Cyber Security: A fourth pillar of Open Government
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. Canada’s Auditor-General is expected to release a report on Canada’s Cyber Security Strategy. The report is expected to be an important assessment of Canada’s...
View ArticleR U Preserving UR Text Messages?
A 2011 report for the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found that Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 exchanged on average nearly 110 text messages on a normal day and that...
View ArticleData Anonymization: UK Code and a New “Anonymisation Network”
On November 20, 2012, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued the Code of Practice on data anonymization, entitled “Anonymisation: managing data protection risk.” I discussed the draft...
View ArticleModernizing Canada’s Access to Information Act
It is not too late to participate in a dialogue with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada regarding reform to Canada’s federal Access to Information Act. The deadline for comments and...
View ArticleLegal Aid Society of Alberta Subject to Privacy Legislation
An adjudicator of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (OIPC) has concluded that the Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta) (PIPA) applies to the Legal Aid Society...
View ArticleA Personal Email Records Management and Privacy Problem
The use of personal email for business is a significant problem for records retention and privacy programs. On March 18, 2013, the British Columbia Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPBC)...
View ArticleThe Power of “Why” in the Exercise of Discretion to Disclose
Asking “why” is a powerful deterrent to over collection and, as a recent Alberta case demonstrates, can be a powerful check on “over disclosure”. In Order F2013-12, the issue for the Office of the...
View ArticleWhy do I have to agree to your Privacy Notice? And other curiosities
There are a number of curious features to the Privacy Notice splash page for Canada’s new online tool for making access to information (ATIP) requests. The online tool is certainly a welcome...
View ArticleBlurring of Personal and Professional Email Accounts
Not uncommonly, employees may forward information back and forth between personal and professional email accounts. The reasons for this practice are varied. Sometimes it is so that the employee can...
View ArticleExtending Privacy Protection Obligations to Non-Profits in Alberta
Earlier this month, the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner, Jill Clayton, published the second instalment of her submissions with respect to the review of the Alberta Freedom of Information...
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