This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 18th.   We’ll start on Canada’s national front with some big examples of access providing insight into this Governments reaction to international pressures. There’s troubling actions from the nation’s intelligence agency as they act without regard to privacy, plus one Federal minister who seems prepared to […]

An American man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to cyber extortion in the mass data breach of a student information system used across Canada.  Court documents show Matthew D. Lane was sentenced in a Massachusetts court after he pleaded guilty to charges relating to the cyber extortion of two […]

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says it’s committed to “ongoing review and improvement” of its use of new technologies following a critical spy watchdog report. The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency said in a report made public this week that CSIS lacked “adequate policies and procedures” to manage a confidential technical means of collecting […]

Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined a near-unanimous outpouring of news organizations rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon. Fox signed on to a statement with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN saying they would no agree to Hegseth’s new rules, saying “the policy is without precedent and […]

The Ontario government pushed forward TC Energy’s proposal to build a large pumped storage project on Georgian Bay, despite early expert advice it would be costly and not meet the province’s current energy needs. That advice was shared by the provincial Crown corporation responsible for the supply and demand of energy, the Independent Electricity System […]

A newly released spy watchdog report says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service lacked adequate policies and procedures to manage a secret technology for collecting information. The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency says CSIS mischaracterized a novel technical capability as an extension of existing know-how. The report says this led to CSIS not consulting Public […]

Global Affairs Canada says deteriorating stability worldwide is causing a massive expansion in the work required to protect Canadians abroad, with the department warning Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand that Canadians might need to pay more and expect less. That’s according to the briefing binder prepared for Anand when she took on the role in […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed landmark legislation that would have restricted children’s access to AI chatbots. The bill would have banned companies from making AI chatbots available to anyone under 18 years old unless the businesses could ensure the technology couldn’t engage in sexual conversations or encourage self-harm. “While […]

Immigrants selling food, flowers and other merchandise along the sidewalks of California will have new privacy protections intended to keep their identities secret from federal immigration agents. The measure, signed into law this past week by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, comes on the heels of other recently enacted state laws meant to shield students in […]

The Liberal government’s efforts to revise Canada’s national security strategy hit a snag when it became clear earlier this year that many of the assumptions underlying the work were “no longer valid,” a newly released memo reveals. John Hannaford, the Privy Council clerk at the time, told Prime Minister Mark Carney in the memo that […]

Gibsons council took a step toward finalizing its updated Official Community Plan (OCP) at its Oct. 7 regular meeting, endorsing a series of policy recommendations informed by months of public engagement. The OCP update, developed with support from planning consultants McElhanney, aims to guide growth and development in Gibsons over the next decade.  The second […]

Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked each of his cabinet ministers and secretaries of state to identify three to five “key objectives” that will help the Liberal government achieve its core missions. In a July 8 letter, Carney gave the ministers and secretaries less than three weeks to map out these priorities for action over […]