OPC needs budget doubled, Therrien says in swan song

telecom | 06/03/2022 5:19 pm EDT

If the government reintroduces its online privacy bill, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) will...

New legislation needed to cover growing privacy issues: Therrien

Media | 05/26/2022 4:07 pm EDT

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien is calling for new legislation that...

Privacy watchdogs call for legal framework governing facial recognition

telecom | 05/02/2022 4:24 pm EDT

Along with counterparts from the provinces, the federal privacy watchdog...

Public and private sector privacy laws need an update: Therrien to Ethics committee 

telecom | 03/03/2022 4:31 pm EST

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien has followed...

PHAC lack of transparency “appalling”, Cavoukian tells Ethics committee

Internet and Governance | 02/11/2022 10:06 am EST

Ontario’s former privacy commissioner called the Public Health Agency’s (PHAC) lack of transparency on mobility data collection “appalling” and urged a strengthening...

Privacy Commissioner advocates update of Privacy Act before Ethics committee

Media | 02/07/2022 4:43 pm EST

Canada’s Privacy Act needs to be updated, Privacy Commissioner Daniel...

Privacy Commish launching investigation into proof of vaccination requirements for federal workers

telecom | 10/22/2021 6:03 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner will be...

RCMP looking to expand its digital policing services

telecom | 09/22/2021 6:37 pm EDT

The RCMP is seeking to expand its digital policing services, months after the Office of the Privacy...

New privacy law gives ‘more weight’ to commercial interests; needs ‘significant changes’: OPC 

telecom | 05/11/2021 6:22 pm EDT

Following an analysis of Bill C-11, the federal...

Privacy Commish wants power to triage complaints and requests

Media | 05/10/2021 6:42 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner needs to be able to decide what to...

Privacy Commissioner calls for OPC to have jurisdiction over PMO, ministerial offices

telecom | 02/24/2021 4:27 pm EST

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien is calling for the Office of the Privacy Commission (OPC) to have its jurisdiction extended to cover the Office of the Prime Minister and other federal ministerial offices. Therrien raised the proposal in a submission filed Tuesday as part of a statutory...

OPC finds Desjardins too passive about data protection prior to 2019 breach

telecom | 12/14/2020 2:48 pm EST

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has released its report into a major data breach at the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, which affected around 9.7 million individuals and...

Gov’t tables PIPEDA reform, new consumer privacy legislation

Media | 11/17/2020 5:54 pm EST

The federal government introduced sweeping private-sector privacy law...

Facial recognition in malls violated privacy, commissioners say

telecom | 10/29/2020 5:58 pm EDT

An investigation into the use of facial recognition technology to analyze age and gender of customers in shopping malls owned by Cadillac Fairview concluded that it violated Canadian privacy law, the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner said Thursday.  The OPC launched the investigation in 2018, conducted alongside the Alberta and B.C. privacy commissioners. It said in a press release Thursday that the company, which embedded cameras in 12 shopping malls across Canada, “used facial recognition technology without their customers’ knowledge or consent.”  The release said the...

Proposed Quebec privacy law overhaul ‘concerning’: Bell lawyer

Media | 10/20/2020 6:17 pm EDT

Speaking Tuesday morning at an online event, Bell assistant general counsel...

Commish ‘frustrated for Canadian citizens’ as privacy laws lag

telecom | 10/08/2020 5:53 pm EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened privacy concerns around activities...

Google not shielded by journalistic protections, OPC tells court

Media | 09/11/2020 1:57 pm EDT

Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien has urged Federal Court to find the...

OPC happy with tracing app, but not with privacy law

telecom | 08/28/2020 5:00 pm EDT

In a letter to shadow ministers, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien assures opposition MPs that the...

Pandemic has increased need for privacy rights, OPC told Guilbealt 

Media | 06/30/2020 5:08 pm EDT

COVID-19 has made privacy rights even more important, the federal privacy commissioner’s office told Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault in May. A presentation prepared by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner ahead of a meeting with Guilbeault in early May, and obtained through Access to Information, includes a section on the impact of the pandemic. A rights-based approach to privacy is now even more important to maintain Canadians’ confidence in technologies like e-health and...

