BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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20260124 Access and Privacy Online
Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, January 24th.
This week, we’re tracking a sharp escalation in surveillance and enforcement powers — from a B.C. municipality openly challenging a privacy watchdog’s authority, to U.S. immigration officers asserting the right to enter homes without a judge’s warrant.
We’re also looking at how access-to-information requests continue to expose gaps in oversight — whether that’s contaminated land in Ontario, the limits of Canada’s whistleblower protections, or the growing pressure on public transparency as AI, trade, and national security collide.
And internationally, we’ll examine how internet shutdowns and connected-car technologies are reshaping privacy and access to information far beyond Canada’s borders.
A quick reminder: Bill C-4 is moving to second reading in the Senate. It’s not too late to contact committee members or your Member of Parliament. We hope many of our listeners would agree, political parties shouldn’t be allowed to have the lowest privacy standards in the country.
Be sure to follow the links in the show notes to let them know.
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 Bill C-4
- Bill C-4 Dashboard
- Bill C-4 Backgrounder
- Send a Message to members of parliment
- Send a Message to Senators
- Bill C-4 Resources
- Donate to Help Us Reach More Canadians
Canadian Provincial Privacy and Whistleblowers
- Richmond to fight B.C. privacy watchdog’s order to remove surveillance cameras
- City of Richmond ordered to remove surveillance cameras at key intersection
- Letter to Minister Gibson Re: Investigation of City of Richmond’s Public Safety Camera System
- Public sector surveillance guidelines
- Registry gets update to include teachers under investigation
- Town lays out updated policy for bylaw enforcement
- Fire Board update on privacy breach
- Gabriola Sounder – https://soundernews.com/fire-board-update-on-privacy-breach/
- RCMP warn Pincher Creek seniors of ‘grandparent’ phone scam
- Shootin’ the Breeze – https://shootinthebreeze.ca/
Canadian Provincial Access
- Eby touts mining, energy projects on India tour, dismisses Bishnoi gang report
- Updated testing finds no PCBs in stormwater pond on former St. Catharines GM site, but it might not be a ‘risk-free facility’
- Council moves ahead on former hospital site amid pushback over pace
- Provincial platform set to improve home care delivery in Guysborough
- Guysborough Journal – https://guysboroughjournal.ca/
- Shrinking farm workforce concerns agriculture sector
Canadian National Access and Privacy
- Federal privacy commissioner looking into sexualized deepfakes on X platform
- Cyberspy agency breached law by directing actions at Canadian: watchdog report
- CSE breached law by directing actions at Canadian: report
- Experts warn Canada risks losing top researchers in ‘global war for AI talent’
- Immigrants more likely to cite human rights, diversity as ‘Canadian values’: survey
- Watchdog says funding needed to avoid the ‘collapse’ of whistle-blowing
- BlackBerry says complainant’s job loss wasn’t discriminatory or retaliatory
US – General developments
- ChatGPT’s free ride is ending: Here’s what OpenAI plans for advertising on the chatbot
- Tennessee judge grants expanded media access to state-run executions
- Tennessee man pleads guilty to repeatedly hacking Supreme Court’s filing system
- Trump administration concedes DOGE team may have misused Social Security data
- IRS head announces a shake-up on the eve of the 2026 tax season
US – Growing powers of a police state
- Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says
- DOJ vows to press charges after activists disrupt church where Minnesota ICE official is a pastor
- State lawsuit claims New Jersey town’s former mayor directed police to keep minorities out
- Press freedom advocates worry that raid on Washington Post journalist’s home will chill reporting
- Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit seeking detailed voter information from California
International privacy and access to information
- Tesla granted more time in US investigation into its self-driving tech
- Saskatchewan’s Moe, canola farmers say trade deal with China ‘very good news’
- Carney reaches ‘landmark’ tariff quota deal with China on EVs, canola
- Internet shutdown squeezes Iran’s ailing businesses already hurt by crashing currency
Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, January 24th.
