BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
20260131 Access and Privacy Online
Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, January 31st.
This week, artificial intelligence is colliding with privacy, democracy, and public trust — from Google’s move to fold personal data directly into AI-powered search, to renewed federal plans for an online harms bill that could reshape how Canadians — especially children — experience the internet.
We’re also tracking how access-to-information requests continue to reveal gaps in accountability, from policing and municipal spending to environmental protection, while privacy failures — inside police forces, public utilities, and care homes — raise urgent questions about oversight and transparency.
And in the United States, we’ll look at platform power, data breaches, voter privacy, and what happens when democratic processes slip out of public view.
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
AI in Canada and Abroad
- Google offers users option to plug AI mode into their photos, email for more personalized answers
- Government plans to bring forward online harms bill, AI minister says
- Will the online harms bill ban kids from social media? Maybe.
- The People’s Consultation on AI
- “Civil Society Launches People’s Consultation on AI Today Government Regulation of AI Needed”
- How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy
- Meme or Misinformation?
Updates from the Network
- Openness advocates unimpressed by early proposals for Access to Information reform
- ICLMG renews commitment to fight Islamophobia on National Day of Remembrance and Action against Islamophobia
- ICLMG Senators: Oppose Bill C-12 and protect rights!
Canadian Access
- RCMP approve 32 awards for officers, staff involved in Nova Scotia mass shooting case
- PCs invite public input ahead of Budget 2026
- Brampton residents in the dark about taxpayer-funded trip to Taiwan: airfare for one councillor cost $5,600
- Chaos erupts as Springwater councillors disagree on legal invoices
- YRP Urges Stouffville to Consider CCTV Cameras for Crime Deterrence
- Tens of thousands of Canadian marine animals killed or maimed by ‘ghost gear’
- Canada’s National Observer – https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/16/news/marine-animal-injuries-abandoned-gear-federal-data
- Canada is claiming credit for tackling ghost gear, despite scuttling funding
- Canada’s National Observer – https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/22/news/canada-ghost-gear-recovery-funding
Canadian Privacy
- Dark day’: Former cop gets 7 years for selling drugs, photographing dead woman
- Customers react negatively to N.S. utility asking customers to conserve energy
- Massive Edmonton care home battling mice infestation, droppings
- Portage la Prairie school touts effectiveness of anonymous tipline
US Access and Privacy
- TikTok finalizes a deal to form a new American entity
- FTC says it will appeal Meta antitrust decision
- Under Armour looking into data breach affecting customers’ email addresses
- Network shutdown leaves Wisconsin lawmakers meeting outside of public view
- Federal judge dismisses Justice Department lawsuit seeking Oregon’s voter rolls
- Chinese asylum seeker who exposed rights abuses fights to stay in the US
Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, January 31st.
This week, artificial intelligence is colliding with privacy, democracy, and public trust — from Google’s move to fold personal data directly into AI-powered search, to renewed federal plans for an online harms bill that could reshape how Canadians — especially children — experience the internet.
We’re also tracking how access-to-information requests continue to reveal gaps in accountability, from policing and municipal spending to environmental protection, while privacy failures — inside police forces, public utilities, and care homes — raise urgent questions about oversight and transparency.
And in the United States, we’ll look at platform power, data breaches, voter privacy, and what happens when democratic processes slip out of public view.
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
AI in Canada and Abroad
- Google offers users option to plug AI mode into their photos, email for more personalized answers
- Government plans to bring forward online harms bill, AI minister says
- Will the online harms bill ban kids from social media? Maybe.
- The People’s Consultation on AI
- “Civil Society Launches People’s Consultation on AI Today Government Regulation of AI Needed”
- How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy
- Meme or Misinformation?
Updates from the Network
- Openness advocates unimpressed by early proposals for Access to Information reform
- ICLMG renews commitment to fight Islamophobia on National Day of Remembrance and Action against Islamophobia
- ICLMG Senators: Oppose Bill C-12 and protect rights!
Canadian Access
- RCMP approve 32 awards for officers, staff involved in Nova Scotia mass shooting case
- PCs invite public input ahead of Budget 2026
- Brampton residents in the dark about taxpayer-funded trip to Taiwan: airfare for one councillor cost $5,600
- Chaos erupts as Springwater councillors disagree on legal invoices
- YRP Urges Stouffville to Consider CCTV Cameras for Crime Deterrence
- Tens of thousands of Canadian marine animals killed or maimed by ‘ghost gear’
- Canada’s National Observer – https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/16/news/marine-animal-injuries-abandoned-gear-federal-data
- Canada is claiming credit for tackling ghost gear, despite scuttling funding
- Canada’s National Observer – https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/22/news/canada-ghost-gear-recovery-funding
Canadian Privacy
- Dark day’: Former cop gets 7 years for selling drugs, photographing dead woman
- Customers react negatively to N.S. utility asking customers to conserve energy
- Massive Edmonton care home battling mice infestation, droppings
- Portage la Prairie school touts effectiveness of anonymous tipline
US Access and Privacy
- TikTok finalizes a deal to form a new American entity
- FTC says it will appeal Meta antitrust decision
- Under Armour looking into data breach affecting customers’ email addresses
- Network shutdown leaves Wisconsin lawmakers meeting outside of public view
- Federal judge dismisses Justice Department lawsuit seeking Oregon’s voter rolls
- Chinese asylum seeker who exposed rights abuses fights to stay in the US