Privacy commissioner hasn’t approved new gov’t contact tracing app

telecom | 06/18/2020 3:48 pm EDT

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that in developing the federal...

Gov’t launches AI centre in Montreal

Media | 06/15/2020 3:14 pm EDT

Innovation, Science, and Economic Development announced on Monday the launch of what it is calling the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), as well as a research centre to be based in Monteal in cooperation with...

Outdated privacy laws may hamper COVID-19 tracing: Therrien

telecom | 05/29/2020 7:00 pm EDT

The outdated state of Canadian privacy laws may harm efforts to launch a...

Facebook targets procedural fairness at OPC in court filing

Media | 04/27/2020 5:16 pm EDT

Facebook Inc.'s request that Federal Court throw out a report from the...

OPC investigating RCMP over facial recognition

telecom | 02/28/2020 5:14 pm EST

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner today announced it is launching an investigation into the use of...

Privacy commish launches AI consultation

telecom | 01/28/2020 5:55 pm EST

OTTAWA — Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien is adding artificial intelligence (AI) to his...

Canadian law should codify privacy as a human right: OPC

Media | 12/10/2019 6:05 pm EST

OTTAWA — Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told reporters...

AIQ investigation shows need for strong privacy laws, OPC says

Media | 11/26/2019 6:22 pm EST

At a Vancouver press conference Tuesday, the federal and British Columbia...

Privacy group wants to help OPC form future guidelines

telecom | 06/10/2019 2:34 pm EDT

A new group made up of businesses and industry associations wants to help guide the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on issues including data de-identification and a reform of PIPEDA, according to documents obtained by The Wire Report. The 15-member Business Privacy...

International legislators flag regulatory options for data giants

Media | 05/29/2019 6:01 pm EDT

OTTAWA - Legislators on Tuesday gave some sense of what regulatory options...

ISED ‘digital charter’ recommends enhancing OPC powers

Media | 05/21/2019 8:30 pm EDT

Innovation Canada is recommending that the privacy commissioner be vested...

Experts say there is no road map for a Facebook-OPC court fight

Media | 05/01/2019 4:17 pm EDT

If the Office of the Privacy Commissioner takes Facebook Inc. to Federal...

OPC will ask court to force changes to Facebook privacy practices

Media | 04/25/2019 5:47 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said Thursday it is...

OPC to monitor Equifax for six years

telecom | 04/09/2019 5:12 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said Tuesday that it has concluded its investigation into the Equifax Inc. data breach and it will monitor the company for the next six years. It said in a press release that “both Equifax Canada and its US-based parent company...

OPC welcomes ‘interim relief’ from budget pressures

Media | 03/20/2019 5:43 pm EDT

The 2019 federal budget is boosting funding to the office of the privacy...

OPC’s deindexing position ‘indirect attack’ on CBC, lawyer says

Media | 02/11/2019 6:33 pm EST

OTTAWA — A lawyer for CBC/Radio-Canada who is asking the Federal Court to...

Most Canadians support ‘right to be forgotten’: poll

telecom | 01/07/2019 3:01 pm EST

Canadians appear to be generally in favour of the ‘right to be forgotten’, with most showing support for the idea and a majority saying they would support having it set out in Canadian law,...

OPC to Bains: privacy rights not ‘at odds’ with innovation

telecom | 12/05/2018 2:01 pm EST

The federal privacy watchdog is warning the Liberal government against...

OPC on global working group addressing AI challenges

Media | 11/21/2018 4:17 pm EST

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner and its counterpart in Quebec are party to a “permanent working...

Privacy commish ‘surprised’ by political ‘chill’ comments

telecom | 11/01/2018 4:28 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy commissioner said Thursday that comments...

PIPEDA could put a ‘chill’ on political volunteers: Liberal counsel

telecom | 10/30/2018 4:57 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The consequences of bringing the country’s political parties...

OPC asks for more flexibility on info sharing with CRTC

telecom | 10/16/2018 4:38 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canada’s federal privacy watchdog asked a Senate committee...

