Access and Privacy Online
The Freedom of Information and Privacy Association brings you this weekly roundup of the news stories in the information management field.
Episodes
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 10.
This week: voter privacy, a stalled citizenship guide, student-aid spending, workplace AI, a U.S. court-system breach, and Norway’s proposed smart-glasses restrictions.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20261010-access-and-privacy-online
Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-41
Voterprivacy.ca : www.voterprivacy.c...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, October 3rd.
This week: campaign apps test voter privacy, a health chatbot connects care and commerce, AI agents breach digital boundaries, and public records expose hidden detention practices.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20261003-access-and-privacy-online
Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-40
Voterprivacy.ca: w...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 19th.
This week: banking without answers, access rights upheld, privacy lessons in classrooms, data-centre secrecy, America’s ballot battles, and new safeguards for students using AI.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260919-access-and-privacy-online
Individual Stories: https://fipa.bc.ca/tag/2026-season-episode-38
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 12th.
Today: B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner announces consultation and a new approach to access delays; migrants defending their right to protest; courts confronting secrecy; expanding police surveillance; and U.S. whistleblowers warning about dangerous shortcuts.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260912-access-and-pr...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, September 5th.
This week: Ontario’s student-aid warning signs, a court fight over the right to be forgotten, a whistleblower warning that a rushed U.S. Postal Service system could put mail ballots at risk, and Meta’s new rules for young users. Let’s dive in.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260905-access-and-privacy-online
Canada’s Privacy Act was created for a very different technological era. Today, federal institutions can link datasets, automate decisions and use artificial intelligence to make inferences about people. What should the law require before government collects, shares or reuses personal information?
In this Access and Privacy Online commentary, host Patrick Farnsworth speaks with FIPA Executive Director Jason Woywada and ...
Canada’s Access to Information Act gives people a legal right to request federal government records. But delays, unclear duties, inconsistent service and gaps created by outsourcing can make that right difficult to use in practice.
In this special commentary, host Patrick Farnsworth speaks with Pascale Grenier, a UVic Law Co-op Legal Researcher who contributed to FIPA’s submission, and FIPA Executive Director Jaso...
How do we know whether a freedom-of-information system is actually working? Counting closed files and measuring response times tells only part of the story.
In this Access and Privacy Commentary, host Patrick Farnsworth speaks with FIPA researcher Spencer Izen, author of Drawing Access Together, alongside FIPA Executive Director Jason Woywada and President Mike Larsen.
T...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, August 1st.
This week: Alberta’s referendum costs and voter-file concerns; access records exposing hidden delays and historic mistreatment; municipal AI safeguards; and, internationally, the growing struggle over surveillance, public records, and platform control.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260801-access-and-privacy-online
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 25th.
We are into the news doldrums of summer right now; that said, there are still stories hitting our radar. This week: bridge records, surveillance pricing, paid priority access to Truth Social, and Vatican secrecy all hit the FIPA radar.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260725-access-and-privacy-online
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 18th.
This week: FIPA calls for stronger federal privacy law; provinces narrow access to records; AI expansion tests energy, consent, and political accountability; and U.S. investigations raise new concerns for public records and press freedom.
Show Notes: https://fipa.bc.ca/nm/20260718-access-and-privacy-online
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, July 11th.
We’re back after a brief holiday break. This week: a lawsuit over the exposure of nearly three million Alberta voters, unanswered questions about overdoses inside B.C. hospitals, expanding surveillance in the United States, and a serious threat to Germany’s freedom of information law.
The team here at Access and Privacy Online is taking the next week off for the holiday.
We’ll be back July 11th with more coverage. We’ll also be putting together some commentaries over the summer on the developing access and privacy stories we have been covering here on the podcast.
Take care, and we’ll see you then.
Support these efforts by subscribing or d...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 20th.
This week: transparency systems under scrutiny in B.C., new federal privacy and online safety proposals, whistleblower concerns from Montreal police, and major U.S. stories on public records, voter data, and law enforcement accountability.
And as another reminder: House of Commons petition E-7237, calling for stronger voter privacy...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 20th.
This week: Ottawa moves on privacy, online safety, and surveillance powers; FIPA releases new work on access rights and transparency systems; and New Brunswick’s review of its access and privacy law points to familiar questions about timeliness, recordkeeping, voter privacy, and independent oversight.
Show Notes: https:/...
Join us for FIPA's Annual General Meeting held on June 25, 2026, at 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time via Microsoft Teams.
FIPA’s 2026 AGM is an ideal opportunity to hear highlights of the Association’s work over the past year and our key priorities going forward. We will conduct regular AGM business and elect Board members.
We look forward to seeing you there!
AGM Notice https://fipa.bc.ca/2026-agm-...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 13th.
This week, voter privacy returns to the spotlight—with a major Senate report and fresh court developments in British Columbia.
We’re also tracking Canada’s new AI strategy, proposed online safety rules for children and chatbots, access-to-information fights in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and internatio...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, June 6th.
This week, we begin in Alberta, where new FIPA-Ipsos polling shows strong public support for enforceable privacy rules after the exposure of voter information for 2.9 million Albertans.
We’ll also look at Alberta’s new combined ID cards, the federal lawful access bill, connected vehicle data, and several access-to-i...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 30th.
This week, we begin in Ottawa, where a number of major files moved forward.
The federal government says it will amend parts of its contentious lawful access bill, while civil liberties groups continue warning that Bill C-22 could expand state surveillance without the safeguards Canadians need.
At the same time, senators are studyin...
This is your Access and Privacy News Summary for Saturday, May 23rd.
This week, privacy and transparency are colliding with some of the biggest political and public policy questions in the country.
We begin with a network update on Bill C-22, the federal lawful access bill that civil liberties groups are warning could expand surveillance powers and weaken online privacy protections.
T...
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