News

The Canadian government unveiled a comprehensive strategy and action plan to improve national security. The plan includes significant expenditures on a variety of initiatives, including enhancing intelligence capabilities, securing critical government information systems, and implementing the "Passport Security Strategy", which use facial recognition biometric technology, in line with international standards. News Release Backgrounder Privacy International letter re: dangers of biometric passports

Two weeks after several privacy advocates and groups issued an open letter urging Google to suspend its new Gmail service until privacy issues are addressed, Privacy International filed complaints in multiple jurisdictions, including Canada, about the Gmail service. Ottawa Citizen article.

CIPPIC urges Parliament to adopt rules that recognize disparities in bargaining power between different types of parties, as well as the reasonable expectations of consumers, in the context of commissioned photographs and other works of art. CIPPIC also calls for rules protecting portrait subjects from unauthorized reproduction or dissemination of their portraits. The issue of photographers\' rights in copyright is the subject of Bill S-16, under consideration by the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. It is also being considered by the Heritage Committee as part of its more general review of copyright legislation and reform.

The federal cabinet issued proposed exemption orders today under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) for new privacy legislation in Alberta and British Columbia. Interested parties have 15 days to comment. Once approved, the orders will mean that the Alberta Act and B.C. legislation applies to data collection, use and disclosure within those provinces, while the PIPEDA continues to apply in all other provinces, as well as to interprovincial data transfers and to federally regulated industries. Quebec has already received an exemption order, given a similar finding that its private sector legislation is substantially similar to the PIPEDA. Alberta exemption order B.C. exemption order