BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
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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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Decorated Australian veteran loses his defamation appeal over killings in Afghanistan
Australia’s most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, on Friday lost his appeal of a civil court ruling that blamed him for unlawfully killing four unarmed Afghans. Meanwhile a veterans’ advocate called on prosecutors to speed up their investigations of war crime allegations in Afghanistan that have left innocent soldiers under a cloud of suspicion.…
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Atikokan Native Friendship Centre under scrutiny
ATIKOKAN – The local Native Friendship Centre needs a new board as an alleged misuse of funds is investigated, an online petition asserts. The petition says the friendship centre was once “a thriving hub of community activity” but misuse of funds “has led to a drastic reduction” in services. “We see the impact of the…
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Whistleblower group criticizes federal review of wrongdoing disclosure regime
OTTAWA — An advocacy group for those who reveal wrongdoing says it cannot support a new task force looking at the federal whistleblowing regime because it lacks someone with “lived experience” as an actual whistleblower. In a letter to Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, Whistleblowing Canada Research Society president Pamela Forward calls the absence a…
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Federal effort to boost election worker protections fizzles
ATLANTA (AP) — Federal proposals that would have significantly boosted security funding for election offices and heightened penalties for threatening their staff failed to advance this year, leaving state officials looking to their legislatures for support. The massive budget bill that passed Congress on Friday will send $75 million in election security grants to states,…
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Facebook parent Meta will pay $725M to settle user data case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook’s corporate parent has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the world’s largest social media platform allowed millions of its users’ personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s victorious presidential campaign in 2016. Terms of the settlement reached by Meta…
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Canadians gleaned naval intelligence from Russian defector, newly released files show
OTTAWA — The young Russian seaman who turned up exhausted and bleeding on the British Columbia shore struck a Canadian intelligence official as well mannered, sincere and athletic, built like Tarzan of the movies. Less than two years later, defector Sergei Kourdakov would die in a California motel room — apparently by accidentally shooting himself — after…
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Feds opt to focus on making access to info law work better amid calls for reforms
OTTAWA — The federal government says departments will focus on making the access-to-information system work better amid calls for fundamental changes to the transparency law. The Access to Information Act allows people to request government documents, from internal emails to expense reports for a $5 fee, but it is widely considered to be outdated and poorly administered. The law…
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Watchdog: Under 1% of Israel army probes yield prosecution
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1% of the hundreds of complaints against them, an Israeli rights group reported. The watchdog argued that Israel’s military systematically fails to conduct a credible prosecution of…
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Ransomware attack delays SickKids lab results, systems could be offline for weeks
TORONTO, Ohio — A ransomware attack has delayed lab and imaging results at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and could lead to longer wait times, the hospital said Thursday, noting that some of its systems could be offline for weeks. The hospital said it was unable to provide details about the nature of the attack,…