OTTAWA — Some members of Parliament say they have no idea how to spot foreign interference, as Canada’s spy agency warns that all elected officials are targets for hostile states. “There is not clarity, quite frankly, around what MPs and their parties can do to protect themselves,” NDP MP Rachel Blaney told CSIS officials on […]

OTTAWA — The federal public safety minister says he is prepared to work with other parliamentarians to revise the Liberal government’s cybersecurity bill after civil society groups and opposition MPs raised transparency and accountability concerns. While he is open to changes, Marco Mendicino said in a recent interview the bill that was introduced last year […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Majd Ramlawi was serving coffee in Jerusalem’s Old City when a chilling text message appeared on his phone. “You have been spotted as having participated in acts of violence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it read in Arabic. “We will hold you accountable.” Ramlawi, then 19, was among hundreds of people who civil […]

Thanks to funding from the federal Privacy Commissioner’s Contributions Program, FIPA is launching a year-long study to examine the effect of electronic monitoring systems in our vehicles, on our privacy rights and consumer choice. Our vehicles are no longer simple mechanical devices which provide us with transportation, but electronic platforms capable of remarkable feats. This […]

In this update: Conservatives hit hard by backlash against online spying bill – a privacy issue that has rung the bell with a majority of Canadians. Read the update (pdf).

The BCCLA and BC FIPA have sent a joint letter to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC regarding media reports that the office of the commissioner will be investigating ICBC’S proposed use of its photo database for the purposes of identifying suspects in the recent Stanley Cup riots. In our view, it is arguable […]

BC FIPA has provided its comments on Justice Canada’s new Lawful Access proposals. These proposals were announced as part of the government’s consultations on Lawful Access. FIPA continues to be opposed to many of the New Lawful Access Proposals as they unjustifiably intrude upon the privacy rights of Canadian citizens. We repeat the concerns outlined […]

BC FIPA presented its comments before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Public Safety on the proposal to create a national identity card. [A] national ID card would be: hugely expensive; just as subject to fraud, privacy abuses, and security breaches as current systems of identification; and not likely to be more effective in preventing […]

Darrell Evans of BC FIPA gave a speech on Lawful Access to the Frontiers of Privacy and Security conference in Victoria today. Darrell highlighted some of the concerns that BC FIPA has with the direction that the Federal government is taking in the context of Lawful Access. FIPA’s view in a nutshell is that we […]