Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, April 11th. This week, we’re tracking a troubling new phase in the pressure on access and privacy rights across Canada.  In British Columbia, the provincial government has confirmed it is now using artificial intelligence tools in freedom of information processing, even as concerns grow about transparency, accountability and the lack […]

The Colorado Court of Appeals this week ruled that the City of Boulder cannot charge fees for body camera footage related to a complaint of officer misconduct, a decision supporters say is a major win for police transparency and accountability across Colorado. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Yellow Scene Magazine, […]

Nevada quietly signed an agreement earlier this year with a company that collects location data from cellphones, allowing police to track a device virtually in real time — all without a warrant. The software from Fog Data Science, adopted this January in Nevada through a Department of Public Safety contract, pulls information from smartphone apps […]

An updated video surveillance policy was reviewed and approved by Council this week which will guide the use of security cameras around town. Council received a proposed updated Video Surveillance Cameras Policy at the April 7 Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting, presented by Brieanne Mader, the Town’s Deputy Corporate Officer. The proposal intended to […]

An internal Canadian Security Intelligence Service memo says allowing the spy agency to collect foreign intelligence overseas would capitalize on its “existing footprint and expertise,” but might also invite a host of problems. The memo says giving CSIS the capabilities of a foreign human intelligence service — like the American CIA or Britain’s MI6 — […]

Ontario has failed to collect more than 90 per cent of money owed by alleged animal abusers whose pets, livestock or menagerie were seized during investigations, The Canadian Press has learned. Since 2019, the province has charged owners money to care for animals seized by Animal Welfare Services to the tune of $10,633,241, documents obtained […]

Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday effectively criminalized the activities of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights group Memorial, the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent and civil society organizations in the country amid its war in Ukraine. Separately, police in Moscow raided the offices of the prominent independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Defense Department is violating his earlier order to restore access to the Pentagon for reporters, a setback in the administration’s efforts to impede the work of journalists. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sided with The New York Times for the second time in a […]

Documents show the volume of gas flared at the LNG Canada plant on British Columbia’s north coast between October and January far surpassed what its permit allows. University of Victoria air quality researcher Laura Minet obtained monthly air emissions reports filed by LNG Canada to the B.C. Energy Regulator under freedom of information proceedings.  The […]

In a typical year, the spring sitting of the B.C. legislature starts with a throne speech. The speech from the throne — as the document is formally known — is delivered by the lieutenant-governor on behalf of the provincial government. It is a snapshot of the political moment, a mixture of policies and milestones the […]

The BC Counter Human Trafficking Unit and Richmond RCMP have made multiple arrests that they say will deter predators looking to purchase sex from potential trafficking victims. But a criminologist who specializes in sex work laws and an organization that supports sex workers — some of whom have been trafficked themselves — say police operations […]

Dark clouds hovered over Queen’s Park. Thunder cracked and the sky wept as Caledon grandmother Betty de Groot and Stouffville grandmother Victoria Creese waited anxiously for what this year’s budget might bring. On March 26, they stood alongside fellow members of Grand(m)others Act To Save The Planet (GASP) with a single, urgent plea for the […]