates, Aurora Public Library could have to make tough decisions without inflationary boost
- Manitoba government promises ‘proactive approach’ to truancy fight
- Officer broke pursuit policy in Hay River crash, review finds
- Immigration minister extends pause on new private refugee sponsorships to 2027
International Access and Privacy
- Spanish court orders Meta to pay nearly half a billion euros in damages to media outlets
- Spain’s attorney general guilty of leak in tax fraud case against partner of political rival
US Trump
- What to know about Trump’s draft proposal to curtail state AI regulations
- Republicans hyped the Epstein files for years. Now Trump is under pressure to deliver
- What to know about the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files
- Probe says Iowa district ‘reasonably relied’ on consultant to vet superintendent arrested by ICE
- Lawmakers question legality of Border Patrol license plate reader program
- Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with ‘suspicious’ travel patterns
- Takeaways from AP report on how Border Patrol monitors US drivers for ‘suspicious’ travel
Before we go
- Supreme Court of Canada to look at request for religious records through B.C. law
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, November 29th.
This week, the national spotlight is squarely on children’s privacy and online safety. Advocates are renewing calls for federal action as harms escalate, from AI-driven manipulation to tragic failures in youth mental health information practices. And as families head into holiday shopping, experts warn that AI-powered toys may be creating new risks inside the home.
We’ll then turn to whistleblowers exposing accountability gaps inside universities and provincial systems… significant cyber findings from Alberta and Nova Scotia… and a series of access-to-information stories that show how transparency continues to reveal mismanagement across the country.
Internationally, a major court ruling against Meta could shape digital privacy across Europe. And in the United States, a sweeping investigation into predictive surveillance, AI regulation, and the pressure to release the Epstein files is raising urgent questions about civil liberties.
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
FIPA Update
- FIPA Bill C-4 Part 4 Dashboard
- Bill C-4 Part 4 line-by-line and brief
To Protect your rights, ask MPs to:
- Stop Bill C-2
- Amend Bill C-4
Children’s Privacy
- Child advocates urge government to bring back online harms legislation
- Concerns raised about AI-powered toys and creativity, development as holiday shopping peaks
- Maya, 17, got mental health records by FOI, then killed herself. Her mom wants reform
Canadian Whistleblower Segment
- Ontario to strengthen dangerous driving laws in honour of father killed this year
- Former Brandon University dean accused of ‘mathematically impossible’ grade change
- University of Winnipeg hunts for new leader after president removed
- Winnipeg Free Press – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/25/u-of-w-president-removed
Canadian Privacy Cyber Security
- CBE has done enough to combat data breach, still will take recommendations into consideration
- LRSD reviews policies as archived data accessed in PowerSchool breach
- Shootin’ the Breeze – https://shootinthebreeze.ca/
- Nova Scotia Power executive believes Russia-based actor was behind cyberattack
Canadian Access to Information
- Major N.L. healthcare report contains errors likely generated by A.I.
- Union leaders in Quebec denounce proposed labour law they say will unleash chaos
- Solutions are slow to come for water crisis plaguing Quebec’s Nunavik region
- City of Brampton redacts documents related to secretive $11M deal with private transit operator
- NHPL CEO presents draft budget to Faraday
- Bancroft this Week – https://www.bancroftthisweek.com/
- Amid rising user rates, Aurora Public Library could have to make tough decisions without inflationary boost
- Manitoba government promises ‘proactive approach’ to truancy fight
- Officer broke pursuit policy in Hay River crash, review finds
- Immigration minister extends pause on new private refugee sponsorships to 2027
International Access and Privacy
- Spanish court orders Meta to pay nearly half a billion euros in damages to media outlets
- Spain’s attorney general guilty of leak in tax fraud case against partner of political rival
US Trump
- What to know about Trump’s draft proposal to curtail state AI regulations
- Republicans hyped the Epstein files for years. Now Trump is under pressure to deliver
- What to know about the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files
- Probe says Iowa district ‘reasonably relied’ on consultant to vet superintendent arrested by ICE
- Lawmakers question legality of Border Patrol license plate reader program
- Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with ‘suspicious’ travel patterns
- Takeaways from AP report on how Border Patrol monitors US drivers for ‘suspicious’ travel
Before we go
- Supreme Court of Canada to look at request for religious records through B.C. law