OPC to seek court reference on search engine delisting

telecom | 09/27/2018 5:39 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien says he plans to ask the Federal Court for a reference on whether the private sector’s privacy law applies to search engine de-indexing. In the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s (OPC) annual report...

Canadian privacy watchdogs urge privacy laws for political parties

Media | 09/17/2018 2:01 pm EDT

Canada's federal, provincial and territorial privacy watchdogs collectively...

OPC to look into face-scanning mall kiosks

telecom | 08/07/2018 2:27 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) will join Alberta’s provincial privacy watchdog...

Balsillie’s Centre for Digital Rights meets with OPC

telecom | 06/21/2018 4:00 pm EDT

A newly-minted data rights group spearheaded by former BlackBerry Ltd. co-CEO Jim Balsillie met with privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien in late May, according to the federal lobbying registry....

Ethics committee wants political parties to come under privacy legislation

Media | 06/19/2018 1:20 pm EDT

Following nine public meetings that began in March, the House committee...

OPC says 90% budget increase would give it ‘true impact’

Media | 06/07/2018 3:55 pm EDT

The Office of The Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has asked the government for a 30-per-cent-increase to its budget, but said that it would need three times that amount for its work to have a significant effect. In a letter to the House of Commons ethics committee, privacy...

Data collection, consent guidelines published by the OPC

Media | 05/24/2018 5:29 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has unveiled a set...

Privacy commish flags ‘flaw’ in new elections bill

Media | 05/01/2018 2:42 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Proposed legislation that will require federal political parties...

Privacy heads ask for data protection in smart cities challenge

Media | 04/27/2018 5:13 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to consider how privacy protocols were implemented when selecting smart cities challenge winners....

Don’t allow social media data use by political parties: professor

Media | 04/27/2018 4:11 pm EDT

OTTAWA — There is no reason for political parties to be using social...

Facebook data leak could affect Canadian elections: Therrien

Media | 04/17/2018 5:03 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy commissioner told the House of Commons ethics...

More emphasis on transparency needed in PIPEDA: professor

telecom | 03/09/2018 4:52 pm EST

OTTAWA — Any amendments to Canada’s privacy law for the private sector...

OPC says it’s ‘at a loss’ over exclusion from CSE oversight

Media | 03/08/2018 3:41 pm EST

The privacy commissioner is calling for his office to be included in Bill...

House ethics committee backs right to be forgotten in Canada

Media | 03/01/2018 5:23 pm EST

The government should consider including frameworks for a right to erasure...

As programmatic ads grow, GDPR could pose a problem: expert

telecom | 01/04/2018 6:16 pm EST

Automatic, data-based advertising has grown significantly over the years and now it’s even making the move to billboards — but it’s a trend that could, in some cases, face challenges due the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), especially...

House committee backs stricter border device search rules

telecom | 12/15/2017 4:06 pm EST

A parliamentary ethics committee is recommending the government enact into...

CSE activities under C-59 may weaken encryption tools: CCLA

telecom | 12/07/2017 5:24 pm EST

OTTAWA — Parliamentarians debating Bill C-59 will have to come to grips...

Lack of incentive undermines privacy protection tech: OPC

Media | 11/15/2017 6:55 pm EST

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has released an analysis of privacy enhancing technologies (PETs), but cautions that there are still challenges for the adoption of practises...

Resources ‘already stretched’ as breach reports set to increase: OPC

telecom | 11/03/2017 12:45 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien does not think...

Bring border privacy issues under NAFTA: Geist

telecom | 10/02/2017 3:23 pm EDT

Because some aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) raise privacy concerns, the Canadian government should bring border search and related privacy matters to the trade negotiating table, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist told the committee...

Privacy commish vows more ‘proactive enforcement’

telecom | 09/21/2017 6:00 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) will not wait for the government to give it...

Limit info on smartphones at U.S. border: privacy commish

telecom | 09/19/2017 3:22 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canadians should be exercising a fair amount of caution when...

U.S. gov’t sued over warrantless device searches at border

telecom | 09/13/2017 4:02 pm EDT

American civil liberties groups are suing the U.S. federal government over warrantless searches of travellers’ personal devices at the border. In a press release, the American Civil Liberties...

