Privacy

Senate Republicans introduced a new bill during the tail end of last week that seeks to increase transparency and ownership of personal health, geolocation, proximity and other related data collected by digital devices or systems during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The so-called COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act was introduced…

An Ontario emergency order — which compels public health authorities to give requested COVID-19 data to first responders— lacks built-in transparency or accountability measures, said Teresa Scassa, professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. The order allows police, firefighters and paramedics to obtain information about individuals with whom…

On May 7, 2020, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the provincial and territorial Information and Privacy Commissioners issued a joint statement on privacy principles for contact tracing and similar apps. (Aside: yes, not to be left out of the hero category, they really did refer…

Technical folks looking to improve web privacy haven’t been able to decide whether sound beyond the range of human hearing poses enough of a privacy risk to merit restriction. People can generally hear audio frequencies ranging from 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz, though individual hearing ranges vary. Audio frequencies below…

The safety and security of Canadians is of grave concern in the current COVID-19 health crisis. The urgency of limiting the spread of the virus is a significant challenge for government and  public  health  authorities,  who  are  looking  for  ways  to  leverage  personal  information to contain and gain insights about…

In October 2017, Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto set out to plan a shared vision for Quayside, a fundamentally more sustainable and affordable community resulting from innovations in technology and urban design. Since the project began, I’ve met thousands of Torontonians from all over the city, excited by the possibility…

TORONTO, ON — Waterfront Toronto has been informed that Sidewalk Labs is withdrawing from our planned redevelopment of Quayside on Toronto’s waterfront. While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, Waterfront Toronto offers thanks and appreciation to Sidewalk Labs for its vision, effort, and the many commitments that…

May 4, 2020 Public consultation on the Personal Information Protection Act begins today VICTORIA – The Legislative Assembly has appointed an all-party special committee to seek input from British Columbians on the effectiveness of the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The act governs how private sector organizations collect, use, and…

SACRAMENTO – Today, Californians for Consumer Privacy announced that it is submitting well over 900,000 signatures to qualify the California Privacy Rights Act for the November 2020 ballot.  Submission has begun in counties across the state and will continue for several days. “Even as we’ve worked to strengthen privacy laws here…

Businesses investing in their privacy experience pronounced financial benefits, a new Cisco study suggests. According to the paper, entitled ‘Cisco Data Privacy Benchmark Study 2020’, businesses see an average return of 2.7 times on their original investment when they bankroll data privacy practices — confirming for the first time what…