BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
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Trump picks right-wing lawyer and podcaster who promoted 2020 election lies as watchdog agency head
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a federal watchdog agency is a former right-wing podcast host who has praised criminally charged influencer Andrew Tate as a “extraordinary human being” and promoted the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Paul Ingrassia would lead the Office…
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Former Mayor Justin Altmann Convicted Following $135K Election Finance Probe
● Former Mayor Justin Altmann and council candidate Keith Singer were convicted for failing to file mandatory campaign financial statements after the 2022 municipal election. ● Each was fined $10,000 plus a 25 percent victim surcharge following guilty pleas entered May 28, 2025. ● Agreed Statements of Fact emphasized the seriousness of the offence and…
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Quebec language office pressed transit agency for months before Habs playoff run
Quebec’s language watchdog contacted the Montreal transit agency at least six times in the wake of a complaint about using the word “go” on city buses to cheer on a local soccer team. The watchdog — the Office québécois de la langue française — asked for multiple updates on the agency’s efforts to remove the…
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A key US government surveillance tool should face new limits, a divided privacy oversight board says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal spy agencies should be required to get court approval before reviewing the communications of U.S. citizens collected through a secretive foreign surveillance program, a sharply divided privacy oversight board recommended on Thursday. The recommendation came in a report from a three-member Democratic majority of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board,…
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Nova Scotia to review freedom of information legislation after years of criticism
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s government is launching a review of its freedom of information legislation after years of criticism that the current system results in blacked-out government documents and a toothless review process. Justice Minister Brad Johns says an internal committee led by the department’s director of policy will look at the law, which also…
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Embattled energy company fights regulator over seizure of thousands of wells
CALGARY — An embattled Calgary energy company is fighting the provincial regulator’s decision to seize thousands of its inactive wells. AlphaBow Energy has complained to the Alberta ombudsman and the province’s information and privacy commissioner over the Alberta Energy Regulator transferring control of more than 6,000 wells, pipeline segments and other facilities to the Orphan…
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Rota debacle renews calls to examine history, including war crime records
OTTAWA — Canada could revisit calls to declassify documents about the presence of Nazi war criminals in the country, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday, as the fallout continued over Parliament’s recognition last week of a man who fought for the Nazis. “Canada has a really dark history with Nazis in Canada,” Miller said, heading…
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EU trade regulations put forest degradation in the crosshairs
Shortly after a new EU law was introduced to crack down on the import of unsustainable forest products that result in “forest degradation,” Canada went to work defining the term. Deforestation is widely understood as the razing of forests, largely tropical, to create farmland. However, forest degradation doesn’t have a universally agreed-upon definition. The EU’s…
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Ottawa rolls out voluntary code of conduct for AI as ‘fear’ persists over its use
MONTREAL — Some big players in Canada’s technology sector have signed on to a voluntary code of conduct for generative AI announced by the federal government Wednesday as anxiety persists over its proliferation and pace of development. The self-imposed safeguards will “build safety and trust as the technology spreads,” Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told a…
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To TikTok or not to TikTok? One GOP candidate joins the app even as he calls it ‘digital fentanyl’
Republican presidential hopefuls have largely shunned TikTok, the hugely popular video-sharing app that some in both parties allege is a potential spy mechanism for China. But entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy recently became the first 2024 candidate to join the platform, which says it has over 150 million U.S. users. That’s even as he’s accused Beijing of…
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Hunter Biden sues Rudy Giuliani and another lawyer over accessing and sharing of his personal data
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and another attorney Tuesday, saying the two wrongly accessed and shared his personal data after obtaining it from the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop. The lawsuit was the latest in a new strategy by Hunter Biden to strike back against Republican allies of Donald Trump,…