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Privacy

Privacy policy, and the interaction of privacy protection with other policy.

Statement on Government Identity Theft Measures

A statement from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada on the recent government proposal to tackle identity theft. See CIPPIC press release and Michael Geist: Canada's Identity Theft Bill: What It Says and What's Missing.

Privacy advocates say Ottawa regulations backward

An article by Carly Weeks , CanWest News Service discusses current privacy legislation surrounding disclosure of security breaches.

The federal government says banks, retailers and other businesses should decide whether to tell Canadians they've suffered a security breach, a decision some privacy advocates say is "backwards" and may keep Canadians in the dark when their personal information has been lost or stolen.

"I think we have a real problem here," said John Lawford, counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. "They got it backwards."

Industry Canada calls for public input on PIPEDA reform

Briony Smith has an article in ITWorld Canada describing the current consultation Industry Canada is doing on Canada's federal privacy legislation PIPEDA.

CIPPIC Releases Study of DRM & Privacy

CIPPIC Releases Study of DRM & Privacy

Investigation Discloses Widespread Violations of Canadian Privacy Law

Ottawa, ON – September 18, 2007 – The Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa today released the results of a comprehensive investigation into the privacy implications of digital rights management technologies, or “DRM”. The study, titled “Digital Rights Management and Consumer Privacy: An Assessment of DRM Applications Under Canadian Privacy Law”, investigated the DRM technologies used in 16 different digital products and services. The study concluded that many DRM technologies in fact pose threats to privacy and that organizations using those technologies often fail to comply with basic requirements of Canadian privacy law.

Do I moan too much about protecting online privacy and other rights?

Here is a site that moans about it more than I do.

OECD Public Consultation

The OECD has launched a public consultation for the Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy.

There's a preparatory meeting in Ottawa 3rd October, with various options for online participation, and there's an online questionnaire asking for comments in 4 areas :
* Using the Internet to improve future economic performance and social welfare
* Benefiting from convergence
* Fuelling [sic] creativity
* Building confidence

Apple criticized for embedding names, e-mails in songs?

An article by Greg Sandoval, Staff Writer, CNET News.com, talks about how EFF is taking issue with Apple's practice of embedding customer information within iTunes music. Normally I am in total agreement with EFF, but in this case I don't understand the complaint. Having personal identifying information of the licensee of downloaded music seems reasonable to me. I couldn't find any reference to this complaint on EFF's website.

Criminalizing pretexting in Canada.

An Edmonton Journal article by Larry Johnsrude talks about James Rajotte's private members bill C-299 which criminalize the fraudulent activity known commonly as pretexting. This bill is now in front of the Senate and will hopefully pass soon.

Tech-thinkers stand on guard for all of us

A Business Edge News Magazine article by Tom Keenan talks about a recent Computers Freedom & Privacy conference in Montreal earlier this month.

The previous Liberal government introduced a bill to force Internet service providers to help spy on Canadians. It died on the order paper and the Harper government has not re-introduced it. However, Liberal MP Marlene Jennings gave first reading to a substantially similar bill this past March.

It's sure to inspire controversy, and you can track the bun fight at www.cipic.ca, the excellent website of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. The majority of the CFP gurus don't like the idea one bit.

Canadian Surveillance Bill Returns

Drew Wilson has published an article on Slyck that describes the private members bill tabled by the Liberals (Specifically Marlene Jennings, Liberal "Justice" critic) to increasing surveillance on online activities, and circumvent much of the privacy rights of Canadians.

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