This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 5th.   While there are national holidays in Canada and south of the border this past week, there’s still lots to consider in the news. We’ll start with a few Canadian stories intersecting privacy including an Ontario data breach, the Government of the Northwest Territories making […]

Australian airline Qantas said Wednesday that a hacker made off with a trove of customers’ personal data including passenger names, emails, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers. The company said in a statement that a cybercriminal targeted one of its call centers on Monday and gained access to a third-party customer service platform […]

NEW YORK (AP) — A politically motivated hacker breached Columbia University’s data systems last week, stealing troves of student documents while briefly shutting down the school’s computer systems, a university official said. The June 24 cyberattack prompted widespread network outages on campus, locking students and staff out of their email accounts, coursework and video conference […]

The former head of Manitoba Hydro was paid just over $881,000 last year, despite being dismissed six weeks into the year. Jay Grewal’s earnings in previous years, where she had worked a full year, ranged from $500,000 to $546,000. The amount last year, revealed in an annual Manitoba Hydro compensation report, suggests a large lump […]

BERLIN (AP) — A man suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to attacks, has been arrested in Denmark, German prosecutors said Tuesday. The Danish national, identified only as Ali S. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on Thursday in the Danish […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Anne Wojcicki’s bid to buy 23andMe, the genetic testing company she cofounded nearly 20 years ago, has received the court greenlight. That means Wojcicki’s nonprofit TTAM Research Institute will purchase “substantially all” of San Francisco-based 23andMe’s assets for $305 million. The transaction — which arrives more than three months after 23andMe […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleged on Tuesday, saying he and 19 other states’ attorneys general have sued over the move. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advisers ordered the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world. Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — State and federal prosecutors have charged more than 320 people and uncovered nearly $15 billion in false claims in what they described Monday as the largest coordinated takedown of health care fraud schemes in Justice Department history. Law enforcement seized more than $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets […]

Candidates for Grand Chief and Deputy Grand Chief have released their campaign platforms for Cree Nation Government elections on July 17. Voters need to be Cree beneficiaries of the JBNQA and at least 18 years old on the date of election.  There are three candidates for Grand Chief: incumbent Norman A. Wapachee, John Kitchen and […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law aimed at blocking children from seeing online pornography. Nearly half of the states have passed similar laws requiring adult website users to verify their ages to access pornographic material. The laws come as smartphones and other devices make it easier to access online […]

The Supreme Court has upheld a Texas law aimed at blocking children under 18 from seeing online pornography by requiring websites to verify the ages of all visitors. Many states have passed similar age verification laws in an attempt to restrict access to adult material from minors, but digital rights groups have raised questions about […]