Transparency reporting in Canada: still opaque?

telecom | 07/31/2017 4:15 pm EDT

Without an Edward Snowden-like scandal, exposing inappropriate government access of citizens’ personal...

Ian Scott ‘collegial’ choice for new CRTC chair: former colleagues

Media | 07/18/2017 11:49 am EDT

The choice of Ian Scott as the new chairman of the CRTC was greeted...

Civil liberties groups back privacy commish on device searches

telecom | 06/16/2017 4:10 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Grouping electronic devices with other goods when it comes to...

Privacy commish suggests ‘partial solution’ for border device searches

telecom | 06/13/2017 5:36 pm EDT

Canada’s privacy commissioner is asking the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security to amend a proposed law that governs border searches and is recommending a way that it...

Privacy commish issues guidance on device searches at border

telecom | 05/29/2017 5:40 pm EDT

The search of personal electronic devices when crossing the Canada-U.S. border is an “extremely privacy intrusive procedure,” Daniel Therrien, the federal privacy commissioner, has told the House...

CWTA predicts ‘adversarial’ relationship if OPC power boosted

telecom | 05/11/2017 8:26 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy commissioner should not be vested with order-making and fining power because doing so would harm the collaborative relationship his office has with wireless companies, the...

Privacy commish funding work on rules for connected cars

Media | 03/28/2017 8:29 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The federal privacy commissioner will be working with stakeholders to develop a “code of practice” to help address privacy concerns around connected and autonomous vehicles,...

Privacy commish asks Canadian gov’t to push for U.S. privacy protection

telecom | 03/10/2017 8:54 pm EST

The federal privacy watchdog is asking the government to petition its counterparts in the United States to include Canada in a list of countries whose citizens are afforded protection for their...

Larger fines needed to deter privacy breaches: B.C. privacy commish

Media | 02/22/2017 8:14 pm EST

OTTAWA — Fines levied against companies who breach privacy rules in Canada need to be increased to help prevent breaches in the future and to come in line with European Union data...

Privacy watchdog asks MPs for more power

Media | 02/17/2017 12:11 am EST

OTTAWA — Canadians expect the federal privacy commissioner to be able to make orders and levy fines against companies that break privacy rules, Daniel Therrien told members of Parliament studying the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) Thursday, noting that the current inability to do so erodes trust in a...

‘Proceed cautiously’ in expanding lawful access: privacy commissioners

Media | 12/06/2016 10:57 pm EST

OTTAWA — The federal government hasn’t made its case for why law enforcement and intelligence agencies need stronger powers to intercept, decrypt and share citizens’ information, the country’s privacy watchdogs said Tuesday, as they shared their submission to the federal government’s national security framework review. “The government should only propose and Parliament should only approve new state powers if they are demonstrated to be necessary and...

Privacy commish looking for transparency compliance ‘in coming months’

telecom | 09/27/2016 6:26 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Companies who are not already proactively complying with the federal government’s transparency reporting rules are running out of time before the Office of the Privacy...

Lessons to be learned from Ashley Madison breach: privacy commish

Media | 08/23/2016 8:50 pm EDT

The company behind Ashley Madison, a website aimed at adulterous interactions that suffered a massive customer data breach last year, had “inadequate security safeguards and policies,”...

Password disclosure law up for ‘public discussion’: Goodale

telecom | 08/17/2016 9:31 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The federal minister of public safety indicated Wednesday a willingness to engage with a freshly passed resolution from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) calling for a...

Privacy commish warns telecoms about transparency reporting, metadata

telecom | 06/09/2016 12:42 am EDT

TORONTO — Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told a telecom industry audience Wednesday that companies should be prudent about the collection and use of metadata, and cautioned companies that...

Privacy sweep to examine IoT, health devices

telecom | 04/11/2016 5:06 pm EDT

Health devices will take the spotlight when Canada’s privacy commissioner participates in this week’s global examination of the Internet of Things (IoT). The Global Privacy Enforcement Network’s 2016 privacy...

iPhone encryption issue one to watch: privacy commissioner

telecom | 02/23/2016 11:24 pm EST

OTTAWA — Canadians should be keeping an eye on the FBI's request to gain access to an iPhone connected to the Dec. 2 San Bernadino, Calif., attack, according to Canada's...

