Posts tagged legislation
It’s NOT “just a number!”
Jan 26th
by Ann Cavoukian
I am becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of understanding of a key privacy issue – the ease of data linkages in an ever-increasingly online world, that renders otherwise non-identifiable information, identifiable.
Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
New analytic tools and algorithms now make it possible, not only to link a number with an identifiable individual, but also to combine information from multiple sources, ultimately creating a detailed personal profile of a personally-identifiable individual.
In this information age, people are sharing personal information about themselves in new ways, including through personal blogs and social networking sites. Imagine a scenario where your “anonymous” comments on a newspaper website or in an online chat forum could be tracked back to you personally, simply by linking your IP address and browser data across multiple platforms. Read the rest of this entry »
Why do startups hate agreements?
Dec 19th
by Monica Goyal
I recently considered entering a business relationship with a startup. These conversations always seem to end with the same awkwardness around signing an agreement. My response, as always, was: I’ll certainly look it over; sometimes I might suggest a revision, and then I may sign it.
Monica Goyal
For some reason, this attention to contracts surprises some. It’s as if contracts are seen as a necessary evil, a nice to have, rather than an important part of solid business partnerships. I totally understand. Most new businesses are most concerned with becoming profitable as quickly as possible, not spending a lot time revising contracts. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadian copyright bill digitally locked and loaded
Sep 29th
By Nestor E. Arellano
The most recent iteration of the Canadian copyright reform bill which the government tabled yesterday is being praised by many for balancing the interests of copyright holders and consumers on many key issues.
Nestor Arellano
Bill C-11 mirrors the previous Bill C-32 which the then minority Conservative government failed to push pass the House of Commons last year. It sets out what consumers and educators can and cannot do with copyrighted song, video, games, e-books and other digital content.
However, the bill may also have some serious implications for businesses that purchase tech hardware. Read the rest of this entry »
Competition, not congestion behind Bell’s UBB push
Jul 15th
By Nestor E. Arellano
Bell Canada might claiming that its proposal to implement Internet usage based billing on its wholesale customers is meant to alleviate network congestion but the early stages of the ongoing Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) hearing on the matter is proving otherwise.
Nestor Arellano
Incumbent telecom companies are required to rent access to their networks to independent Internet service providers (ISP). The smaller ISPs sell Internet packages to their retail customers thereby boosting CRTC’s goal to foster Internet competition.
Bell claims the increasing traffic from smaller ISP is causing network congestion.
However, the lack of a connection between the proposed UBB and traffic congestion was highlighted last week when Konrad von Finckenstein, CRTC chair, raised the point that Bell Aliant, Bell’s sister company, has not been using UBB. Read the rest of this entry »
Privacy by ReDesign: Building a better legacy
May 26th
Support for embedding privacy into systems from the outset – the essence of Privacy by Design (PbD) – is increasingly well-established, and PbD is now being applied by leading organizations developing cutting-edge applications.
Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
Significant projects in nascent areas such as the Smart Grid, Biometric Facial Recognition, precise IP geolocation, and a variety of mobile applications are demonstrating innovative applications of the principles of Privacy by Design, paving a way forward for others.
There is no longer any question that tackling privacy issues upfront, and embedding privacy protections directly into new systems, processes, and architectures, is optimal from both a privacy and a business perspective. Indeed, most businesses are no longer asking “why should we do this?” but rather “how do we do it?” This is great news for PbD. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadians #tweettheresults in revolt against Election Act Sect 329
May 3rd
By Nestor Arellano
In a rare exhibition of election fervor Canadians vented their views about the polls and a few even braved the risk of being fined by Elections Canada by “illegally” tweeted early results of yesterday’s Federal Election.
Nestor Arellano
The act of online civil disobedience squarely went against the archaic but still in effect Elections Act, Section 329 which states: No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another district before the close of all the posting station in that other district.
Penalties for violating the act, which was introduced back in the 1930s to prevent election results from Atlantic Canada from being broadcasted to the rest of the country, could include a fine of up to $25,000 and five years in prison. Read the rest of this entry »
2011: The decade of Privacy by Design starts now
Jan 15th
The Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington-based think tank that promotes responsible data practices, recently posted its First Annual List of Privacy Ins and Outs. It’s a playful – but insightful – look at what’s hot and what’s not in the world of privacy for the year ahead.
Ann Cavoukian
I was delighted (and gratified) to see Privacy by Design (PbD) make the list of what’s “in.” 2010 was a great year for Privacy by Design – the made-in-Ontario framework for embedding privacy into the architecture of technologies and practices, right from the outset. Around the world, PbD continued to gather momentum and gain increasingly widespread support. We’re clearly at a tipping point.
So what can look forward to for PbD in 2011? I’m anticipating this year as the launch of the Privacy by Design decade – one that will assure the future of privacy. Here is my “Top 5” list: Read the rest of this entry »
A challenge to health IT professionals – patient privacy is in your hands
Oct 22nd
Earlier this year, a health care professional did something seemingly well-intentioned: she placed a USB key into her purse as she left the office, planning to do some further work at home. As it happened, the files in question were the personal health information records of 763 patients.
Ann Cavoukian
Her purse was stolen. And regrettably, all of the records – unencrypted and easily read by anyone – were lost. Lost, too, was any sense of privacy for those 763 patients.
Scenarios such as this have been played out countless times all across Ontario and around the world. Indeed, a U.S. database has documented 121 incidents of mobile computing and storage devices being lost or stolen since September 2009, impacting over five million patients. It’s a privacy problem of epic proportions, compromising the most sensitive and personal types of information possible. And it must stop – now. Read the rest of this entry »
Canada’s new privacy bill lacks teeth
Aug 31st
A new bill known as the Safeguarding Canadians’ Personal Information Act, currently passing through Parliamentary approvals, is set to extend Canada’s existing privacy legislation. The bill will force organizations to both report any data breach to the Privacy Commissioner and to notify individuals affected by the breach, “if the organization believes that the breach creates a real risk of significant harm to the individual.”
Michael Collins
But while the sentiment behind this bill – increased transparency when data breaches occur – is sound, the bill lacks teeth.
Individuals will only be notified if the organization believes there is a need – the risk is that businesses simply won’t want to come clean and face losing not just one angry customer, but potentially hundreds should the news spread through social and traditional media channels.
In addition, the threat of financial penalties is notably absent from the bill, so where is the business incentive to comply?
Not yet too late for Ontario, BC SMBs to become HST compliant
Jul 14th
Despite a long government campaign to get taxpayers onboard with the HST which came into effect this July 1st, a majority of small businesses in Ontario and British Columbia are opposed to and unprepared for the new tax regime.
Nestor Arellano
More that 54 per cent of respondents in Ontario and 47 per cent in B.C. won’t be ready to comply with the changes, according to recent survey by poll body Angus Reid Public Opinion for Intuit Canada, a tax software developer.
No less than 35 per cent of respondents in both provinces also admitted they don’t understand the need for the new measures. Read the rest of this entry »
