There’s lots of news lately in privacy land. Fill up that cup of coffee and get all caught up by reading the news below.
I’ll highlight just a couple of things that caught my attention.
First, the British Columbia legislature looks to be all set to continue with privacy reform in that province. The Special Committee struck to review the Personal Information Protection Act issued its report in which they make a number of interesting recommendations — 34 of them to be exact. Of note, increased enforcement powers to the commissioner, including the ability to levy monetary penalties for severe non-compliance. Also, they are recommending mandatory breach reporting, aligning exemptions to consent with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, a PIA requirement for high-risk projects, a distinct section for employee privacy, and separate health privacy legislation as there is in other provinces.
Considering how quickly that province moved to modernize its public sector law, we might see a new PIPA in short order.
The other interesting thing that got my attention was the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada tabled its Annual Report Thursday. I haven’t had the chance to read all of it, but there are some interesting takeaways throughout. Among them, the fact privacy breaches continue to be on the rise and the fact that simply being a victim to a cybercrime isn’t sufficient defense — the OPC wants to see organizations taking the necessary steps to minimize these occurrences.
Also of note is the commissioner’s repeated message to Parliament that it must, like other lawmakers in Canada and internationally, modernize the privacy legislation at the federal level. We are seeing encouraging signs on this front, with Minister François-Philippe Champagne announcing last week he intends to table a bill to replace PIPEDA in the new year. Time will tell whether the Commissioner’s critique of the last attempt will be heard.
In any event, like I said, there’s lots of news this week. Please catch up.