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Two Canadian Universities Hit By Security Breaches

Slaw and the NY Times report that two Canadian universities – UBC and McMaster University – have been hit by security breaches with student records and other data posted online.

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October 9, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

Access To Information Requests To Go Online

The Canadian government is planning a pilot project that will permit online access to information requests. The current system requires paper based requests.

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October 9, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

CETA Update: Copyright Deal Has Been Reached, Patents To Go To the Ministers

Canada’s chief Canada – EU Trade Agreement negotiators provided an update on the CETA talks today, sketching out an ambitious negotiation schedule that they hope will lead to a Ministerial meeting in November to resolve the key outstanding issues. The next round of CETA negotiations will occur in Brussels in […]

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October 5, 2012 5 comments News

Information Commissioner Launches Consultation on Access to Information

The Information Commissioner of Canada has launched a public consultation on access-to-information legislation. The consultation, which is open until December 21, 2012, invites comments on a wide range of issues including right of access, coverage of the Act, limitations, and cabinet confidences.

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October 3, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

Privacy Commissioner Should Disclose the Identities of Privacy “Leakers”

Last week, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart released the results of a disturbing new study conducted by her office that found many leading websites “leaking” personal information. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the study, which came on the heels of similar findings by researchers in the United States, found that one in every four websites examined suffered from privacy leaks that included disclosing names, email addresses, postal codes, and location data to third party advertisers (in the interests of full disclosure, I am a member of the Stoddart’s external advisory board).

The study only covered 25 of the most popular e-commerce and media websites in Canada, suggesting that many more organizations may be violating Canadian privacy law by failing to adequately safeguard the personal information they collect and providing users with insufficient information about how their data is used and disclosed.

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October 3, 2012 8 comments Columns