Access and Privacy Online

Access and Privacy Online


20260725 Access and Privacy Online

Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, July 25th. We are into the news doldrums of summer right now, that said there are still stories hitting our radar. This week: bridge records, surveillance pricing, paid priority access to Truth Social, and Vatican secrecy.  Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder Send comments to: FIPAOnline @ fipa.bc.ca […]

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20260718 Access and Privacy Online

Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, July 18th. This week: FIPA calls for stronger federal privacy law; provinces narrow access to records; AI expansion tests energy, consent, and political accountability; and U.S. investigations raise new concerns for public records and press freedom.  Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder Send comments to: FIPAOnline […]

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20260711 Access and Privacy Online

Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, July 11th. We’re back after a holiday break. This week: a lawsuit over the exposure of nearly three million Alberta voters, unanswered questions about overdoses inside B.C. hospitals, expanding surveillance in the United States, and a serious threat to Germany’s freedom of information law. Writing: Shaun Fisk  | […]

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20260627 Access and Privacy Online

Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, June 27th. This week: transparency systems under scrutiny in B.C., new federal privacy and online safety proposals, whistleblower concerns from Montreal police, and major U.S. stories on public records, voter data, and law enforcement accountability.  And a quick reminder: House of Commons petition E-7237, calling for stronger […]

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Unearthing the truth about residential schools goes beyond digging up potential mass graves, experts say

On the fifth anniversary of the harrowing discovery of potential unmarked graves in Kamloops, B.C., experts at a survivor-led organization say finding the truth isn’t as simple as digging up bodies.  Through ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation discovered 215 anomalies at the site of Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2021. […]

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Updated AI policy will protect privacy, NSC says

At its regular meeting June 9, Northern Sunrise County council approved amendments to Policy 1.38 Generative Artificial Intelligence. “The amendments support the County’s obligation under the new privacy legislation by strengthening requirements related to the protection of personal and confidential information,” explains Reeve Claude Rodrigue. “It is important to ensure it remains aligned with evolving […]

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‘They failed her:’ Indy’s hospital to jail pipeline

Adilah Patton went to the emergency room at Eskenazi Health. After being discharged, the 21-year-old spent the night in the waiting room. It was January 2018. Patton was trying to stay warm that winter; the temperature outside was 34 degrees and she had no home of her own. Hospital police arrested her for trespassing. Eskenazi’s […]

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American families stuck in limbo: Citizenship applicants caught in IRCC’s ‘black hole’

Jeffrey Vermeire, right, rides a Toronto streetcar with his family in September 2025. Vermeire says his proof-of-citizenship application was referred to IRCC’s Program Support unit and has remained unresolved for more than a year. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Vermeire.Jeffrey Vermeire, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter For more than a year, Jeffrey Vermeire has waited for Immigration, […]

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Montreal police chief to meet city officials behind closed doors over racism concerns

Montreal’s police chief will meet with city officials behind closed doors over racism allegations involving officers in the city’s Montréal-Nord borough. A spokesperson for the City of Montreal says members of the city council committee responsible for public safety will meet privately with Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher. Elected municipal officials had originally been scheduled […]

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Staggering amounts of fentanyl hit streets as the DEA watched and took no action, records show

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Even as it battled the deadliest drug epidemic in American history, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, according to three current and former DEA agents and government records reviewed by The Associated Press. DEA […]

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Judge blocks use of federal database to check citizenship, saying it could wrongly purge voters

— WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ruled that a recently revamped version of a federal tool central to the Trump administration’s efforts to nationalize elections can no longer be used. U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups that argued the recent upgrades to the program, called Systematic Alien […]

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Manitoba eyes shrinkflation law, grocery store in downtown Winnipeg

Manitoba’s government says it is eyeing new rules to mandate unit pricing in grocery stores in order to shine a light on producers who reduce the size of a product while keeping the price the same. The announcement follows the release of a study that analyzed grocery pricing in the province. Finance Minister Adrien Sala […]

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