BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Biotechnology company Regeneron buying 23andMe for $256 million
Biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is buying 23andMe for $256 million, two months after the genetic testing company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In March 23andMe said that it was looking to sell “substantially all of its assets” through a court-approved reorganization plan. Its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki also resigned from the top post,…
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Eco-friendly transportation a condition of planned Ottawa Senators arena: agreement
Public transit, cycling and walking will be the “primary and preferred modes” of getting fans to and from the Ottawa Senators’ planned downtown arena, says a newly disclosed agreement on the project. Under the agreement, a group led by the NHL team would be responsible for designing, building and paying for a publicly accessible cycling…
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The future of history: Trump could leave less documentation behind than any previous US president
WASHINGTON (AP) — For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected, from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity. Now, the Trump administration is scrubbing thousands of government websites of history, legal records and data it…
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A raid on a Kansas newspaper likely broke the law, experts say. But which one?
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas police chief was not only on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid of a weekly newspaper, experts said, but it may have been a criminal violation of civil rights, a former federal prosecutor added, saying: “I’d probably have the FBI starting to look.” Some legal experts…
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Flip flop on public private partnerships all about timing, government says
The Manitoba government’s main reason to make a U-turn and build classrooms via public-private partnerships — a controversial model the Tories rejected in 2018 — is to fulfil a new promise to open 22 public schools by 2027. Internal documents obtained by the Free Press show government staffers have been in talks about using a…
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Gun control unlikely in GOP led special session following Tennessee school shooting
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s GOP-dominant Legislature will return to the state Capitol on Monday months after a deadly school shooting, equipped with a long list of proposals about mental health, school resources, tougher penalties for violent criminals and more. Almost certainly missing from the special legislative session will be any serious consideration of tightening…
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Top secret briefing on foreign interference left out key documents: Green leader
OTTAWA — Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said a top-secret briefing on foreign interference this week did not allow her to access key intelligence documents. Former special rapporteur David Johnston had released an initial report on alleged meddling in Canadian elections in May, along with a confidential annex of evidence that he said opposition party…
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Northwest Territories under threat by wildfires — and lack of local news
Residents of the Northwest Territories are feeling the effect of the news vacuum on Facebook as they flee communities that are under threat by wildfires. But industry observers say the regional media landscape was barren long before Meta — Facebook’s parent company — pulled news content from its platforms in Canada, and that the current…
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Authorities investigating threats to grand jurors who indicted Trump in Georgia
Authorities in Georgia said Thursday they’re investigating threats targeting members of the grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat’s office said investigators are working to trace the origin of the threats after the names of grand jury members and other personal information were posted…
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Kansas prosecutor says police should return computers and cellphones seized in raid on newspaper
MARION, Kansas (AP) — A police raid that drew national attention to a small Kansas newspaper over threats to press freedoms wasn’t supported by evidence, a prosecutor said Wednesday, as the paper’s staff scrambled to print its first weekly edition since their cellphones and computers were seized. Forced to rewrite stories and reproduce ads from…
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The Canadian government’s poor track record on public consultations undermines its ability to regulate new technologies
This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Over the last five years, Canada’s federal government has announced a litany of much-needed plans to regulate big tech, on issues ranging from social media harms,…