Privacy commish launches online tool for parents

telecom | 01/27/2016 5:51 pm EST

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said Wednesday it has launched an interactive online tool aimed at helping parents manage online risks facing their children, to coincide with Data Privacy Day, which takes place...

Parliament should uphold court decision on warrantless access: Therrien

Media | 01/25/2016 10:12 pm EST

The privacy commissioner of Canada is asking Parliament to confirm the principles behind a Supreme Court decision that requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant in order to obtain customers’ personal information from Internet service providers (ISPs).  In an opinion article in the Toronto Star Monday,...

Privacy issues around wearables come into view

Media | 06/19/2015 3:17 pm EDT

As wearable technology moves further into the mainstream, thoughts are turning toward how individual privacy can be protected with such devices that track and transmit information as personal as health data and real-time location. Among the projects the Office of the Privacy Commissioner is slated to tackle over the next year is an analysis of fitness-tracker privacy and security. This project “will examine the relationship between the data collection and transmission practices of fitness-tracking devices, the cloud services they integrate with and how third parties may obtain access...

Privacy commish to monitor children’s online privacy

Media | 05/11/2015 3:48 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said Monday it is participating in an international "sweep" of websites and mobile applications to help safeguard the privacy of children. The office said in a press release Monday that it will participate in an international initiative by the Global Privacy Enforcement...

Bell to make targeted ad program ‘opt-in,’ PIAC still fighting it

Media | 04/13/2015 9:00 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre said it will not drop a CRTC complaint against BCE Inc.’s targeted ad program, despite the company’s plans to re-launch the program according to...

Bell looks to avoid legal showdown with privacy commish

telecom | 04/07/2015 8:30 pm EDT

Faced with a possible legal fight against another agency of the federal government, BCE Inc. on Tuesday backed down after the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said the company refused to require...

Privacy commish looking into targeted advertising

telecom | 01/15/2015 7:02 pm EST

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is launching a research project into online advertising that targets users based on their online behaviour. In a letter to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB), privacy...

Counterfeit, online crime bills get royal assent

Media | 12/10/2014 5:22 pm EST

Bill C-8, officially known as the Combating Counterfeit Products Act, and Bill C-13, the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, both received royal assent on Tuesday. Bill C-13 has been criticized by many, including Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien, for measures that make it easier for telecommunications service providers to voluntarily provide authorities with customers' personal information. Bill C-8 amends Canada’s copyright and trademark laws to include new civil and criminal charges and give border agents new powers to seize suspected counterfeit goods....

Privacy commish backs stricter privacy safeguards for apps

Media | 12/10/2014 5:13 pm EST

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien has joined 22 other privacy authorities from Canadian provinces and international jurisdictions calling on mobile-app marketplaces to require easily...

PIPEDA complaints double, many target Bell’s tracking program

telecom | 08/21/2014 9:41 pm EDT

Complaints to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada nearly doubled in 2013 from the previous year as concerns about BCE Inc.'s advertising and tracking program filled the commissioner’s inbox. According to the privacy commissioner’s annual report to Parliament, released Thursday, there were 426 complaints made...

Therrien says court ruling should prompt reviews of C-13, S-4: report

telecom | 06/17/2014 7:27 pm EDT

New Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien says two government bills that deal with the sharing of information about Internet users, C-13 and S-4, should be reviewed in light of a recent Supreme Court...

Eliminate immunity for telecoms in C-13: privacy commish

telecom | 06/10/2014 8:55 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday that he was troubled by provisions in the government’s cyberbullying legislation that...

Telecoms should provide warrantless disclosure stats: Therrien

telecom | 06/03/2014 10:24 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Daniel Therrien, the government’s nominee for privacy commissioner, told senators Tuesday that telecom companies should disclose statistics about the number of requests...

Daniel Therrien nominated as next privacy commish

telecom | 05/29/2014 2:07 pm EDT

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has nominated Daniel Therrien as the next federal privacy commissioner. Harper’s office issued the announcement through a press release on Wednesday. Therrien is currently an assistant deputy...