BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
-
Meta CEO Zuckerberg considered spinning off Instagram in 2018 over antitrust worries, email says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once considered separating Instagram from its parent company due to worries about antitrust litigation, according to an email shown Tuesday on the second day of an antitrust trial alleging Meta illegally monopolized the social media market. In the 2018 email, Zuckerberg wrote that he was beginning to wonder…
-
China pursuing 3 alleged US operatives over cyberattacks during Asian Games
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China said Tuesday it is pursuing three alleged U.S. operatives accused of carrying out cyberattacks on Chinese infrastructure during the Asian Games held in the city of Harbin in February. A notice from the Harbin police headquarters named them as Katheryn A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling, and Stephen W. Johnson and…
-
A man slipped into a VIP convoy and hugged the German chancellor in 2023. Now he has to pay a fine
BERLIN (AP) — A German court has fined a man for slipping into a VIP convoy for Chancellor Olaf Scholz in 2023 and giving him a hug as he prepared to board a plane at Frankfurt Airport, according to German news agency dpa. The court gave the 50-year-old man a 4,500-euro ($5,093) fine and a…
-
First Nations say Alberta’s oilsands mine security reform unlikely to fix problems
EDMONTON — Alberta is preparing to change how it ensures oilsands companies are able to pay for the mammoth job of cleaning up their operations, but critics fear a year of consultations hasn’t been enough to avoid repeating past mistakes. “There’s no signal to me from this government that they are going to hold industry…
-
Home Depot gave personal data to Meta without valid customer consent: watchdog
OTTAWA — Retailer Home Depot shared details from electronic receipts with Meta, which owns the social media platform Facebook, without the knowledge or consent of customers, the federal privacy watchdog has found. In a report released Thursday, privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne said the data included encoded email addresses and in-store purchase information. The commissioner’s investigation…
-
Impersonators posing as homeowners linked to 32 fraud cases in Ontario and B.C.
Mortgage and title fraudsters who impersonate homeowners and tenants have targeted at least 32 properties in Ontario and British Columbia, investigators and official warnings suggest. Insurance investigator Brian King, president and CEO of King International Advisory Group, said his firm had received 30 such claims in Ontario. They include six instances of “total title fraud”…
-
Feds say ‘no willing partners’ to bring fire codes onto First Nations — including AFN
OTTAWA — The federal government does not have a willing partner to find a way to introduce fire codes on First Nation reserves, a newly released document shows. The senior director for the Indigenous Fire Marshal Service, however, says there are steps Ottawa can take now to better protect communities. “Doing nothing is not an…
-
South Dakota’s Noem says cell phone number hacked
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday that her personal cell phone number has been hacked and blamed it on the release of her Social Security number amid hundreds of documents that the House Jan. 6 committee released last year. The Republican governor, who is weighing a 2024 White House bid,…
-
Washington county mistakenly releases 460,000 partial SSNs
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A county in Washington inadvertently released nearly half a million partial Social Security Numbers when responding to a routine public records request in December, according to county officials. The Pierce County Auditor’s Office, which mistakenly released the sensitive data, said in a news release that the human error was quickly spotted…
-
J&J subsidiary to pay $9.75M to resolve kickback allegations
BOSTON (AP) — A subsidiary of health care company Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle allegations that it violated federal and state law by providing free products to a surgeon to induce him to use its products in procedures, prosecutors said Friday. Under the settlement with DePuy Synthes, the…