BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
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The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
Tea, a provocative dating app designed to let women anonymously ask or warn each other about men they’d encountered, rocketed to the top spot on the U.S. Apple App Store this week. On Friday, the company behind the app confirmed it had been hacked: Thousands of images, including selfies, were leaked online. “We have engaged…
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Allianz Life confirms data breach affecting majority of 1.4M US customers
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hackers gained access to personal data on the majority of the 1.4 million customers of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, the company confirmed Saturday. Minneapolis-based Allianz Life, a subsidiary of Munich, Germany-based Allianz SE, said the data breach happened on July 16 when a “malicious threat actor” gained access to…
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FOI Michigan led on safe water after Flint, but mobile home parks are stubborn rough spot
After the Flint water crisis, Michigan became a national leader on safe drinking water, requiring the removal of lead pipes and the reduction of harmful “forever chemicals” years before the federal government acted. But the state has a blind spot when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of people who live in its mobile…
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Ontario police say 14 charged after 126 people lose money in ‘grandparent scam’
Fourteen alleged members of an organized gang are facing dozens of charges after 126 people from across Canada lost nearly $1 million in total in a so-called “grandparent scam,” Ontario Provincial Police announced Thursday, saying the fraud caused more than just financial distress. OPP Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns said several scam victims – many of…
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First major attempts to regulate AI face headwinds from all sides
DENVER (AP) — Artificial intelligence is helping decide which Americans get the job interview, the apartment, even medical care, but the first major proposals to reign in bias in AI decision making are facing headwinds from every direction. Lawmakers working on these bills, in states including Colorado, Connecticut and Texas, came together Thursday to argue…
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‘Is democracy dying in Caledon?’: Residents outraged as Mayor Annette Groves rushes through questionable development, cuts them out of the process
Residents in the Town of Caledon are frustrated and fearful after recent council decisions have ignored their concerns, shut them out of critical public processes and left them wondering who exactly is planning the future of the town and its vast landscape of farmland and sensitive greenspace. Over the last month residents have watched as…
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Boeing put under Senate scrutiny during back-to-back hearings on aircraft maker’s safety culture
An engineer at Boeing said Wednesday that the aircraft company, in rushing to produce as many planes as possible, is taking manufacturing shortcuts that could lead to jetliners breaking apart. “They are putting out defective airplanes,” the engineer, Sam Salehpour, told members of a Senate subcommittee. Salehpour was testifying about Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, hundreds of…
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Websites deceive users by deliberately hiding the extent of data collection and sharing
Websites sometimes hide how widely they share our personal information, and can go to great lengths to pull the wool over our eyes. This deception is intended to prevent full disclosure to consumers, thus preventing informed choice and affecting privacy rights. Governments are responding to consumer concerns about privacy with legislation. These include the European…
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Federal government used AI in hundreds of initiatives, new research database shows
Canada’s federal government has used artificial intelligence in nearly 300 projects and initiatives, new research has found — including to help predict the outcome of tax cases, sort temporary visa applications and promote diversity in hiring. Joanna Redden, an associate professor at Western University, pieced together the database using news reports, documents tabled in Parliament…
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Whistleblowers outline allegations of nepotism and retaliation within Albuquerque’s police academy
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Several members of the Albuquerque police academy’s training staff who were dismissed from their duties last summer filed a lawsuit Wednesday outlining allegations of nepotism and retaliation by leadership within the force. The whistleblower complaint centers on a requirement that male cadets shave their heads with a razor daily. One cadet…
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Uber is helping investigators look into account that sent driver to Ohio home where she was killed
Uber is helping investigators look into an account that sent a driver to the Ohio home where an 81-year-old man allegedly shot the woman to death because he erroneously believed she was part of a scam that targeted him, the ride-hailing company said Wednesday. The March 25 shooting death of Loletha Hall is “a horrific…