While I guess technically summer is still with us for a couple more days, it sure feels like we are in full swing with a very busy fall schedule. Well, except for the fact that in Ottawa, the 30-plus degree weather without rain is making me want to go for long bike rides along the Rideau Canal.
In any event, what happened this week in privacy? Well, after a hiatus that is about as long as the NHL off-season, our politicians returned to Ottawa. The parliamentary committee reviewing Bill C-27 — the law set to replace and modernize the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and create another regime that regulates artificial intelligence — even had a meeting on Thursday.
The committee's plan was to continue the clause-by-clause review of the bill. Unfortunately, not one of its members showed any interest in actually getting that job done. It was classic delays, and I don't think any one party or member is to blame. So, in Parliament, zero happened on privacy or AI.
It's frustrating because the rest of the world is moving much more rapidly to confront the extremely important challenges we face, in large part because of technologies that increasingly can be used for unethical things. And we need rules around this. The whole world knows it, but our elected officials don't appear to fully recognize the urgency.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want a new law just for the sake of a new law. It needs to be thoughtful, reasoned, operational and not stifle innovation. But, alas, in Canada, the federal public sector is governed by a law that was created before any computer had a mouse. Our private sector laws are not all that better. They pre-date social media and mobile devices and were designed when we thought fax machines were cool.
While I hear our Canadian regulators saying they are going to use these laws as best they can to regulate, anyone except the MPs knows that more needs to be done. So, while our agendas get filled up at least two to three times the summer-time volume, I'm fairly confident privacy pros are working hard on privacy. Let's get that same kind of commitment on Parliament Hill.
Anyway, rant over, and in other parliamentary news that is a less dramatic and discouraging — the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne appeared before Parliament to defend his request for next year's budget. In his statement, he reminded Parliamentarians about his strategic priorities and plans. On the budget side, he mentioned the temporary funding the OPC has had, but stressed the need for stable, permanent funding to keep up with the growing complexity of privacy issues and demands on the office.
Well, that's enough from me. I have a data breach to deal with, a few data protection agreements to review and negotiate, an IAPP training session to deliver, and some University of Ottawa students of mine want some advice on their assignments. I'm not complaining — it's great to be busy. But, I have to say, that long bike ride is still tempting.
Have a good weekend and charge up for busy times ahead.
Kris Klein, CIPP/C, CIPM, FIP, is the managing director for Canada for the IAPP.