Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner Paul Fraser has released the findings of an extensive investigation into the adequacy of privacy protection in Vancouver Coastal Health Authority’s community-based electronic health record system known as the Primary Access Regional Information System (PARIS). The Commissioner’s investigation found that privacy was a missing ingredient in the early development stages […]

British Columbia’s provincial government will explore creating a new chief privacy officer position following a recent privacy breach scandal involving the personal information of 1,400 government clients. “It’s one of the things we are considering,” says Citizens’ Services Minister Ben Stewart. The announcement comes on the heels of a report this week from Acting Privacy […]

By Vaughn Palmoer, Vancouver Sun (Excerpt) February 18, 2010 The B.C. Liberal drive for electronic records-keeping in the health care system is behind schedule, over budget, poorly planned and still a long way from realizing any benefits to patients, according to auditor general John Doyle. Doyle released a report Wednesday that chronicled a list of […]

A Special Committee of the BC Legislature that is reviewing the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act has extended the deadline for public submissions a second time. The new deadline is March 15, 2010. Information on the Special Committee and its members can be found on the Legislative Assembly website. Click here […]

By Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw Canwest News Service A B.C. government employee remained on the job for seven months after police searched his Victoria home and discovered the personal information of 1,400 income-assistance clients. But government ministers were unable to say Wednesday what the employee’s responsibilities were or what kind of access he continued […]

FIPA is calling on the Liberal government to give the Special Committee reviewing the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act the full year the law provides, instead of the eight months it just set out in the terms of reference for the committee. The Act provides that the committee must not take more […]

The Electronic Commerce Protection Act (Bill C-27) is the Canadian anti-spam bill that comes out of committee on Wednesday October 21st. The opposition Liberals have proposed amendments which appear to have been drafted by copyright and telecom lobbyists. They would allow for surreptitious installation of computer programs and – even more outrageously – would allow […]

BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is about to receive a legislative review for the third time in its history. A Special Committee of the Legislature has been struck, and it is expected to have its first meeting soon. There will be no shortage of issues for the MLAs to deal with […]

The B.C. government is getting ready to contract out its computer nerve-centre to a U.S. company, says B.C.’s biggest public-sector union. EDS Advanced Solutions, a B.C. subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard-EDS, is negotiating with the province to operate the mainframe computer servers at the government’s Victoria facility. The plan concerns FIPA because the USA Patriot Act enables […]

A ruling handed down on January 13 by the Ontario Court of Appeal is “a landmark decision that upholds the principles of openness and transparency as applied to electronic records,” said Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. The Court allowed appeals by the Commissioner and a Toronto Star reporter from a Divisional Court ruling […]

The suspension of Parliament in the ongoing political crisis is not likely to interfere with a much-needed anti-spam bill tabled earlier this year. Bill S-202, the Anti-Spam Act, which received its second reading in early December before Parliament was prorogued, would crack down on spam by prohibiting the sending of commercial emails to Canadians without […]

B.C., ONTARIO PRIVACY COMMISSIONERS ISSUE GUIDELINES AFTER SUICIDES OF TWO STUDENTS The reluctance of two universities to disclose information that might have saved two lives has prompted the B.C. and Ontario privacy commissioners to issue guidelines clarifying when schools may release personal information without violating the law. “Life trumps privacy,” was the message Thursday from […]