BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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EU privacy investigation targets Musk’s Grok chatbot over sexualized deepfake images
LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk’s social media platform X faces a European Union privacy investigation after its Grok AI chatbot started spitting out nonconsensual deepfake images, Ireland’s data privacy regulator said Tuesday. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it notified X on Monday that it was opening the inquiry under the 27-nation EU’s strict data privacy…
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NAACP asks judge to protect against ‘misuse’ of voter data seized by FBI in Georgia’s Fulton County
ATLANTA (AP) — The NAACP and other organizations are asking a judge to protect personal voter information that was seized by the FBI from an elections warehouse just outside Atlanta. Georgia residents entrusted the state with their “sensitive personal information” when they registered to vote, and the Jan. 28 seizure of ballots and other election…
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4 indicted after Minneapolis clashes, including a woman accused of biting off an officer’s fingertip
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four people have been indicted on federal charges stemming from clashes with federal officers in Minneapolis, including one woman who is accused of biting off an immigration officer’s fingertip. The three others were charged in connection with threats made to FBI agents after documents containing the agents’ personal information was stolen from…
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Helping Quebec non-profits below ‘cybersecurity poverty line’ strengthen networks
Facing the threat of cyberattacks and with limited budgets, non-profit organizations across Quebec are being offered free cybersecurity consulting sessions through a pilot project led by Polytechnique Montréal engineering school. Many non-profits are often below the “cybersecurity poverty line,” says Marc Gervais, executive director of IMC2, a cybersecurity institute involving Polytechnique and other Quebec universities…
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Immigration Partnership Waterloo Region requests support for new immigration strategy
Representatives of Immigration Partnership Waterloo Region and its partner organizations delegated before councils across the region recently, including at council meetings in both Wilmot and Wellesley Oct. 27 and 28, to request support for a new immigration strategy. Speaking before both councils, the organization that helped settle more than 10,000 newcomers across the region last…
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Chief of defence staff offers apology for military’s history of racial discrimination
The head of Canada’s military formally apologized Thursday to the Canadian Armed Forces for the service’s history of racist discrimination and vowed to improve the situation for racialized CAF members. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan teared up as she delivered a rare, emotional speech to the rank and file in Ottawa Thursday…
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Saskatchewan changing notifications of hospital closures amid growing frustration
The Saskatchewan government is committing to daily updates on which health facilities and services are being temporarily closed. Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill told the chamber Thursday the Saskatchewan Health Authority will have a list of disruptions on its website that will be updated every day at 4 p.m. “There was frustrations around the notification process…
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Alaska Supreme Court is weighing a case that could decide who can provide abortion care in the state
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court is weighing a case that is expected to determine who can provide abortion care in the state. The court heard arguments Wednesday in a 2019 case challenging the constitutionality of a law that states only a doctor licensed by the State Medical Board can perform an abortion…
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Virtual psychiatric assessments becoming more common
The province has gone back to partnering with East Coast Forensic Hospital (ECF) in conducting forensic psychiatric assessments on court orders. In 2019 the province’s contract with ECF wasn’t renewed, which caused delays in the assessment process. At that time virtual assessments were done with out of province psychiatrists. Stephanie Kelly, a spokesperson for Health…
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US government allowed and even helped US firms sell tech used for surveillance in China, AP finds
U.S. lawmakers have tried four times since September last year to close what they called a glaring loophole: China is getting around export bans on the sale of powerful American AI chips by renting them through U.S. cloud services instead. But the proposals prompted a flurry of activity from more than 100 lobbyists from tech…
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National public alert system faces uncertain future
The federal notification system that alerts Canadians about life-threatening emergency situations is facing an uncertain future. The funding agreement for the National Public Alerting System (NPAS), which sends out alerts for extreme weather, air quality, wildfires, Amber Alerts and other threats, expires on Aug. 31, 2026, and it is unclear what will happen next. “Urgent…