This week, we’re tracking a sharp escalation in surveillance and enforcement powers — from a B.C. municipality openly challenging a privacy watchdog’s authority, to U.S. immigration officers asserting the right to enter homes without a judge’s warrant.
We’re also looking at how access-to-information requests continue to expose gaps in oversight — whether that’s contaminated land in Ontario, the limits of Canada’s whistleblower protections, or the growing pressure on public transparency as AI, trade, and national security collide.
And internationally, we’ll examine how internet shutdowns and connected-car technologies are reshaping privacy and access to information far beyond Canada’s borders.
A quick reminder: Bill C-4 is moving to second reading in the Senate. It’s not too late to contact committee members or your Member of Parliament. We hope many of our listeners would agree, political parties shouldn’t be allowed to have the lowest privacy standards in the country.
Be sure to follow the links in the show notes to let them know.
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 Bill C-4
- Bill C-4 Dashboard
- Bill C-4 Backgrounder
- Send a Message to members of parliment
- Send a Message to Senators
- Bill C-4 Resources
- Donate to Help Us Reach More Canadians
Canadian Provincial Privacy and Whistleblowers
- Richmond to fight B.C. privacy watchdog’s order to remove surveillance cameras
- City of Richmond ordered to remove surveillance cameras at key intersection
- Letter to Minister Gibson Re: Investigation of City of Richmond’s Public Safety Camera System
- Public sector surveillance guidelines
- Registry gets update to include teachers under investigation
- Town lays out updated policy for bylaw enforcement
- Fire Board update on privacy breach
- Gabriola Sounder – https://soundernews.com/fire-board-update-on-privacy-breach/
- RCMP warn Pincher Creek seniors of ‘grandparent’ phone scam
- Shootin’ the Breeze – https://shootinthebreeze.ca/
Canadian Provincial Access
- Eby touts mining, energy projects on India tour, dismisses Bishnoi gang report
- Updated testing finds no PCBs in stormwater pond on former St. Catharines GM site, but it might not be a ‘risk-free facility’
- Council moves ahead on former hospital site amid pushback over pace
- Provincial platform set to improve home care delivery in Guysborough
- Guysborough Journal – https://guysboroughjournal.ca/
- Shrinking farm workforce concerns agriculture sector
Canadian National Access and Privacy
- Federal privacy commissioner looking into sexualized deepfakes on X platform
- Cyberspy agency breached law by directing actions at Canadian: watchdog report
- CSE breached law by directing actions at Canadian: report
- Experts warn Canada risks losing top researchers in ‘global war for AI talent’
- Immigrants more likely to cite human rights, diversity as ‘Canadian values’: survey
- Watchdog says funding needed to avoid the ‘collapse’ of whistle-blowing
- BlackBerry says complainant’s job loss wasn’t discriminatory or retaliatory
US – General developments
- ChatGPT’s free ride is ending: Here’s what OpenAI plans for advertising on the chatbot
- Tennessee judge grants expanded media access to state-run executions
- Tennessee man pleads guilty to repeatedly hacking Supreme Court’s filing system
- Trump administration concedes DOGE team may have misused Social Security data
- IRS head announces a shake-up on the eve of the 2026 tax season
US – Growing powers of a police state
- Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says
- DOJ vows to press charges after activists disrupt church where Minnesota ICE official is a pastor
- State lawsuit claims New Jersey town’s former mayor directed police to keep minorities out
- Press freedom advocates worry that raid on Washington Post journalist’s home will chill reporting
- Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit seeking detailed voter information from California
International privacy and access to information
- Tesla granted more time in US investigation into its self-driving tech
- Saskatchewan’s Moe, canola farmers say trade deal with China ‘very good news’
- Carney reaches ‘landmark’ tariff quota deal with China on EVs, canola
- Internet shutdown squeezes Iran’s ailing businesses already hurt by crashing currency